ABSTRACT

The relevance of science to life and society, made the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), to stipulate in the polytechnic curriculum that non-science students should offer general courses in sciences. Biology is one of the sciences they are expected to study and pass before graduation. Biology is the study of living things and their relationship with one another and with the environment. It equips the students with useful knowledge that enables them to face challenges before and after graduation. It has been observed in polytechnics that more students enroll in non science disciplines than in science disciplines and that they consistently perform poorly in biology. Inappropriate teaching technique was one of the several reasons given for students’ poor achievement in biology. This study investigated the effect of Overlay Technique of Multimedia Projection (OVMP) on the achievement in biology of non-science students of different scientific literacy levels in Nigerian polytechnics in Anambra State. It examined the influence of gender on students’ achievement in biology. The interaction effects of projection technique and scientific literacy as well as gender were also examined. Five research questions and five null hypotheses guided the study. The study was non-equivalent pretest post-test control group quasi experimental design involving one experimental and one control group. Four non-science departments were selected by stratified random sampling technique from the four non-science schools in the Federal Polytechnic Oko. Five hundred and eighty six non-science students in the selected departments formed the sample. The four intact departments were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups – two departments, Banking and finance (BF) and Office Technology Management (OTM) were assigned to experimental group while Fashion Design Technology and Library Studies (LS) were the control group. Two instruments, Biology Achievement Test (BAT), devreloped by the researcher and a standardized Scientific Literacy Test (SLT) were used for data collection. The validity and reliability of these instruments were established. The internal consistency of these instruments was established using Kuder-Richardson 20. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.95 and 0.86 respectively. Mean, Standard Deviation, analysis of Covariant (ANCOVA) and Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) were used to analyze and interpret data. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the five research questions while the five null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance (P<0.05) using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results showed that Overlay Technique of Multimedia Projection significantly enhanced students’ achievement in Biology. The results revealed that overlay technique was more effective in facilitating students’ academic achievement in biology than plain technique used in the control group. The results also revealed that scientific literacy was a significant factor but gender was not a significant factor in students’ achievement in biology.  The results revealed a significant interaction effect of teaching technique and scientific literacy, but there was no significant interaction effect of the teaching technique and gender on students’ achievement in biology. The major conclusion drawn from the study was that learning was effective using overlay technique of multimedia projection. The technique promoted the achievement in biology of students of high and low scientific literacy levels. The implication of this was that the use of OVMP will improve students’ achievement in biology. The study recommended the use of overlay technique of multimedia projection in teaching non-science students biology. The study also recommended adequate training of biology lecturers on the use of instructional technique in Nigerian polytechnics.