Effects of Process-oriented Instructional Strategies on Spatial Abilities and Basic Science Achievement of 9th Grade Students in Kogi State, Nigeria

Worried by the massive and persistent failure in secondary school science in Nigeria, the need to research into the effect of process-oriented instructional strategies on spatial abilities and basic science achievement of 9th grade students in Kogi state became very compelling. The study is a quasi-experimental design of pretest, posttest and non-randomized control group type. A total of 702 students (n=316 boys and 386 girls) participated in the study. Three null hypotheses formulated were tested at 0.05 alpha level. While the experimental group received instructions through process-oriented instructional strategies, the control group was through lecture method. Spatial Ability Test (SAT), and Basic Science Achievement Test I and II (BSAT I & II) with reliability coefficients of 0.81, 0.87 and 0.85 were used for data collection. Frequency, percentage, correlation and t-test (for independent respondents) statistics were used for data analysis. It was found that students exposed to process-oriented instructional strategies achieved significantly higher in spatial ability and basic science achievement, among others. Process-oriented instructional strategy was therefore recommended for use by basic science teachers especially when the emphasis is on the development of spatial abilities in learners.