ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) AND INTEREST OF JALINGO SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN GEOGRAPHY

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study focused on the effect of Geographic Information System on Geography achievement and interest among secondary school students in Jalingo, Taraba State. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses. It was an experimental research design involving 107 sample size out of 740 target population using simple random sampling technique while purposive sampling method was employed to select intact SSII students from 3 secondary schools in the study area. The respondents were divided into experimental and control groups whereby 4-week treatment was conducted on experimental group with GIS tools while control group was taught with conventional teaching method. Two instruments- Geographic Information System in relation to Geography Performance Test- GISGPT and Geographic Information System in relation to Geography Interest Rate- GISGIR. The instruments yielded reliability coefficient of .89 and .82 for GISGPT and GISGIR respectively using Cronbach’s Alpha. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviations for answering research and analysis of covariance- ANCOVA to test hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is significant difference in the mean achievement scores of the students taught Geography with GIS tools and students taught with CTM; and there is significant difference between the mean interest rate of students taught Geography with GIS tools and students taught using CTM. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that GIS tools have significant effect on academic achievement and interest of Geography students in the study area. Therefore, it was recommended among others that Geography teachers should be trained and encouraged to include GIS utilization rather than CTM that does not improve on achievement of Geography students.