Effect of beads instructional resource on senior secondary school students’ attitude in genetics in Karu local government area, Nasarawa state, Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of beads instructional resource on senior secondary school students’ attitude in genetics in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The moderating effect of gender was also examined. The population of the study comprised of 18,486 SS2 biology students in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Out of this number, males consisted of 8,834 SS2 students and females consisted of 9,652 SS2 students. The sample was made up of 150 students (84 males and 66 females). The design used in this study was quasi-experimental, the non-equivalent pre-test, post-test, control group design was employed and used for this study. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. Genetics Attitude Scale (GAS) was used for data collection. The reliability estimate of GAS was 0.73 using Pearson-Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. Frequency, Mean, Standard deviation and Standard Error was used to answer the research questions. Independent t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The result revealed that students exposed to beads strategy of teaching achieved significantly higher mean attitude scores than their counterparts exposed to conventional lecture method. The male students taught genetics with the use of beads did not perform better than the female students taught with the use of beads when subjected to higher analysis. It was recommended that biology teachers should utilise pragmatic method of teaching and learning of genetics concepts by using beads to make concepts concrete, to facilitate learning outcomes and beads strategy should be incorporated into the Teacher Education Programme (TEP), by equipping biology teachers in training institutions with the requisite skills needed to equip students who would fit into the Country’s economy after graduation.