The Effect of Discussion Technique on Academic Achievement in Plant Physiology Course Among NCE II Biology Students of College of Education Gashua, Yobe State, Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of Discussion Technique on Academic Achievement in Plant Physiology course among NCE II biology students of College of Education Gashua, Yobe State. Quasi-Experimental and control group design, using pretest and posttest was used for this study. The study used a population of 310 students (139 males and 115 females), and a sample of 80 students (40 males and 40 females) was used for the study. The research instrument used for data collection; Plant Physiology Achievement Test (PPAT) was tested for reliability using Kuder-Richardson (K-R21) with reliability coefficient of 0.85. T-test statistic was used to identify the difference between the achievements of students exposed to discussion technique and those taught using the traditional lecture method. The result of the study revealed significant difference between the mean academic achievement scores of the experimental and control groups in favour of the experimental group. It is therefore recommended that; i) Discussion technique of teaching should be practiced by science and technology subject teachers, including plant physiology course in biology. ii) There should be in place, training and re-training opportunities for teachers to be effective in their work and carry out their teaching tasks more effectively by employing the use of discussion technique (learner-centered) and reduce over dependence on lecture method (teacher-centered), because the former enhances students’ academic achievement while the latter (lecture method) leads to poor achievement.