Article Details

This study investigated the “effects of field trip instructional strategy on students’ interest and achievement in ecology in Abuja, Nigeria”. The study adopted quasi-experimental research of pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent, non-randomized, control groups design. The population for the study consists of 35,155 (15,767 males and females) SS students. Simple random sampling techniques was used in the three stages to sample 175 students (84 males and 91 females); students were selected for the study. Two instruments, namely Ecology Interest Rating Scale (EIRS) and Ecology Achievement Test (EAT), were validated and found reliable for the study. Four research questions were raised, and four null hypotheses were formulated for the study. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions, while inferential statistics of ANCOVA was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is a significant difference on the interest and achievement of students exposed to the field trip instructional strategy and their counterparts exposed to the conventional method in favour of the experimental group. Also, the findings revealed that there is no significant difference of male and female students’ achievement in ecology using the field trip instructional strategy. Hence the researcher recommended that the use of the field trip instructional strategy should be adopted for teaching Ecology concepts in the secondary schools and in-service training program for Biology Teachers in the form of workshops, seminars, and conferences should be organized to focus more on how to use the field trip instructional strategy in teaching ecology concepts, among others.