Article Details

This study investigated the effects of the Concept Mapping Instructional Strategy (CMIS) on students’ achievement and retention in the circulatory system in Kuje Area Council, FCT Abuja. Four research objectives, four research questions, and four null hypotheses were formulated and tested using mean, standard deviation, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at a 0.05 level of significance. A quasi-experimental design was employed for the study. The sample comprised 96 Senior Secondary Two (SS II) students from randomly selected co-educational public secondary schools. The students were randomly assigned into experimental (50 students) and control (46 students) groups. Two intact classes were used for the experimental and control groups. Two instruments were used for data collection: the Circulatory System Achievement Test (CSAT) and the Circulatory System Retention Test (CSRT), each consisting of 30 multiple-choice questions adapted from past WAEC examinations and aligned with Bloom’s taxonomy. Content and face validity of the CSAT and CSRT were established by expert lecturers in the department. The reliability of the instruments was determined using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 21 (K-R21), yielding reliability coefficients of 0.87 for CSAT and 0.84 for CSRT. The findings revealed that students taught using the Concept Mapping Instructional Strategy (CMIS) achieved significantly higher scores in both achievement and retention compared to those taught using the conventional method. This indicates that CMIS promotes deeper understanding and long-term retention of the circulatory system concepts. The study concludes that concept mapping is an effective instructional strategy that enhances learning outcomes in biology. Based on these findings, the study recommends the integration of CMIS into the biology curriculum and teacher training programs. Further studies are suggested to explore its application across other science topics and educational contexts. Overall, this study contributes to the growing body of knowledge supporting the use of visual and interactive instructional strategies in biology education.