TRAINING OF PRE- SERVICE TEACHERS ON BUZZ SESSION MODE OF INSTRUCTION AND THEIR LESSON PLANNING SKILL IN BASIC SCIENCE IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Based on the deficiencies on the issues regarding the Pre-service lesson planning skills, it shows that pre-service teachers’ low level of performance in Integrated Science is attributed to lack of adequate pedagogical content knowledge in which they ought to develop the necessary skills of lesson planning which has been an issue attracting the attention of researchers and science educators. This study, therefore concerned itself on training of the pre-service teachers on Buzz session strategy of instruction and its impact on their lesson planning skills in Integrated Science. The study adopted the pretest, posttest, control group, quasi - experimental design.  349 Pre-service teachers from Six Colleges of Education in South-western zone of Nigeria were randomly assigned to treatment. The instruments used were: Pre-service Teachers Lesson Planning Skills Scale (PTLPSS) r = 0.88,  Pre-service Teachers Self Efficacy Scale (PTSES) r = 0.81, Operational Guide for Buzz Session Teaching Strategy (OGBSTS) r = 0.78, Operational Guide for Conventional Instructional Strategy (OGCIS) r = 0.79, Evaluation Sheet for Assessing Buzz Session Teaching Strategy  and Evaluation Sheet for Assessing Conventional Instructional Strategy. The instruments were validated by two science educators and one expert in measurement and evaluation for both face and content validation.  Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses formulated   at 0.05 level of significance.  There was a significant main effect of treatment on pre-service teachers’ lesson planning skills in Integrated Science (F_(1,348)=710.626;P<0.05;ɳ²=0.81). Buzz instructional strategy had higher mean score (67.41), followed by those in the conventional strategy group with lower mean score (). There is a significant main effect of self-efficacy on pre-service teachers’ Lesson Planning Skills in Integrated Science (F_(1,348)= 8.178;P<0.05;ɳ²= 0.023). Pre-service teachers with low self-efficacy had higher lesson skills mean score (50.52) than those with a high self-efficacy (48.28).  Based on the findings, it is recommended that integrated science lecturers should employ Buzz Session strategy as commonly used strategy in teaching, as it enhanced the pre-service teachers’ lesson planning skills in integrated science.