EFFECTS OF LEVELS OF PROCESSING INFORMATION ON RETENTION OF LEARNT MATERIALS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS OF JALINGO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF TARABA STATE.

Abstract
This research work was carried out to find the effects of levels of processing on retention of learnt materials. Four hypotheses were formulated to investigate the effects of levels of processing information on retention of learnt materials among senior secondary school students of Jalingo L.G.A. Being a quasi-experimental study, a sample of two hundred students (SS11) wasselected from a population of 6,390 senior secondary school students of five Government Day Senior Secondary School students inJalingo Local Government Area of Taraba State. A simulated before-after quasi-experimental design was used. The control group was pre-tested while the experimental group was given treatment which involved inducing them to process chosen learning materials at the three levels of processing and a post-test followed immediately. The result was analyzed using different statistical tools such as means,independent sample t-test and univariate analysis of variance. The result indicated that the three levels of processing have significant effect on retention, (F=9.217, P=.001). The deepest/semantic level had the highest level of retention followed by the deeper level and lastly the shallow level. At the deeper and deepest levels, the experimental group scored higher than the control group whereas at the shallow level even though it had a significant effect on retention did not differ from the retention level of the control group. The major finding in this study therefore follows the trend that the deeper the level of processing the better the retention. Other findings indicated that males and females process learning materials in more or less the same manner (t=.238, P=.812), Science studentsdiffered significantly in retention level from the Art students (t=2.741, P=.007). The different ability groups of students differ significantly from each other in their retention levels (F=135.142, P<.001). Following all the findings in this study, it was suggested that teachers should guide learners to process learning materials at the deepest level, students should be taught with instructional aids and examples to enable them make association, that is, thinking of one thing that will bring the other to mind. Also, learning materials should be developed and arranged in a way that fosters semantic processing.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE MASTERS DEGREE IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AND COUNSELING,AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA.
Keywords
EFFECTS,, LEVELS,, PROCESSING,, INFORMATION,, RETENTION,, LEARNT,, MATERIALS,, AMONG,, SENIOR,, SECONDARY,, SCHOOL,, STUDENTS,, GOVERNMENT,, AREA,
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