Effect of Cognitive Conflict Strategy and Gender on Senior Secondary School Students’ Scientific Reasoning Skills in Conservation Biology

The study investigated the effect of cognitive conflict strategy and gender on scientific reasoning skills in conservation Biology among senior secondary school students in Biu Education Zone, Borno State. The study employed a pre-test post-test non- equivalent control group design. Two intact SSII Biology classes from two public co education senior secondary schools were used. 22 male and 33 female students received treatment for six weeks while the control group consists of 25 male and 27 female students. A two-tier instrument titled Scientific Reasoning Skills Test (SRST) was administered as pre-test, reshuffled and administered as post-test. The reliability coefficient of the SRST was 0.85 determined using Kuder Richardson (Kr20). The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test. The study found that cognitive conflict strategy significantly enhanced students’ scientific reasoning skills in conservation Biology than lecture method. It also found no significant difference in the scientific reasoning skills of male and female students taught using cognitive conflict strategy. The study recommended the use of cognitive conflict strategy to enhance students’ scientific reasoning skills