The Effects of Collaborative and Monograde Teaching Strategies on Academic Performance of Computer Science Students in Programming in Colleges of Education in Abia State, Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of collaborative and monograde teaching strategies on academic performance of Computer Science Students in Programming in Colleges of Education in Abia State, Nigeria. Two specific objectives were identified, two research questions were raised and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide this study. The review of related literature was carried out under three major subheadings namely; theoretical framework, conceptual framework and empirical framework. The study adopted Quasi-experimental design and was carried out in Abia State, Nigeria. The population of the study was 103 NCE 111 Computer Education Students of 2023/2024 Session. The sample size consisted of 103 students at intact class level from two Colleges of Education in Abia State. A researcher developed Programming Skills Performance Test” (PSPT) was used for data collection. The lesson plan and the achievement test were given out to three experts in the University of Uyo for face and content validation. The instrument was tested on 20 Students from Akwa Ibom State College of Education, Afaha Nsit. The internal consistency of the instrument was obtained using Cronbach Alpha which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.83. The experimental group was taught using collaborative teaching strategy while the control group was taught using monograde teaching strategy. Mean (gain score) was used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed Computer Science Education Students in Programming who taught algorithm design and debugging skills using Collaborative Teaching Strategies had an improved academic performance than those taught using Monograde Teaching Strategies in College of Education, Abia State. It was further revealed that, there was significant difference in the mean academic performance of Computer Science Education Students in programming when taught algorithm design and debugging skills using Collaborative Teaching Strategy as against those taught using Monograde Teaching Strategy in College of Education, Abia State. Based on the results of this finding, it was concluded that collaborative teaching strategies significantly improved academic performance of Computer Science Education Students in programming than using monograde teaching strategies in the College of Education, Abia State, Nigeria. Based on the conclusion, it was recommended that Colleges of Education should design courses that emphasize group work, peer-to-peer learning and collaborative problem-solving activities. This approach can help foster a supportive learning environment and improve student engagement, motivation, and performance across critical programming concepts.

Keywords: Collaborative teaching strategies, monograde teaching strategies, programming skills, academic performance, Computer Science Education students.