Abstract
This study determined the effect of self-instructional package on students' interest in agricultural science in Senior Secondary Schools. The study adopted quasi experimental design which involved groups of students in their intact classes assigned to experimental and control groups. The population for the study was 6,014 senior secondary one students in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State out of which 376 students were sampled using a purposive sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was Interest Inventory Scale (IIS), which was subjected to face validation by five experts. Interest Inventory reliability index of 0.76 was obtained using Cronbach's alpha. Data were analyzed using mean to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance was used to test the null hypotheses. The finding of the study showed that self-instructional package is more effective in promoting students' interest in Agricultural science than a conventional teaching approach in both gender and school type. The study also found out that there was a significant difference among school types in favour of coeducational schools and gender in favour of boys, but the effect on interest was not significant at 0.05 level. Consequently, it was recommended that curriculum planners should include self-instructional package in the school curriculum. The policies that enforce academic standards and discipline should be implemented by the School Administrators in all school types for the improvement of students' interest in Agricultural science in Enugu state.
Keywords: Interest, Self-Instructional Package, Crop Production, Agricultural Science
Publication Date: 2023-09-09