EFFECT OF ETHNOSCIENCE STRATEGY ON CREATIVE-THINKING SKILLS OF STUDENTS WITH DIFFERENT COGNITIVE STYLES IN BASIC SCIENCE

This study ascertained the effect of ethnoscience strategy on creative thinking skills of Basic 8 students with different cognitive styles in Benue State using pretest-posttest quasi-experimental control group design. The population of the study was 1,650 Basic 8 students from the 19 Upper Basic Schools in Otukpo, Benue State. The sample size for the study consist of 70 students from two sampled schools within the study area obtained through multi-stage sampling procedure.  The instrument used for data collection was Torrance test of Creative thinking (TTCT) adapted to identify students’ level of creative thinking skills. The reliability of TTCT was established using Spearman rank correlation and it yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.89. The data obtained were analyzed using mean and standard Deviation to answer research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of confidence. Findings revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean creative thinking scores of impulsive Basic 8 students taught Basic Science using the ethnoscience strategy and those taught using the conventional teaching strategy; there was a significant difference in the mean creative thinking scores of reflective Basic 8 students taught Basic Science using the ethnoscience strategy and those taught using the conventional teaching strategy and there was a significant difference between the mean creative thinking skills of impulsive and reflective Basic 8 students taught using the Ethnoscience strategy. Based on the findings, it is recommended that Basic Science teachers should use ethnoscience strategy to enhance students’ creative thinking skills in the subject.