EFFECT OF COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP INSTRUCTIONAL METHOD ON STUDENTS’ ACHEIVEMENT RETENTION AND SKILL PERFORMANCE IN AUTOMOBILE MECHANICS.

Abstract

Over the years, education has focused on closing the enrolment gap between gender  while insufficient  attention  has  been  paid  to  relevance  methods  that  could  improve  academic achievement  and  skill  acquisition.  Hence,  this  study determined  the  effects  of cognitive apprenticeship   instructional   techniques   on  students’   achievement,   retention   and   skill performance  in automobile mechanics.  The study was a pre-test,  post-test, non-equivalent control group quasi-experiment which involved groups of respondents in their intact classes assigned to treatment groups. Six research questions and nine hypotheses tested at .05 level of significance  guided  the  study.  The  population  of  the  study  consisted  of  167  National Technical Certificate  (NTC) II  students of Automobile  Mechanics  in Niger State and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Abuja. Niger State and the FCDA are found in the North- Central Geo- Political Zone of Nigeria. The sample size of the study was 144 students from which 98 males and 46 females were assigned to three intact classes each of treatment  groups  (experiment  and control).  The Experimental  group  had  71 students (47 males and 24 females), while the Control group had 73 students (51 males and 22 females). The  instruments  used  for data  collection  were  Automobile  Mechanics  Achievement  and Retention Test (AMART) and Automobile Mechanics Skill Performance Test (AMSPT). The AMSPT which had been validated  by the test developer National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) was adopted for the study. To  ensure content validation of the test, a Table of Specification  was built. The AMART  and AMSPT lesson plans were subjected to face and content validation by five experts. The AMART was trial tested for the purpose of determining the psychometric values of the test items. A total of 40 items of the AMART  had  good difficulty,  discrimination  and the distracter  indices.  The  trial test  for determining  the coefficient  of stability of  the AMART  was carried  out using test re-test reliability  techniques.  The  test-retest   reliability  was  determine  using  Pearson  Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and was found to be 0.86. While, the internal consistency of the AMART was checked by Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR20) and was found to be 0.83. The inter-ratter  reliability  coefficient  of AMSPT  was determined  by Ken dells’  coefficient  of concordance and was found to be 0.85.  Mean and Standard Deviation were used to analyse data collected  from the research questions.  Whereas, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used  to  test the nine hypotheses that guided the study at .05 level of probability. The study  found  among  others  that  cognitive  instructional  techniques  were more  effective  in improving students’ achievement, retention and skill performance than conventional teaching methods. There was an influence of gender  on students’ achievement,  retention and skill performance  favouring  boys,  though  the  effect  was  not  significant.  The  study found  no significant  interaction effect of treatments and gender on  students’ achievement,  retention, and skill performance  in automobile mechanics.  Therefore, irrespective of gender, learners will  record  improved  performance  in  achievement,  retention  and  skill  performance  in automobile mechanics when cognitive apprenticeship  instructional method is employed for teaching  automobile  mechanics.  The  study  recommended  among  others  that  cognitive apprenticeship  instructional  method  should  be  incorporated  into  methodology  content  of NABTEB Certificates, (NTC and ANTC) of Automobile mechanics, and should be extended to    other    vocational   and   technical   areas   after   its   effect   have   been   determined.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Cognitive apprenticeship is an instructional method that originates from the traditional apprenticeship but incorporates elements of structured learning. Collins, Brown and Newman (1989)  first  coined  the  term  cognitive  apprenticeship.  Collins,  et  al  proposed  that  the contemporary   classroom   instructional   methods   be   combined   with   the   concept   of apprenticeship.  In their landmark study, the age-long  apprenticeship  learning principles of on-the-job  training  were  combined  with  the  modern  pedagogical  practice  of  engaging students   with   problems   in  the   context   of  real   world   experiences.   Thus,   cognitive apprenticeship  serves to bridge the gap  between school and community, and to enable the transfer of knowledge and skills through contextualised  situated learning that increases the learners’  intrinsic  motivation  and  facilitates  meaning-making  during  the  learning  process (Duncan,  1996).This  is  achieved  through  guided  learning by expert who explains  his/her action at every level of instruction.

Cognitive Apprenticeship Instructional Method (CAIM) is a framework outlining the methodology for teaching complex cognitive tasks through guided learning (Collins, Brown

& Holum, 2004). Cognitive apprenticeship is viewed by LeGrand, Farmer and Buckmaster (1993) as an instructional tool that is aimed at acquiring thinking skills  such as; cognitive skills and meta cognitive skills resulting in sustained participation within a community and application of such knowledge to solving future problems.  CAIM is important not only to solving problems in a learning environment that uses real-world contexts and immerses the

learner  in the  culture  of a  particular  practice,  but  also  to  allow  learners  to  witness  the

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practitioners  of that culture solve problems  and carry out tasks Cognitive  apprenticeship according to Brill, Kim and Galloway (2000) acculturates  (gradual  acceptance of another culture)  in  the  learner  a  process  of  thinking  in  the  way  a  teacher,  expert  or  a  more knowledgeable  peer  thinks  and  solves  problems  by  gradually  accepting  the  culture  of problem-solving   strategies   of   the   experts.   In   CAIM,   the   teacher,   expert   or   more knowledgeable  peer need  to deliberately bring  his/her  thinking to the surface  to make it visible. The teachers’ thinking must be made visible to the students and students’ thinking must be made visible to the teacher.  The aim is to get thinking process out into the space between teachers (experts) and students (novice) where they can both literarily see it. Ertmer and Newby (2005)  explained  that applying  apprenticeship  techniques  to largely cognitive skill requires  the  externalization  of  processes  that  are  usually  carried  out  internally.  By bringing this tacit process into the open, students can observe, enact, and practice them with help from the teacher and from other students. The challenge in CAIM is to present a range of tasks varying from specific to diverse and to encourage students to reflect and articulate the elements that are common across tasks (Collins, Brown & Holum, 1991). As teachers present the targeted skill to students, they can increasingly vary the context in which those skills are used. The goal according to Collins, et al is to help students generalise the skill or knowledge so that it could be transferred and applied independently to different settings.

Collins, et al (1989); Collins, Brown, and Holum (1991) proposed a framework  of cognitive apprenticeship to help educators in studying, designing, and evaluating pedagogical methods, materials and technologies in a learning environment. The framework constitutes the characteristics or elements of cognitive apprenticeship method made up of four building blocks or dimensions: Content, Method, Sequencing and  Sociology. Content is the type of knowledge  required  for expert’s performance.  According to Ukoha and Eneogwe  (1996), contents are those facts, observations, data, perception, discernment sensibilities, designs and

solutions drawn from what the mind of a learner has comprehended  from experience  and those constructs of the mind that recognise and rearrange those products of experience into ideas, concepts generalization, principles, plans and solutions. Collins et al, (1989) explained that  content  dimension  encompasses:   domain  knowledge,   heuristic   strategies,   control strategies,  and  learning  strategies.  Domain  knowledge  refers  to  subject  matter,  specific concepts, facts and procedure involved in a vocation. While, heuristic strategies are generally applied techniques for accomplishing  tasks. On  the other hand, control strategies involves general approaches for directing one’s solution process, and learning strategies explains how to learn new concepts, facts, and procedures.

Method  dimension  involves  ways  of  promoting  the  development  of  expertise. Methods  in  any  learning  situation  play  a  vital  role  in  stimulating  learning  (Ukoha  & Eneogwe, 1996). Methods are designed to give learners the opportunity to observe, engage in, and invent or discover expert’s strategies in context. The method dimension includes the threefold of modelling, coaching, scaffolding/fading on one hand and articulation, reflection and exploration. This is aimed at developing the autonomous problem-solving capacities of the  learner  as  the  teachers’  role  fade.  Cognitive  apprenticeship  also  pays  attention  to sequencing or timing in the exploration of progressively more complex practice and theories. This according to Racca and Roth (2001) is aimed at progressively building self confidence in the  practice, and moves away from the traditional notion of sink-or-swim in traditional apprenticeship. Racca and Roth listed three principles that must be balanced in sequencing activities  for  students  in  CAIM  environment  as:  global  before  local  skills,  increasing complexity, and increasing diversity. Meanwhile, the sociology dimension in CAIM entails the  social  characteristics  of  a  learning  environment.  Sociology  includes  the  following dimensions: situated or contextualised learning, community of practice, intrinsic motivation and co-operation  or competition  between  learners.  Appendix  D shows the framework  of

CAIM elements containing the four building blocks and 18 characteristics. The four building blocks and eighteen characteristics make the complete CAIM learning environment

Doolittle (1999) observed that CAIM has helped to develop in the learner an approach whose goal is to develop self-directed and independent learners who can access and use a wide range  of cognitive  process  in order  to  transfer  learning  to  context  they are  yet  to encounter. Several scholars (Duncan, 1996; Raisen, 1990; Wilson and Cole, 1991) reported that  CAIM   was  significantly   more  effective   than   conventional/traditional   models   in classroom instruction for reading, writing and mathematics in improving their thinking skills and knowledge at secondary school level. Conventional/traditional teaching methods such as lecture, role playing, demonstration, field trip, discussion, and project among other methods are socially acceptable teaching methods which have been used by teachers to present skills, knowledge, and appreciations to the learners in the class room or laboratory. These methods according to  Aina (2002) lack imagination and innovation that could bring about effective teaching and learning process. This is so because the methods tend to remove learning from its sphere of use and encourage rote learning. Learning in CAIM is embedded in a setting that is more like work with an authentic connection to students’ lives. CAIM according to Veel (2001)  is believed  to provide  knowledge  for the continuous  changing  in the  competitive workplace through the creation of mental models and the development of enhanced problem- solving process. Components of CAIM have benefitted students in many vocations (Collins, et al 1991) by making  visible  how experts  approach  problems  by integrating  skills  and knowledge that have recorded improvement on students’ academic achievement and retention of knowledge in subjects that require  high-thinking order skills in recent years, which the researcher  hopes  might  bring  tremendous  improvement  in  the  teaching  and  learning  of automobile mechanics that has become complicated in the recent years.

The automobile mechanics  according to the Federal Government  of Nigeria  (FGN), (2004) is one of the vocational programmes offered at the Technical College level as Motor Vehicle Mechanics (MVM). Graduates of automobile  mechanics  from  Technical Colleges according  to the National Board  for Technical  Education  (NBTE),  (2004)  should  among others be able to inspect, identify problems,  repair and service  mechanical,  electrical and electronic system and components of cars, buses and trucks. The philosophy of automobile programme according to the National Business and  Technical Education Board (NABTEB) and NBTE (2004) is to produce competent automobile technicians for Nigeria’s technological and industrial development and to conduct examinations leading to the award of the National Technical  Certificate  (NTC)  and  Advanced  National  Technical  Certificate  (ANTC)  for automobile  craftsmen  and  master  craftsmen  respectively.  The  automobile  industry  has changed the society dramatically over the years and so an appropriate system is needed to keep track on its development (Van der Wall, 2007). These goals can only be achieved when appropriate  instructional methods are identified that would enable automobile practitioners acquire  both  academic  and  appropriate  technical  skills  to  function  in  the  fast  growing automobile industry.

This  is  so  because  the  complexity  in  automobile  industry  will  continue  to  grow exponentially  in  response  to  the  requirement  for  technologies  to  achieve  low  pollutant emissions and to meet the high expectations of the modern vehicle owners (Hillier & Rogers,

2007).  According  to Holderman,  James  and Mittchell  (2006) diagnostic  procedures,  skill development  and performance  are what automobile  technicians  need  most in  automobile field. It is important that today’s automobile technicians are equipped with the current skills and knowledge to be able to efficiently maintain and repair the modern highly automated and over-computerized  electronics gadgets in modern vehicles. Hence, Cope (2005) opined that technical  teachers  need  to adopt instructional  methods  that  are  classroom-based  but with

strong links to the need of the workplace to allow for the acquisition of an array of workplace skills and unique blend of academic achievement and technical skills.

Students’ achievement connotes academic performance in school subject as symbolised by a score or mark on an achievement test. According to Anene (2005), students’ academic achievement is quantified by a measure of the students’ academic standing in relation to those of other students of his age. Poroye (1981) and Atherson  (2003) contended  that students’ achievement  in teaching  and learning  is determined  by several  factors among  which are teachers’  attitude  and enthusiasm,  instructional  methods,  learning environment  as well as students’  attitude  and  background.  Teachers   with  good  teaching  techniques  challenge students to verbalize their knowledge and thinking (articulation) at higher intellectual level. Furthermore,  one  important  role  of  the  teacher  is  to  order  and  structure  the  learning environment (Moore, 1998). Included in this role according to Moore are all the decision and action required of the teacher to maintain order in the classroom, such as laying down rules and procedures for learning to enable students set personal achievable goals and to seek skills that would  improve their achievement and retention of learning.

Momoh-Olle (1997) defined retention of learning as the repeat performance of a learner of the behaviour earlier acquired after an interval of time. Retention is the preservative factor of  the  mind  (Kundu  &  Totoo,  2007).  Kundu  and  Totoo  posited  that  whatever  touches consciousness  leaves trace or impression and is retained  in the  mind in form of images. Boyle, Duffy and Dunleavy (2003) posited that students’ retention in learning is determined by factors such as teachers’ ability, motivation,  interest, meaningfulness of subject matter, methods  of  instruction,  memory  capacity  of  the  learner  among  others.  Many  educators (Baryman, 1993; Grubb, Davis, Lum,  Pliha, and Morgaine, 1991; Halasz, 1988; Maynard,

1991; Orey and Nelson, 1994; Rosenbaumm, Sterm, Agnes, Hamilton, Berryman and Kazis,

1992)  have  discovered  that  sociological  element  of  contextual  learning  is  relevant  for promoting achievement, retention and skill performance. Berryman, (1993); Carnvale, Gainer and Meltezer, (1990); Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (CANS), (2001) predicted that the workplace of the future will ever be more high-tech and  workers will have to   be effective team members and competent in problem-solving, mathematics, communication and skill performance if they are to perform successfully in today’s complex work environment.

Skill refers to the ability to perform expertly in a particular vocation. Okorie and Ezeji (1988) defined skill as manual dexterity through the reflective performance of an operation. To possess a skill is to demonstrate the habit of acting, thinking or behaving  in a specific activity  which  has become  so  natural  and  automatic  to  the individual  through  repetitive practice. According to Gagne and Briggs (2001) skill performance involves the use of senses, the brain as well as the muscles.  Automobile  teachers  are  expected  to equip automobile students with the requisite degree of technical knowledge, manual skills and higher thinking in  order  to  be  productive  in  the  workplace  of  the  modern  highly  automated  and  over computerized  electronic  vehicles.  Kuppuswamy  (2007)  identified  individual  perception, maturation, motivation or interest and readiness as factors that determine skill performance. Kuppuswamy emphasized that motivation is very necessary for acquisition of any skill. An optimum level of intrinsic motivation must be established and maintained in order to ensure effective skill learning.

Over the years, education has focussed on closing the enrolment gap between gender (boys and girls), while insufficient attention has been paid to achievement and retention, or the  quality  and  relevance  of  education.  Providing  quality  education  leads  not  only  to improved enrolment and retention but also ensures that boys and girls are fully able to realise the benefit of education. Adopting an approach that takes into account the relationship and

interaction  between  males  and  females   according  to  the  United   States  Agency   for International Development (USAID), (2008) will address four dimensions: equality of access; equality in the learning process; equality of educational outcomes and equality of external results. Several scholars, (Zafran and Zawitz 1997; Kimura 1998; Riding, Grimley, Dahraei and Banner,  2003) conducted  research on gender  differences  in  achievement.  The results showed measureable differences in favour of boys in achievement and skill performance in mathematics  and  science  related  subjects.  Generally,  most  studies  conducted  on  gender differences found out that boys have better performance than girls. Concrete activities must be implemented as part of overall strategy to achieve gender equality in education.

Students’ achievement and retention could be improved and sustained in any learning activity by active involvement of the learner in all aspects of the learning process. Liu (2005) identified  elements  that  must  be  addressed  to  ensure  the  participation  of  the  learner  in learning  process  as  motivation,  reinforcement,  retention  and  transference.  However,  the lecture  and  demonstration  methods  mostly  used  as main  teaching/learning  strategies  for implementing the curriculum of automobile mechanic at technical college are content driven and  not  child-centred  (Imandeyemu,  2001).  These  methods  Ukoha  and  Eneogwe  (1996) opined are executed by activities of the teacher while the learners only observe and listen.

Given  the way automobile  mechanics  is taught  and  learned  in Technical  Colleges, students  cannot make adjustment in teachers’ application of skill and knowledge to problems and tasks because they have no access to the relevant cognitive processes (Jordan, Jensen & Greenleaf, 2001). Cognitive research has begun to translate processes that comprise expertise problem-solving strategies which are inaccessible by the learner. The researcher hopes that CAIM will serve as a tool to support the shift  from teacher-  centred  to student-  centred learning,  capable  of  creating  a  more  interactive  learning  environment  for  teachers  and

learners. This is needed because Rojewskin (2002) noted that a shift from  teacher-centred instruction to learner-centred instruction is needed to enable learners acquire the 21st century work skills.

More so, the increasing  effects of globalization  and the rapid rate of  technological changes in the workplaces  informed  the UNESCO and International  Labour Organization (ILO), 2001) to recommend  that all technical and vocational  education system in the 21st century should be geared towards life-long learning.  Hence, automobile craftsmen, master

craftsmen and technicians alike must be equipped with the 21st Century workplace skills such

as creativity,  problem-solving,  higher  thinking  order  skills  and  transferable  skills  of  the experts to workplaces which CAIM afford. The study would be sequenced through CAIM- modelling, coaching, scaffolding, articulation, reflection, and exploration. In each laboratory exercise,  student would be encouraged  to shear  ideas in area of difficulties  and defining problems to be solved

Statement of the Problem

Modern vehicles equipped with high- tech facilities are being imported into Nigeria by individuals and organisations from Europe, Japan and Korea in keeping with advancement in technology. However, after purchase maintenance  is a critical factor in the life of a car. Apparently, the prevalent instructional delivery system fails to adequately keep pace with the rapid skills obsolesce in the automobile industry.   For instance, Abati (2009) observed that the Nigeria’s educational system is not producing engineers and scientists who can function in the modern society. Similarly, teaching in Technical Colleges reflects each discipline since the teacher has to concentrate on a particular module in order to ensure that students pass the NTC and ANTC  examinations.  Thus, students are pre-occupied  with examination and test scores  against  the  joy  of  acquiring  integrated  set  of  technical  skills  of  the  workplace

(UNESCO),  (2005).  UNESCO  lamented  that  the  traditional  structures  and  methods  of teaching/learning appears less and less responsive to the challenges of the turbulent times. Accordingly,  Oranu (2003) observed  that the methods emphasize  knowledge  transmission from the teacher to passive students and encourage rote learning.   Thus,  students lack the needed skills to adopt apply and transfer knowledge to different contexts and under varying technological conditions. Within this context, there is need for training automobile students on emergent  workplace  skills,  such  as:  problem-solving,  creative,  transferable  skills  and higher order cognitive skills

Furthermore,  given the way lecture and demonstration  methods  are used  to  teach automobile   mechanics,   automobile   students  cannot  make  the  adjustment   in   teachers’ application of skill and knowledge to problems and tasks through observation and practice, because they have no access to their relevant cognitive process (Jordan, Jensen & Greenleaf,

2001).  Hence,  Ogwo  (1996)  advocated  a paradigm  shift  from  the teaching  and  learning methods (lecture and demonstration)  in which the teacher attempts to impart knowledge to that in which he/she acts only as a facilitator to re-image the expert’s meta-cognitive learning process,  which  is  central  in teaching  the  Cognitive  Apprenticeship  Instructional  Method (CAIM). CAIM places emphasis on developing general education (transferable) work skills, rather than focusing on narrow job-specific work skills associated with conventional teaching methods. CAIM contrast the traditional instructional methods by emphasising student’ active roles in knowledge construction based on simulated cognitive modelling of subject-matter experts.

More so, failure of the traditional teaching methods are manifest in the automobile mechanics students’ poor performance  in public examinations as well as  their inability to secure and retain jobs in the fast changing automobile workplace (Abati, 2009). Hence, there

is  need  for change  in the  instructional  methods  used  in  technical  college  to  enable  the products of these institutions acquires integrated knowledge and higher order thinking skills required in the workplace. These changes become necessary in order to avoid the prevalence problem of students’ poor performance in public examination and their inability to secure and retain jobs in the fast changing automobile workplace that requires fairly high-level academic skills.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to determine  the effect  of cognitive  apprenticeship instructional method on students’ achievement, retention and skill performance in automobile mechanics. Specifically, the study determined the:

1.   Effect of cognitive apprenticeship instructional method on students’ achievement in automobile mechanics.

2.   Effect  of cognitive  apprenticeship  instructional  method  on students’  retention  of learning in automobile mechanics.

3.   Effect   of   cognitive   apprenticeship    instructional   method   on   students’    skill performance in automobile mechanics

4.    Influence of gender on students’ achievement in automobile mechanics.

5.   Influence of gender on students’ retention of learning in automobile mechanics.

6.   Influence of gender on students’ skill performance in automobile mechanics.

Significance of the Study

The results of this study are of immense benefit to automobile teachers for improving their instructional outcomes. The study identified innovations available in automobiles which

would help the teachers adapt to the instructional methods that emphasis elements of CAIM which would in effect enable them acquire high-level of thinking skill of the workplace. The effects of CAIM on students’ skill performance  in automobile  mechanics identify by this study will enable  automobile  teachers  to increase  the  complexity and diversity in lesson sequence   and   provide   a   learning   environment    that   promotes   intrinsic   motivation reflection/meta cognition, cooperation and competition among learners. This in effect would result in producing a pool of competent skill automobile craftsmen, master craftsmen and technicians capable of facing the challenges of the workplace occasioned by technological advancement.

Again,  teaching  skills  of  automobile  teachers  is  expected  to  be  improved  if  the findings of this study are implemented. The findings would create enabling environment for exploring and constructing learning environment that is contextualised  in order to develop their knowledge,  skills and attitudes needed when faced with  novice situations.  Technical educator  would  also  be  afforded  the  opportunity  of  using  the  Automobile  Mechanics Achievement Retention Test (AMART) and Automobile Mechanics Skill Performance Test (AMSPT) for effective teaching based on active learners’ participation that would contribute to enhanced standard of technical education in Nigeria. Similarly, finding on comparative of gender performance identified  by this study using AMART and AMSPT would also be of benefit to technical teachers. In effect, the findings would create awareness in the mind of technical  teachers  on  how  to  handle  the  CAIM  to  bridge  the  gap  between  students’ achievement,  retention  and contextual  skill performance  of boys and girls in  automobile mechanics.

Furthermore,  technical teachers stand to benefit from this study by providing them with information on the use of CAIM as learning tools that will transform the present isolated

teacher-centred  and text-bound  class room into rich student-centred  interactive  knowledge environment that would lead to the acquisition of the needed workplace skills in automobiles.

Automobile  students would benefit  from the findings  of this study through  being made aware of the need for clearer understanding of their roles in the teaching and learning process. The findings would help them to become active thinkers when faced  with novice problems in automobile industry. In effect, this would enable them to obtain and retain jobs upon graduation in the modern automobile industry that is in constant state of flux. More so, the effects of CAIM in students’ retention ability are expected to provide teachers with the heuristic  strategies  (tricks of automobile  trade) that would  promote  students’  retention  to become self-sufficient as they develop competence in their activities.

Automobile industries around the world would equally benefit from the findings of this study by providing them with a guide for training automobile practitioners who  would acquire  skills  of thinking,  take  appropriate  decision  and  solve  complex  problems  in the automobile workplace. The study exposed techniques necessary to provide a crop of skilled automobile   professionals   for   effective   maintenance   in   the   highly   ever-computerised electronic gadgets in the modern vehicles.

Finally, curriculum planners would benefit from the findings of this study. With the adoption of AMART and AMSPT, more insight would be exposed for curriculum planners in technical colleges on the learners’ learning process (cognitive skills). When more knowledge is acquired about learning process, the knowledge would directly influence future trend in designing curriculum for technical colleges’ in-line with workplace skills. Therefore, findings of the study would provide curriculum planners  with the needed information     that would enrich automobile curriculum which would provide conducive learning environment for the

acquisition of thinking skills of the experts in problem-solving.  Thus, the entire  system  is expected to experience a significant change

Research Questions

The following research questions were posed to guide the study:

1.   What  is  the  effect  of  cognitive  apprenticeship  instructional  method  on  students’

achievement in automobile mechanics?

2.   What  is  the  effect  of  cognitive  apprenticeship  instructional  method  on  students’

retention of learning in automobile mechanics?

3.   What is the effect of cognitive apprenticeship instructional method on students’ skill performance in automobile mechanics?

4.   What is the influence of gender on students’ achievement in automobile mechanics?

5.   What  is the  influence  of  gender  on students’  retention  of learning  in  automobile mechanics?

6.   What  is  the  influence  of  gender  on  students’  skill  performance  in  automobile mechanics?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses tested at .05 level of significance guided the study:

HO1:    There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught automobile mechanics with cognitive apprenticeship  instructional method  and those taught with conventional methods.

HO2:    There is no significant mean difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female automobile students on AMART when exposed to CAIM

HO3:    There is no significant  interaction effect of treatments  given to students and  their gender with respect to their mean achievement scores in automobile mechanics.

HO4:    There is no significance  difference in the mean retention scores of students  taught automobile mechanics with cognitive apprenticeship  instructional method  and those taught with conventional methods.

HO5:    There is no significant difference in the mean retention scores of male and  female automobile students on AMART when exposed to CAIM.

HO6:    There is no significant  interaction effect of treatments  given to students and  their gender with respect to their mean retention scores in automobile mechanics.

HO7:    There is no significant difference in the mean skill performance scores of  students taught automobile mechanics with cognitive apprenticeship instructional method and those taught with conventional methods.

HO8:    There is no significant difference in the mean skill performance scores of male and female automobile students on AMSPT when exposed to CAIM.

H09: There is no significant interaction effect of treatments given to students and their gender with respect to their mean skill performance scores in automobile mechanics.

Delimitation of the Study

This study adopted  the four building blocks  or dimensions  that constitute  CAIMs learning environment: content, method, sequencing and sociology. Relevant to the building

blocks/dimensions   are   eighteen   characteristics.   These   characteristics   were   used   in constructing and evaluating the CAIM learning environment  for this study.   On the  other hand, conventional teaching methods: lecture, demonstration  and discussion  among others were employed to teach the control group.

Teaching  in  both  groups  covered  the  following  areas  of  automobile  instruction: acquisition of automobile Air Conditioning (AC) information;  understanding of Electronic Fuel  Injection  (EFI)  system;  knowledge  in the  use of  On–Board–Diagnostics  (O–B–Ds) equipment  for  troubleshooting  procedures  in  automobile  Electronics  Ignition  (EI)  and application  of  Diagnostic  Skill  (DS)  in  automobile  engine  performance.  Conventional systems of vehicle component were not covered in this study because the researcher believes that students have had understanding about the components, locations and their functions.

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