IMPROVING STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION OF LEARNING IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE USING 7ES INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL

This study was undertaken to determine the effects of 7Es Instructional Model in the achievement of students in Environmental Science. It is anchored in the belief that between the two, the Traditional Approach and the use of 7Es Instructional Model in teaching Environmental Science, the latter leads to a positive effect on science achievement and retention of previously gained concepts in the Environmental Science Strand in K to 12 Science Curriculum. This study used the Quasi-Experimental Design, particularly Two – Factor Mixed Design. The experimental group was subjected to the use of 7Es Learning Model for teaching environmental science while the control group was taught with the Traditional Approach.The participants of the study were 38, 7^th graders from each group. The experimental and the control groups of participants were given pre-test, underwent different treatments and were given the post-test. Three weeks, later the same post – test was re-administered to assess the retention level of the participants. The instrument used in the study were the Lesson plan, and Teacher-made Achievement Test. The instruments were validated by the pool of experts and were rated very good.Resultsshows that there is no significant difference between the posttest scores of the experimental and control groups. It also revealed that there is a significant difference between the posttest and pretest mean scores of the experimental and control groups while retention of previously gained concept in science was significant in the lag test scores of the experimental group. Analysis of Test Items and Lesson plans (7Es Instructional Model) shows that the category Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Extends promote high scores in the Science Achievement Test. Thus, teachers may use the 7Es instructional Model in making Daily Lesson Plan in teaching science subjects to improve the achievement and enhance retention of previously gained concepts of students.