Effect of Social Constructivist Approach on Life Skills and Achievement in Biology of Secondary School Students in Relation to Self Efficacy

Abstract

Education and Life skills aretwo important constituents which are necessary to get success in life. There are many people who are educated but are not successful in life. Mostly the reason behind this, is the lack of life skills. They do not possess personal, social and communication skills. Due to lack of these life skills, they do not get success in many areas and may face failure in their life. Mostly these individuals have capabilities in them, but they lack life skills,self awareness and self confidence due to which they underestimate themselves. However, if they get some mastery and vicarious experiences in their life, they can become successful people. Social constructivist approach is an approach which can provide such experiences to students during their teaching-learning process in their school years. This is an approach in which students construct their knowledge through social interaction. Therefore, it can be helpful in developing life skills as well asin enhancing theirachievement level. newlineKeeping this aspect in view, the investigator carried out a study to explore the Effect of Social Constructivist Approach on Life Skills and Achievement in Biology of Secondary School Students in relation to Self Efficacy. The purposive sampling method was used to select the sample from Class IX of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Public School, Amritsar. On the basis of scores obtained in the classifying variable i.e. Self Efficacy Scale,developed by Singh and Narain(2014), the sample was classified into three categories i. e. students having high, average and poor level of self-efficacy. From this sample randomly two equivalent groups namely experimental group and control group were formed which have equal numbers of students havinghigh, average and poor level of self-efficacy. Lesson plans based on social constructivist approach and Biology Achievement Test (BAT) were developed by the investigator from the biology section of class IX Science textbook.