Effect of Blended Teaching Method on Junior Secondary School Students’ Retention in Basic Technology Subject in Biu Educational Zone, Borno State Nigeria

The main purpose of this study is to determine the effect of blended teaching method on junior secondary school students’ retention in Basic Technology subject in Biu Educational Zone of Borno State, Nigeria. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted quasi-experimental design of pretest, posttest nonrandomized nonequivalent control group design. The population of the study was 22,968 Junior Secondary School students offering Basic Technology in Biu Educational Zone of Borno State. Purposive sampling technique was used to select two Junior Secondary School in Biu Educational Zone of Borno State for the study. The total sample size was 182 students in their JSS II. The instrument for data collection was developed by the researcher titled: “Basic Technology Retention Test (BTRT)”. The instrument was validated by three experts. A reliability coefficient of 0.88 was obtained using Cronchbach Alpha after the draft instrument was trial tested on 30 JSS II students of Government Day Juniour Secondary School, Damaturu, Yobe State, Nigeria. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while z-test and ANOVA was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The finding of the study revealed that the There is significant difference in the mean retention scores of students in Basic Technology taught using blended and lecture teaching method in Biu Educational Zone of Borno State; Male students’ retention mean scores were higher than their female counterpart in both blended and lecture teaching methods. This indicates that blended teaching method is effective in teaching both male and female students. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made: Government should liaise with the appropriate school authorities in order to encourage and support the use of blended learning platform in secondary schools as this could enhance students’ retention in various subjects.

the best educational elements that both face-to-face classroom environment and the online learning environment have to offer.
A study by Sisco, Woodcock and Eady (2015) revealed that students taught using online e-teaching synchronous platform have high rate of retention than those in face-to-face presentations, and in terms of quality teaching learned materials, the online presentations was considered as good as face-to-face presentations. In the same vain, Hiralaal (2012) reported that the students got immediate feedback from online assessments, and there was greater teacher-student interaction as well as student-student interaction through meaningful dialogue with peers. Finally, there was more convenience, flexibility and access to learning in the blended learning environment that help students retained learning tasks as well as quick recall of the needed skills. Contrarily, Chang, Shu, Liang, Tseng and Hsu (2014) examined the effects of blended e-learning on electrical machinery performance and found no significant difference in retention test scores between blended e-learning and traditional method of teaching. Supporting Chang, Shu, Liang, Tseng and Hsu (2014) report, Elmer, Carter, Armga and Carter (2016) found no significant difference in the retention ability between those taught using blended and traditional teaching methods.
Many different studies (Ahmed, 2011;Ferriman, 2013) found positive results in retention for blended learning. Kazu and Demirkol (2014) performed a six-week long study with 54 twelfth grade biology students in Turkey. The students in the blended learning group, which had access to a class blog that allowed them to answer questions, interact, and take notes collaboratively, scored statistically significantly higher on the posttest than students in the control group, which was a traditional, face-to-face classroom. On the other hand, Kazu and Demirkol (2014) looked at whether or not gender played a role in this outcome, but Kazu and Demirkol found that while females did score higher in both groups, there was no significant evidence that one method worked better for one gender over the other.

Statement of the Problem
The researchers observed that technology teachers in Borno state over the years had been relying greatly on lecture methods in teaching or presenting technological ideas and concepts to students. This is may be one of the causes of low students' performance in Basic Technology in Borno state. Despite the strength of the rapid spread of technology around the world in recent times, there is a decline in the academic performance of students in basic technology in the state. This poor performance has been be achieved. Therefore, there is the need to identify effective ways and means of improving students' performance in Basic technology in the state upper basic schools.

Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to determine the effect of blended teaching method on Junior

Research Design
The study adopted quasi-experimental design of pretest, posttest nonrandomized nonequivalent control group design. According to Cohen, Manion and Morrisom (2007), quasi-experimental design is employed only when randomization was not possible and it is typically easier to set up than real experimental design. Similarly, to use a natural classroom setting for experimental research without random assignment, a nonequivalent group design of Quasi-experimental is considered more appropriate (Sambo, 2005). The model sketch of the design of the study is presented below: was not put into memory for the blended teaching method while 12.95 out of 42.32 was not put into memory for lecture teaching method. It was therefore, concluded that students retain more content taught using blended teaching method than lecture method.

Research Question Two
What are the mean retention scores of male and female students taught Basic Technology using blended and lecture teaching methods in Biu Educational Zone of Borno State? The result of the analysis in Table 2 shows the posttest mean achievement score and the retention mean students performed better with a mean score of 50.58 and 48.08 respectively in the posttest, realized for the use of lecture teaching method while the retention mean score stand at 41.48 and 35.66 male and female respectively. Their standard deviation ranges from 11. 30 -12.56. This result indicates that blended teaching method is effective in increasing students' knowledge retention.

Hypothesis One
There is no significant difference in the mean retention scores of students in Basic Technology taught using blended and lecture teaching method in Biu Educational Zone of Borno State.  Table 3 shows the z-test analysis of the mean retention score of students. Table 3 showed that at 0.05 level of significance, the z-cal. value was 2.65, which is greater than the table value of 1.96. Therefore, the null hypothesis that stated that there is no significant difference in the mean retention scores of students in Basic Technology taught using blended and lecture teaching method was rejected. Based on this, it was concluded that there was significant difference between the retention test scores of students in basic technology when taught using blended and lecture teaching method.

Hypothesis Two
There is no significant difference in the interaction effect of male and female student taught Basic Technology using blended and lecture teaching method in Biu Educational Zone of Borno State. learning. They tended to learn how to use technology from others, whereas males were more likely to learn from their own experience. Another reason for this result is that male students are more articulated in the use of technologies than their female counterparts are. Females are however better in language than science and social sciences and could also be due to the fact that male students can withstand harder task than female students Schumacher and Morahan-Martin (2011) found that in general, men tend to have more favorable attitudes toward computers. Ong and Lai (2016) reported that men's rating of computer self-efficacy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and behavioral intention to use e-learning are all higher than that of women. Scholars who believe in gender differences have tried to provide explanations for their existence. Cockburn and Ormond (2013) claimed that technology has traditionally played a gendered role in the western society. In the area of information technology, males are main designers and developers. This may cause a mismatch between technology and women's learning, working and living styles. Furthermore, Wilson and Smilanich (2005) found that the language used in technology fields is male-oriented. This may alienate females and prevent them from participating in these fields. Campbell and Varnhagen (2012) argued that some computer applications in education such as self-paced tutorials may not work for the benefit of women who are more relational learners than males. Gender stereotype does not favor women either in the use of technology. Some studies suggest that the higher computer anxiety of girls is related to the sex bias of teachers, who were found to make more eye contact with boys when discussing technology and computers (Okebukola, 2013).

Conclusion
Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that blended teaching method enhances students retention of passed knowledge as the process of knowledge acquisition involved the students engaging themselves in the activities and by so doing acquire knowledge as well as skills to perform such a task.
The students in the experimental group showed high retention ability than those in the lecture method and the blended learning method support all categories of students irrespective of their gender.

Recommendations
The study made the following recommendations: (i) Government should liaise with the appropriate school authorities in order tpo encourage and support the use of blended learning platform in secondary schools as this could enhance students retention in various subjects (ii) Students should be encouraged to take maximum advantages of the opportunities offered by blended learning since blended learning could be utilized to complement other method of teaching and learning as well as for individual learning.