Effects of Statistical Knowledge on Understanding and Performance in Ecological Concept among Colleges of Education Students in North-West, Nigeria.

This study conducted on effects of statistical knowledge on performance in ecological concept among colleges of education students in North-West, Nigeria. The study employed Quasi-experimental research design specifically pre-test and post-test design. The experimental groups were taught Statistical concepts before ecological concepts while the control group was taught ecological concepts only. Two objectives, research questions and null hypotheses were stated to guide the study. The population of the study were all NCEII Biology students in public colleges of education in North-West, Nigeria. The sample size of the study was 113 biology students (male = 85 and female=28). The sample size was obtained using simple random sampling technique involving balloting. Ecology Performance Test (EPT) and Students Understanding Ecology Concepts Questionnaire (SUECQ) with reliability co-efficient of 0.93 and 0.89 respectively were obtained using PPMC and Cronbach-alpha reliability test respectively. The t-test statistic and U-test statistics were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the analysis revealed that significance difference existed between the understanding and performance of students with good statistical background and those without. The researcher concluded that good statistical background has significance effect on students understanding and performance in ecology. The researcher recommended that policymakers should introduce a course in statistics in biology department to be taken a year before the year that they will take ecology course for them to understand and performed well in the course.

Keywords: Statistical Knowledge, Ecology, Performance, Understanding,