Effect of Jigsaw Learning Strategy on Nutrition Education Knowledge of Home Economics Students in Upper Basic Schools in Enugu State

The study examined the effect of Jigsaw Learning Strategy on Nutrition Education Knowledge of Home Economics Students in Upper Basic Schools in Enugu State. Three purposes, three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted quasi-experimental, pre-test, post-test non-equivalent control group research design. The population of the study was 21478 (10,305 males and 11,173 females) Upper Basic students in six Education Zones of Enugu State. The sample of the study is 428 Upper Basic II students (200 males and 228 females) drawn using multistage sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was Nutrition Knowledge Test (NKT). The instrument was validated by three experts and further tested for reliability and the KR-20 reliability coefficient of the 20-item test was 0.87. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The findings of the research questions revealed that Home Economics students taught nutrition education with Jigsaw Learning Strategy have a higher nutritional knowledge mean score than those taught with the conventional approach. Female Home Economics students taught nutrition education with Jigsaw Learning Strategy have a higher nutritional knowledge mean score than male Home Economics students taught with the same approach. There is no interaction between method and gender on Home Economics students’ nutritional knowledge mean score. The hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and the findings revealed that: There is a significant difference in the nutritional knowledge mean score of junior secondary school Home Economics students taught nutrition education with Jigsaw Learning Strategy and students taught nutrition education with the conventional method. There is no significant difference in the nutritional knowledge mean score of male and female junior secondary school Home Economics students taught nutrition education with Jigsaw Learning Strategy. There is no significant difference in the interaction effect of method and gender on junior secondary school Home Economics students’ nutritional knowledge mean score. It was recommended that Home Economics teachers should adopt the Jigsaw Learning Strategy in teaching nutrition education in Upper Basic Schools.