Culturally relevant pedagogy laced with technological and contextual elements to lower anxiety and enhance retention of biology concepts

Background Adopting innovative teaching methods can enhance students’ attainment within today’s dynamic educational landscape. The Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach (CTCA), which integrates cultural, technological and contextual elements, offers a promising framework for improving learning. This study, conducted among senior secondary school students in Nigeria, explores the potentials of CTCA to improve persistent low retention and high anxiety in science learning, particularly in nervous coordination, for better learning outcomes.Purpose The impetus or rationale for this study is to investigate the potency of CTCA in reducing anxiety and promoting the retention of biology concepts.Sample The two intact classes from the two schools, comprising a total of 92 students were used for the experimental and comparison groups. The experimental group had 47 students (22 males, 25 females), while the comparison groups comprised 45 students (23 males, 22 females). This research adopted a mixed-method approach, following an explanatory sequential design that integrates both quantitative and qualitative stages. The numerical data in the quasi-experimental research were collected using the Nervous Coordination Achievement Test (NCAT) and Nervous Coordination Anxiety Scale (NCAS) a reliability coefficient of 0.87 and 0.76 respectively. The experimental group was taught with CTCA, while the comparison group was taught with the lecture method. The quantitative data were analyzed using MANCOVA since the participants were not randomly assigned to the groups and the qualitative data was analyzed using framework analysis.Results The result showed that the experimental group had better retention (26.19) than the control (10.02) [F (1,88) = 310.35; p < .05. Those students who were taught nervous coordination using the culturo-techno-contextual approach had a significantly lower level of anxiety (9.32) than the comparison group (22.15) F (1,88) = 89.93; p < .05Conclusions We concluded that CTCA creates a sense of relevance and urgency that boosts engagement, lowers anxiety, and enhances retention