Impact of Dual co-teaching on the Understanding of Genetics by Grade 12 Pupils at Chambishi Secondary School in Kalulushi District of Zambia

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of dual co-teaching on the understanding of genetics at Chambishi Secondary School in Kalulushi District of Zambia. A two-group pretest-posttest true experimental research design was used in which quantitative data
were collected using a genetics achievement test and a Likert type questionnaire. The study sample consisted of 120 respondents
who were drawn from all the six grade 12 classes and 1 biology teacher who worked as a co-teacher. Descriptive statistics such
as means, standard deviations and median were used to summarize the data while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level
using Mann Whitney U test and independent t-test using SPSS version 20. The major findings of the study were that the experimental group which was exposed to dual co-teaching posted a higher achievement rate in genetics assessments and improved attitude compared to the control group. The results also showed that there no statistically significant difference in the
performance of males and females in genetics. The improved performance was due to the fact that dual co-teaching creates
stronger and more creative lessons through improved student-teacher relationships, additional supports and diversity in the
classroom. The study recommended that dual co-teaching should be institutionalized and explored in other subjects.