Academic Impact of Blended Learning in Basic Science: A Case Study from Oredo, Nigeria

This study investigated the impact of blended learning (BL) on the academic performance of basic science students in Oredo Local Government Area (L.G.A.) of Edo State, Nigeria. The research employed a quasi-experimental setting of non-equivalent (pretest, posttest) and control group design. The population for this study comprised 35,386 basic science students in Junior Secondary School II (JSS II), and stratified random sampling was employed to select two schools (a public and private school) as the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received the BL method, while the control group continued with the conventional method. The study lasted for five (5) weeks; thereafter, a posttest was conducted. The Basic Science Achievement Test (BSAT) was the instrument used for data collection. Mean, standard deviation, t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tested the five hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance and the results showed that students taught in a blended classroom performed better academically than those in traditional settings. From the study, there was no significant interaction effect of gender, school type, or ability level on performance. BL methods are recommended for teaching basic sciences in JSS because they promote student retention and academic performance.