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ENHANCING SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS’ ACQUISITION IN BASICSCIENCE: A CASE FOR SIMULATED LABORATORY AND
ENRICHED LABORATORY GUIDE MATERIAL EXPERIMENT
Dr. S. J. Ogunkunle, Professor M.K. Akinsola
Department of Integrated Science, Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo;
Department of Science and Technology Education, University of Ibadan, Ibadan,
NIGERIA.
kunlejacob@yahoo.com, akinsolamk@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Basic Science is a core subject at the basic education level in Nigeria. It is taught tolay foundation for further studies in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. However,students do not acquire science process skills needed to enjoy, experience anddevelop interest in science subjects because of inadequate exposure to Basic Science
practical. Therefore, this study determined the effects of simulated laboratory (SL)and enriched laboratory guide material (ELGM) experiments and examined themoderating effects of gender and future career interest in science on students’acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science. Kolb’s experiential learningtheory provided the framework while the study adopted the pretest-posttest control
group quasi experimental design with a 3x2x2 factorial matrix. A total of 277 (130males, 147 females; ±17years) junior secondary three students randomly selectedfrom six purposively selected secondary schools based on availability of functional
Computer and Physics laboratories participated in the study. Data were collectedusing Science process skills test in Basic Science (r=0.72) and Future career interestin science (r=0.99). Analysis of covariance, estimated marginal means and scheffé
post-hoc analysis were employed to test seven hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.
The study indicates that both SL and ELGM enhanced students’ acquisition of science
process skills in Basic Science more than the conventional (expository) laboratory
experiment. Also, while gender play no significant role, students with science-related
future career interest in science acquired science process skills in Basic Science morethan those with non-science related. Teachers should be trained in the use of both
simulated laboratory and enriched laboratory instructional methods to ensure thatstudents acquire science process skills in the subject.
Keywords: Basic Science, SL, ELGM,INTRODUCTION
Science and technology continue to contribute to advancement in information andcommunication, efficient transportation (through air, waters, rails and roads on land),
improvement in health-care delivery, among others. Little wonder, nations of the world placeemphasis on the teaching and learning of science at all levels of education. According to the
Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC, 2008 a), Basic Scienceis a form of science education in Nigeria which was originally one of the twelve (12)compulsory subjects in the upper basic education curriculum (p.6). It replaces Integrated
Science of the old junior secondary education curriculum (NERDC, 2008 b:5) as “… a realignment and restructuring of the revised curricula for primary and Junior Secondary
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Integrated Science (NERDC, 2006:iv). However, it now exists as one of the four componentsof the Basic Science and Technology in the curriculum for junior secondary education (FRN,
2013:25). Other components are Basic Technology, Physical and Health Education andInformation Technology. Basic Science and Technology is one of the ten (10) compulsory
subjects in the basic education curriculum (NERDC, revised 2012:iv).
One of the objectives of Basic Science and Technology is “to enable the learners to acquirebasic knowledge and skills in science and technology” (NERDC, revised 2012:iv). However,Basic Science is taught without adequate involvement of students in practical works (Ndirika,2011) through which they could develop requisite skills for undertaking result-oriented
inquiry in science (Bulunuz and Jarrett, 2010). Thus, students perceive science as difficult.
Table 1: Transition Rates from Basic Science to the Senior Secondary Chemistry andPhysics in Oyo State
BECE
Year
taken

WASSCE% Population of BECE
Population
Year
Science Population graduates
who
took
(A)
taken
(B)
sciencesubjects(C=B/AX100%)
2008
80,0702011
15,16318.9
2009
85,0342012
13,72416.1
2010
80,355
2013
27,111
33.7
Source: Department of Planning, Research and Statistics, Oyo State Ministry of Education,
Secretariat, Ibadan, Oyo State (2015).
Table 1 indicates that 18.9%, 16.1% and 33.7% of the Basic Science graduates in Oyo State
offered and sat for one or both of Chemistry and Physics in the West African Senior School
Certificate Examinations (WASSCE). Therefore, secondary school students are notadequately prepared in Basic Science as a foundation subject for further studies in Biology,
Chemistry and Physics in the senior secondary school (Ekpunobi, 2005). Literature revealed
that Basic Science teachers do not engage students in practical. Most Nigeria public schools
have no Basic Science laboratory nor science kits (Nnorom, 2012 and Ajeyalemi 2011),
qualified laboratory personnel - technologist, technician, attendant and/or assistant (Taiwo,
Adeniji and Muazu, 2012) and teachers’ guide and practical manuals (Eya and Elechi 2011)
to provide directions on the conduct of experiment.
Foulds and Rowe (1996) submitted that effective science learning and development ofscience process skills are inseparable activities. Science process skills are expertise needed bya scientist to effectively carry out scientific activities. They are the hubs of scientificdiscoveries and technological breakthroughs. They have potentials to increase students’achievement and scientific creativity (Aktamiş and Ergin, 2008). The American Associations
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) identified fourteen process skills and these havebeen grouped into basic and integrated science process skills in the Science-A Process
Approach (SAPA) Curriculum project. The basic (simple) science process skills provide afoundation for learning the integrated (more complex) science process skills (Padilla, 1990).
The basic skills consists of observing, using space/time relationships, inferring, measuring,
communicating, classifying and predicting while the integrated skills include controllingvariables, defining operationally, formulating hypotheses, interpreting data, experimenting,formulating models and presenting information. Science process skills could be taught anddeveloped through constant practice in the laboratory (Feyzioğlu, 2009 and National
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Association of Biology Teachers, NABT, 2005). Hence, effective science instruction should
promote acquisition of science process skills through regular students’ involvement inlaboratory activities.
In order to improve science teaching and learning in Nigeria, science educators havesuggested the use of some instructional approaches, methods and strategies which they havefound to promote students’ interest and enhance their achievement in science. Alake (2007)
observed gradual development of students’ interest in Integrated Science when taught using
Floor Puzzle Game (FPG). Opara and Elekalachi (2007) reported that the application ofindigenous technology in science teaching makes it more meaningful and thereby captivatesthe interest of boys and girls in the learning process. However, there are no Basic Sciencelaboratories and laboratory guide material to teach practical in the subject. Thus, students
could not acquire adequate science process skills and therefore, have poor foundation inscience practical at the basic education level.
In order to make up for this deficiency in previous strategies, Shaheen and Khattab (2005)
recommended the use of simulated laboratory (SL) experiments where there are nolaboratories and Ogunbowale (2012) advocated the adoption of enriched laboratory guidematerial (ELGM) experiments where there are functional laboratories to conducting Basic
Science practical. Simulated laboratory experiment is an application of computerassisted/aided learning (CAL) to conducting experiments in the laboratory (Akanbi, 2005). It
consists of either still or mobile images/models of real apparatus, equipment and materials.
These models could be assembled by “drag and drop” using high level programming
language such as Action Script and JavaScript. It affords students the opportunity to observe,
measure, input and store values of the variables during the experimental procedure. It isavailable online or as stand-alone application package in compact disc (CD)-ROM, digital
video disc (DVD) among others (Saka, 2005).
Stand-alone application packages are not affected by limited internet connectivity and otherchallenges associated with using online simulations. This is because ‘stand-alone applications
are computer programmes that run without connection to telephone, television, satellite orother electronic transmissions’ (Olutunmbi, 2004). Thus, it was adopted, developed and usedin this study. Basic Science Simulated Laboratory Experiments Software Package(BSSLESP) was developed using Adobe Complete Suite (CS6) which consists of Adobe
Fireworks, Adobe Flash Professional, User Interface, Adobe Audition and Adobe After
Effect.
Enriched laboratory guide material (ELGM) experiment is the use of ELGM to conducting
Basic Science experiments in schools where there are functional Biology, Chemistry andPhysics laboratories. The ELGM contains activities which will enable the students to explore
in order to discover relationship(s) between experimental variables in a physical laboratory. It
minimizes potential equipment damage, time wasted, injury, and material wasted while
maximizing potentials for generating usable data (National Council of Education Research
and Training, NCERT, 2014; Pyatt and Sims, 2007). It could be produced as hard copies ordelivered in electronic form (Hofstein and Lunetta, 2004). An ELGM was developed andvalidated to conducting experiments on reflection of light at a plane surface and relationshipbetween potential difference and electric current in this study.
Research findings indicated that SL experiments as simulation mode of computerassisted/aided learning (CAL) could promote students’ science process skills acquisition.
Hughes (1973) reported that computer simulated experiments promoted level of attainment of
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science process skills by high school students in Physics. Lazarowitz and Huppert (2014)
found that computer-assisted learning (CAL) software improved the mastery of tenth-gradestudents’ science process skills in Microbiology. Yang and Heh (2007) observed enhanced
posttest mean score in science process skills of tenth-grade students in internet virtual Physics
laboratory (IVPL). Leonard (2006) reported the effectiveness of an interactive
computer/videodisc learning package at improving students’ level of acquisition of science
process skills in Biology.
Studies revealed that the use of enriched laboratory guide material experiments had improved
acquisition of science process skills. Feyzioğlu (2009) observed a significant positive linear
relationship between level of acquisition of six science process skills by Turkish University
students and efficient use of Chemistry laboratory. Jeenthong, Ruenwongsa and
Sriwattanarotha (2013) found that laboratory experiments enhanced learning of integrated
science process skills among high school students. However, Hirça (2013) reported nosignificant improvement in the level of acquisition of science process skills in hands-on
laboratory experiments in Physics. Therefore, the literature reviewed reveal that mostresearches on the effectiveness of SL and ELGM were not conducted in Basic Science as
they were performed among the senior secondary school, higher national diploma anduniversity students. Hence, this study determined the effects of simulated laboratory andenriched laboratory guide material experiments on students’ acquisition of science processskills in Basic Science.
The literature reviewed indicated no gender difference in the level of acquisition of somescience process skills except observing skills among the tenth-grade students in Biology(Huppert, Lomask and Lazarowitz, 2010; Lazarowitz and Huppert, 2014). Therefore, there isneed to exarmine level of acquisition of other science process skills by boys and girls in Basic
Science. Although, Wyss, Heulskamp and Siebert (2012) found no gender difference in the
Science, Technology and Mathematics Education (STEM) career choices of middle school
students who were provided with STEM career information using video interviews of STEM
professionals; Farenga and Joyce (1999) observed that many students between ages 9 and 13
supported female participation in life science courses and male participation in physicalscience courses. Also, future career interest determined later enrolment in science-related
disciplines in New York. Thus, Biology and related courses could be used to promoteacquisition of science process skills in females whereas physical sciences (Chemistry andPhysics) and related courses could enhance development of the skills in males. Therefore,
there is need to exarmine the future career interest in science and how it affects acquisition ofscience process skills in Basic Science.
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
H01: There is no significant main effect of treatment on students’ acquisition of science
process skills in Basic Science.
H02: There is no significant main effect of gender on students’ acquisition of science
process skills in Basic Science.
H03: There is no significant main effect of future career interest in science on students’acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science.
H04: There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on students’acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science.
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H05: There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and future career interest inscience on students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science.
H06: There is no significant interaction effect of gender and future career interest inscience on students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science.
H07: There is no significant interaction effect of treatment, gender and future careerinterest in science on students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic
Science.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
According to Kolb (1984:38), “Learning is the process whereby knowledge is createdthrough the transformation of experience”. Thus, ideas are not fixed but are usually
sharpened or modified by experience until learning takes place. Kolb believes that theexperience ( information needed to bring about learning) could be obtained from either
Concrete Experience (CE) or Abstract Conceptualization (AC) but not both simultaneously
and that the experience could be processed through either Reflective Observation (RO) or
Active Experimentation (AE) but not both at the same time. Thus, experience is translated
through reflection into concepts (new ideas) which are used as guides for active
experimentation (testing theories emanating from concepts or models of what have been
observed) and choice of new experiences.
Kolb’s experiential learning theory finds relevance in the present study in that experiential
teaching is anchored on the belief that people learn from experience which is a function ofpractice or hands-on activities and sometimes the consequences of actions performed on
physical objects. This is the basis of discovery learning found in the simulated and enrichedlaboratory guide material experiments. The use of simulated and enriched laboratory guidematerial experiments combined with learning together instructional strategy enables learners
to create knowledge from taking turns to lead the conduct of the experiments and subsequentdiscussion, clarification and explanation of their performance in the group learning activities.
METHODThe study adopted the pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design with a 3x2x2
factorial matrix to determine the effects of SL and ELGM experiments on junior secondary
school students’ achievement in Basic Science in Oyo State, Nigeria. Convenience sampling
was used to select Ibadan (11 local government areas) and Oyo (four local government areas)from 33 local government areas in Oyo State, Nigeria. Three local government areas wererandomly selected from each of Ibadan (Ibadan North, Ibadan South-East and Ibadan SouthWest) and Oyo (Afijio, Oyo-East and Oyo-West). Purposive sampling was used to select six
co-educational public secondary schools based on availability of functional Computer andPhysics laboratories. Six randomly selected intact classes of junior secondary three (JSIII)
students consisting of 130 males and 147 females with an average age of 17 years wererandomly assigned to SL (110), ELGM (60) and CEL (107) experiments. The juniorsecondary class three was used because Light and Electrical Energy had been planned forteaching under the theme “You and Energy” in Basic Science in the class by the Nigerian
Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) since 2006 and reiterated in 2012.
All selected schools had not taught light and electrical energy at the junior secondary level.
Experiments on reflection of light as well as relationship between potential difference andelectric current were purposively selected for this study because a preliminary survey among
Basic Science teachers in Oyo State have shown that light and electrical energy are among
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the perceived difficult topics of the NERDC Basic Science curriculum which are either not or
poorly taught by the teachers.
Two response and three stimulus instruments were used in this study. Science process skills
test in Basic Science (SPSTBS) was used to assess the level to which the students haveacquired some science process skills during the conduct of Basic Science laboratory
experiments. This instrument was adapted from Dillashav and Okey (1980) “A Test of theIntegrated Science Process Skills for Secondary Science Students” with a reliability
coefficient of 0.84 for the ninth-grade students in Boston. SPSTBS contains twenty-one
multiple-choice items, each having four options: a, b, c, d. Each correct option is allotted one
mark.
The instrument was designed to assess three basic science process skills (Classifying;
Measuring; Predicting) and four integrated science process skills (Defining variables
operationally; Identifying experimental variables; Presenting information - Organizing;
Interpreting data - Describing relationships between variables) inherent in the conduct of theselected experiments. It consists of sections A and B. Section A was used to collect students’personal data. Section B contains 21 multiple-choice items, each having four options: a, b, c,d. Each correct option is allotted one mark.
The instrument was given to some lecturers in the Science education unit of the departmentof Teacher education, University of Ibadan, Ibadan and some practicing Basic Scienceteachers in order to establish its content validity, objectivity of its scoring key and clarity of
its items. The instrument was administered to JSIII students who did not participate in the
study. The reliability index of 0.72 was obtained using Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (KR20).
Future career interest in science (FCIS) questionnaire was used to collect information on thetype of profession / course of study students hope to go into after schooling. It consists ofsections A and B. Section A contains students’ personal data. Section B is a checklist of 38(science-related=28 and non-science related=10) professions/courses of study, from which
the learner indicated the preferred future career. The list was adapted from Osokoya (2003)
Student Career Aspiration (SCA) and guided by the 2015/2016 eBronchure of the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Professions/courses of study which requirethat a candidate should possess the senior secondary certificate examination credit pass in atleast one of Biology, Chemistry and Physics for admission into the university through JAMB
were classified as science-related while those which do not require credit pass in any of such
science subjects were grouped as non-science related. The instrument was given face-validity
by experts in Science Education and it has a test-retest reliability index of 0.99 obtained by
Cronbach’s Alpha formula.
The stimulus instruments are instructional guide on simulated laboratory (IGSL), enrichedlaboratory guide material (IGELGM) and conventional (expository) laboratory (IGCEL)
experiments. Each guide contains the procedure for conducting the respective experiments.
The steps fall into six stages: introduction, discussion of basic concepts relevant to eachexperiment, demonstration of the experiment by the facilitator (teacher), group performanceof the experiment by the students, deduction and verification of novel relationship(s) between
experimental variables, and report writing. However, students in the CEL group were notrequired to deduce and verify relationship(s) between experimental variables. Treatments
lasted seven weeks. The data collected were analysed using Analysis of covariance(ANCOVA) with the pretest scores as covariates to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level ofsignificance. The Estimated Marginal Means (EMM) was computed to determine the posttest
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mean scores for different groups. Scheffé post-hoc analysis was used to determine thedirection of significance.
RESULTS
H01: There is no significant main effect of treatment on students’ acquisition of science
process skills in Basic Science.
Table 1: Summary of ANCOVA of Posttest Science Process Skills’ Acquisition Scores in
Basic Science by Treatment, Future Career Interest in Science and Gender
Type
III
SourceSumof df
Squares
Corrected Model
12Intercept
536.236a1
Pre-Science Process Skills
9386.701
1
Main Effect
8.409
Treatment
2
Gender269.1511
Future Career Interest in
9.008
Science12-Way Interaction
92.948Treatment x Gender2
Treatment x Future Career
3.494
Interest in Science2
Gender x Future Career
4.552
Interest in Science1
3-Way Interaction.425
Treatment x Gender x
Future Career Interest in
2
Science10.277 264
Residual (Error)
1392.680 277
Total
58627.000 276
Corrected total
1928.917

Mean
SquareFSig.

44.6868.471 .000
9386.701 1779.366 .000
8.409
1.594 .208

PartialEta
Squared
.278
.871
.006

134.576
9.008

25.510 .000* .162
1.708 .192 .006

92.94817.619 .000* .063

1.747

.331 .718

.003

2.276

.431 .650

.003

.425

.081 .777

.000

5.138
5.275

.974 .379.007

a. R Squared = .278 (Adjusted R Squared = .245) *Significant at p<.05
The results presented in Table 1 show that there was a significant main effect of treatment on
students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science (F(2,264)=25.51, p<.05; partialη2 = .162). This implies that the treatment had significant main effect on students’ posttest
science process skills score in Basic Science, with an effect size of 16.2%. Therefore,
hypothesis 1 is rejected. In order to determine the posttest mean scores of the groups, theestimated marginal means were computed and these are presented in Table 2.

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Table 2: Estimated Marginal Means of Posttest Science Process Skills’ Acquisition Scores in
Basic Science by Treatment Groups
Group

N

Mean

Std.
Error

95% Confidence Interval
Upper
Lower Bound
Bound
14.542
15.46113.88515.42712.08713.094Treatment I(SL)110 15.001a .233
Treatment II(ELGM)60 14.656a .391
Treatment
107 12.591a .256
III(CONTROL/CEL)a. Covariates appearing in the model are evaluated at Pre-Science Process Skills’ Acquisition
score=5.8700
Results from Table 2 reveal that the simulated laboratory experiment group obtained thehighest posttest mean score (15.00) followed by the enriched laboratory guide experiment(14.66) and the conventional (expository) laboratory experiment group (12.59) respectively.
This implies that students exposed to simulated laboratory experiment in Basic Scienceacquired more science process skills than those exposed to enriched laboratory guide materialand conventional (expository) experiments. Furthermore, the sources of the significant effectof treatment on science process skills’ acquisition in Basic Science were traced using Scheffé
post-hoc test as shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Scheffé Post-Hoc Analysis of Treatment on Students’ Science Process Skills’
Acquisition in Basic Science
CONTROL
Group
N
Mean
SL
ELGM
/CEL
1. Treatment I (SL)110 15.001*
2. Treatment II (ELGM)60 14.656*
3.
Treatment
III 107 12.591 **(CONTROL/CEL)*Pairs of Groups significantly different at p<.05
Scheffé post-hoc test on Table 3 shows that the posttest science process skills’ acquisition
mean score (15.00) of the SL group was significantly different from the mean score (12.59) of
the CEL group. Also, the posttest science process skills’ acquisition mean score (14.66) ofstudents in the ELGM group was significantly higher than the mean score (12.59) of the CEL.
Thus, the significant differences of the treatment on students’ science process skills’
acquisition exist between pairs of SL and CEL as well as ELGM and CEL. This implies thateach of the SL and ELGM is significantly more effective in enhancing students’ achievementin Basic Science than CEL.
H02: There is no significant main effect of gender on students’ acquisition of science processskills in Basic Science.
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Table 1 reveals that that there was no significant main effect of gender on students’acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science (F(1,264)=1.71, p<.05). Therefore,
hypothesis 2 is not rejected.
H03: There is no significant main effect of future career interest in science on students’acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science.
Table 1 shows that there was a significant main effect of future career interest in science on
students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science (F(1,264)=17.62, p<.05; partial
η2 =.063). This implies that the future career interest in science had a significant main effecton students’ acquisition of science process skills posttest mean score in Basic Science, with aneffect size of 6.3%. Therefore, hypothesis 3 is rejected. In order to determine how the groups
performed, the Estimated Marginal Means were computed and these are presented in Table 4.
Table 4: Estimated Marginal Means of Posttest Science Process Skills’ Acquisition Scores in
Basic Science by Future Career Interest in Science Groups
95% Confidence Interval
Group
N
Mean
Upper
Lower BoundBounda
1. Science-related
197
14.809.169
14.47615.143a2. Non-Science related
80
13.356.302
12.76213.951a. Covariates appearing in the model were evaluated at Pre-Science Process Skills’
Acquisition score= 5.8700
Std.
Error

Table 4 reveals that students with science-related future career interest in science group had
higher posttest science process skills acquisition mean score (14.81) in Basic Science than the
non-science related group (13.36). This implies that students in the science-related future
career interest in science group acquired more science process skills than those in the nonscience related group.
H04: There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on students’ acquisitionof science process skills in Basic Science.
Table 1 shows that there was no significant 2-way interaction effect of treatment and genderon students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science (F(2,264)=.33, p<.05).
Therefore, hypothesis 4 is not rejected.
H05: There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and future career interest in scienceon students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science.
Table 1 shows that there was no significant 2-way interaction effect of treatment and future
career interest in science on students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science(F(2,264)=.43, p<.05). Therefore, hypothesis 5 is not rejected.

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H06: There is no significant interaction effect of gender and future career interest in science on
students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science.
Table 1 shows that there was no significant 2-way interaction effect of gender and future
career interest in science on students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science(F(1,264)=.08, p<.05). Therefore, hypothesis 6 is not rejected.
H07: There is no significant interaction effect of treatment, gender and future career interest inscience on students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science.
Table 1 shows that there was no significant 3-way interaction effect of treatment, gender andfuture career interest in science on students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic
Science (F(2,264)=.97, p<.05). Therefore, hypothesis 7(b) is not rejected.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Effect of Treatment on Students’ Acquisition of Science Process Skills in Basic Science
The results obtained in this study indicated that simulated laboratory and enriched laboratory
guide material experiments had significant effect on students’ acquisition of science processskills in Basic Science. The two modes of laboratory experiments enhanced students’acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science better than the conventional (expository)laboratory experiments. This is because students are well guided in the conduct ofexperiments through the procedure provided on the note field in the SL software and ELGM.
Also, SL software is interactive such that correct operations are rewarded with the opportunity
to continue to perform the experiment while students were unable to proceed with theexperiment when incorrect operations were made on the software. Thus, the two modes oflaboratory experiment engaged students more in inquiry-based activities which improved
acquisition and retention of science process skills than the conventional (expository)laboratory experiments.
These findings are in agreement with the result obtained by Hughes (1973) report thatcomputer-simulated experiment enhanced significantly the acquisition of science processskills in Physics by high school students than either the conventional laboratory experiments
or a combination of both. Activity-oriented instruction type and mutual teacher physicalinteractions (Joju, 2003) which are the features of the simulated and enriched laboratory guidematerial experiments are not adequate in the conventional (expository) laboratory experiments.
These improved acquisition of science process skills (Feyzioğlu, 2009) which are retained by
the students for a longer time than the cognitive knowledge (Akinbobola and Afolabi, 2010).
Effect of Future Career Interest in Science on Students’ Acquisition of Science Process
Skills in Basic Science
The findings of this study showed that future career interest in science had significant effecton students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science. Science-related future
career interest improved students’ acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science morethan non-science related future career interest in science. This is because anticipated/expected
reward(s) in science-related future career (e.g. job prospects and job demands on science)aroused students’ interest to participate in and learn science process skills in Basic Science(Wang and Staver, 2010; Njoku, 2003).

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Asian Journal of Management Sciences & Education Vol. 11(2) July- October 2022__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CONCLUSION
This study revealed that simulated laboratory and enriched laboratory guide material
experiments are effective at improving acquisition of science process skills of students in
Basic Science notwithstanding the gender. Thus, simulated laboratory experiment offers aviable alternative to the use of hands-on laboratory experiment in order to teach Basic Science
effectively especially in schools where there are no functional science laboratories. However,schools with well-equipped laboratory could enrich their practical lessons through the use of
the enriched laboratory guide material experiments.
Future career interest in science could propel students to do well in science subjects. This isevident in greater acquisition of science process skills in Basic Science of students in thescience-related than those in the non-science related future career interest. Thus, the relevanceof students’ future career interest to science and related discipline plays significant roles in theeffective use of laboratory experiments to teach Basic Science practical.
The simulated laboratory and enriched laboratory guide material experiments arerecommended for teaching the practical components of Basic Science in order to promoteacquisition of science process skills in the subject. Relevant professional bodies like theacross the world should organize seminars, workshops and conferences for practicing Basic
Science teachers on the importance and use of simulated and enriched laboratory guidematerial experiments to teach the subject.

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