Abstract

Students’ performance in Biology consistently showed that biological topics like Ecology, remains suboptimal. These challenges are attributed to traditional teacher-centered instructional methods that often fail to engage students actively or foster deep understanding. This study investigated the effects of collaborative learning strategy on senior students' academic achievement in ecology. Employing a quasi-experimental research design with pretest and posttest measures, 152 Senior Secondary School II (SS2) students from 2 public schools in Oyo Central Senatorial District were assigned to experimental (67 for collaborative learning) and control (85 for conventional teaching) groups. Data were collected using the Ecology Achievement Test (EAT), and analyzed via Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results revealed: a significant effect of collaborative learning on academic achievement of students in ecology (F(1;149) = 101.242; P < 0.05), with students in the collaborative group outperformed those in the control group; a significant interactions effect of collaborative learning and conventional teaching method on academic achievement of students in ecology (F(3;148) =34.431; P<0.05), which suggested hybrid approaches to enhance improved outcomes. The study concluded that, collaborative learning fosters peer interaction and yielded improvement in students’ achievement in ecology at the senior secondary school. Recommendation from the study emphasized its integration into teaching and learning of ecology to address persistent underachievement of students in the topic at the senior secondary school level.