Enhancing Secondary School Biology Students’ Achievement Through Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2026.v11.n04.021Keywords:
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, academic achievement, community knowledge, conceptual clarityAbstract
Culture is a way of livings, things and behaviours pattern of every community. This rigorous research investigates the effectiveness of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) on the academic achievement of secondary school students, especially biology students. In traditional science instruction classroom system remains textbook driven and disconnected from student’s culture and lived experiences. In this context, students unable to connect classroom instructions to real life experiences. CRP helps to integrates learner’s cultural backgrounds and indigenous community knowledge into the curriculum to create inclusive, equitable and conceptual clarity. This study utilized two group pre-test and post-test experimental designs which involving 75 Class- IX students. The experimental group received CRP-based instruction over twelve weeks while the control group followed a conventional lecture-based approach. Data analysis through ANCOVA revealed a statistically significant difference in performance with the CRP group achieving a notably higher adjusted mean score (21.47) compared to the control group (18.20). The results demonstrated a moderate-to-large effect size that indicating the CRP effectively enhances understanding across genders while controlling for prior knowledge. The findings prove that connecting biological concepts with indigenous knowledge and student’s sociocultural realities significantly improves actively engagement in classroom and academic success. This study concludes that CRP is a transformative pedagogical orientation that promotes inclusive and meaningful learning. It advocates for curriculum reform and teacher training focused on cultural responsiveness to bridge achievement gaps and develop scientifically literate and socially responsible citizens.
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