A Comparative Study of Teaching Approaches in Agro-Ecology: An Investigation of 10th-Grade Agricultural Sciences Learners in Selected Schools

Abstract

The impact of climate change on agriculture in South Africa is a key factor that contributes to food insecurity. While this topic is covered in the Agro-ecology unit in Grade 10, it is important to determine the most effective way to teach it to learners. That is important because teaching methods utilized in Agricultural Sciences are envisaged to improve learners’ performance on the impact of climate change on food security. This study quantitatively compared teaching methods (i.e., Lecture, Demonstration, and Project-based) and their impact on learners’ performance in Agro-ecology. Each teaching method was tested on each group of 15 learners, which resulted in 45 learners per school, and the total number of participants was 180 when four schools were combined. A pre-experimental and post-test research design was employed to identify effective teaching methods for Agro-ecology among Grade 10 learners in Limpopo and Eastern Cape provinces. Analysis of covariate was used to test the hypothesis that (1) learners’ content knowledge on climate change and food security would differ with teaching methods, (2) the project-based and demonstration teaching methods would improve learners’ content knowledge because the project-based and demonstration methods are more practical, and learners learn better through these methods. The results showed that learners in the project-based and demonstration groups had significantly higher scores than those in the lecture (p < 0.05). The findings suggest that incorporating project-based teaching methods in secondary schools can improve learners’ performance and skills in Agricultural Sciences.