This study investigated the effect of crossword puzzle and matching word activities on the attitude of primary school pupils in Basic Science in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study examined the effect of crossword puzzle and matching word activities on the attitude, performance and retention ability of primary school pupils before and after being exposed to crossword puzzle and matching word activities in Basic Science. The study adopted the pre-test and post-test control group quasi-experimental design. The sample for the study comprised 180 primary pupils drawn from six primary schools in the three Senatorial Districts of Ekiti State using multistage sampling procedure from a total population of 14,830 pupils in primary schools. Two groups were involved in the study: the experimental group and the control group. The pupils in experimental group were exposed to crossword puzzle and matching word activities while the control group was taught with conventional method. Two research instruments were used, namely: Pupils’ Attitudinal Scale Questionnaire on Basic Science (PASQBS) Matching Word Activities (CWPMWA) to collect relevant data from the primary schools. The face and content validity of the instruments were ensured through test re-test method while the reliability of the instruments was determined using Cronbach alpha which yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.70 and 0.82 respectively. The research questions raised were answered using descriptive statistic involving means, standard deviation and bar charts while inferential statistics of a two-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). All hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance.
Findings showed that there was no significant difference between the attitude of pupils exposed to experimental and those exposed to control groups indicating initial academic homogeneity of the groups. After treatment, there was a significant difference in the attitudinal mean scores of pupils in the experimental and those in the control groups. It was concluded that the use of crossword puzzle and matching word activities could enhance better and positive attitude of pupils towards Basic Science and based on the findings, it was recommended that crossword puzzle and matching word activities should be incorporated into the teaching and learning of Basic Science in primary and post-primary schools in Ekiti State and Nigeria as a whole.

Keywords: Crossword puzzle, matching word, attitude, primary school pupils, male and female,

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