ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of multiple intelligence- based instructional approach on student achievement and retention in Basic Science Concepts. The area of the study is Aba zone in Abia State. The population of study  comprises all Jss11 in Aba zone was 3631 students. The sample size was Sixty (60) . The instrument used for data collection was Basic Science Achievement test (BAT).Three lectures from science education department carried out face and content validation. Test retest and Kuder – Richardson formular 20 reliability was used to determine test consistency internally; and reliability index was 0.98. The researcher, with the aid of two ( 2) research assistance from each of the two sampled schools collected the data. Mean and Standard deviation were employed to answer research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The finding was that if students are taught using multiple intelligence based- instructional techniques they will have a high mean achievement and retention.  Also  if teachers adopt various instructional techniques to teach, it will appeal to the students various intelligence and will increase their motivation to learn. Also the provision of an engaged or active learning environment where students can participate actively in class discussions will increase the students’ ability to explore issues and articulate their own ideas. It was recommended that teachers teaching basic science should adopt multiple intelligence based instructional techniques. Also student should always be allowed to participate actively and interact freely with the teacher and their colleagues in class as this will improve their learning in basic science.