POWERED VEGETABLE DEHYDRATOR ON UNDERGRADUATESTUDENTS’ RETENTION IN WELDING AND SHEET METALFABRICATION

Abstract

The study was to determine the effects of a vegetable Powered Dehydrator on undergraduate Students‟
retention in Welding and Fabrication and Mechanical Drawing in North Central States Nigeria. The study
was guided by one objective, one research question and one hypothesis. Literature related to the study
were reviewed. The study adopted quasi-experimental design which consisted of two groups (control and
experimental), which involved pre-test and post-test of selected samples for the study. A total of 63
undergraduate students drawn from Federal University of Technology Minna; University of Jos and
Benue State University were used as the population for the study of this number, 17 respondents were
used as control and 16 as experimental group respectively. Two instruments (welding and Sheet Metal
Fabrication Retention Test (WSFAT) and Mechanical Drawing Achievement Test (MDAT) containing 30
multiple choice items put together were used for date collection. Each of the instruments consisted of four
option; A- D covering the content area of Welding Processes, Fabrication Processes and Mechanical
Drawing respectively. The test items were develop based on the content of Metal work Technology and
Mechanical Drawing courses from the University Undergraduate curriculum. The data collection
instruments were validated for face and content appropriateness by three experts in Metal work
Technology (Two from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi and one from Modibbo Adama
University of Technology Yola. After retirement of the final version of the test instrument were pilot-tested
an a ample of 10 Metal work Students from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Bauchi which was outside the study
area; The test, re-test methods were used to establish reliability of the instrument whose analysis yielded
a reliability coefficient of 0.70, 0.73 and 0.7, 0.74 for the two rounds of testing. Data for the study was
collected by the researcher with the help of three research assistance and were analyzed using SPSS
version 23. Mean and standard deviation were the statistical tools used in answering the research question
while t-test for independent sample used for testing the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The result
showed that the use of vegetable Dehydrator to teach had positive effect on undergraduate students‟
Retention in Welding and Sheet Metal Fabrication and Mechanical Drawing with a mean gain of 1.58,
0.41.The mean gain of those of those taught using the vegetable Powered Dehydrator was -0.88 as
against those taught using lecture method was - 0.94.
The difference in Retention between those Students taught Welding and Sheet Metal Fabrication and
Mechanical Drawing using the vegetable Dehydrator and those students taught Welding and Sheet Metal
Fabrication an d Mechanical Drawing using Lecture Method (LM) was fond to ne significant at 0.05 level
of significance. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommended that Universities and
especially Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) teacher of Welding and Sheet Metal
Fabrication and Mechanical Drawing should be encouraged to always get involved in searching Local
Material for teaching Welding and Sheet Metal; Fabrication and Mechanical Drawing in their institutions