Abstract
The study determined the effect of concept attainment model of teaching on secondary school students performance in biology. Three null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The design adopted for this study was quasi-experimental pre-test posttest non-equivalent control group design using a sample of 127 Senior School Students selected from two senior secondary school from Yola North LGA in Adamawa state, Nigeria. Instrument used for data collection was a cognitive achievement test tagged Biology Cognitive Test (BCT) adapted from WAEC tests from 2010 to 2015. The instrument was both face and content validated by three experts and Cronbach alpha method was used for determining its reliability, the reliability coefficient of 0.78 was obtained. The treatment lasted for eight weeks and data were analyzed using two-way Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA). The result revealed that, concept attainment model enhanced students’ performance as well as retention in biology at both post-test and retention test. There was no significant difference between male and female students in the experimental group and control groups. It was recommended that, concept attainment model should be incorporated in teaching biology for meaningful learning and that workshops should be organized for pre-service and practicing teachers on how to use concept attainment model