E.E. Uko. Aviomoh

The study investigated the effect of Foods and Nutrition Practical Demonstration Instructional Method on handling practices inSecondary Schools in Benin Metropolis. Six (6) research questions were raised to guide the study, and four (4) hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The design for the study was quasi- experimental, non-randomized research design. The population was 115 SS II Foods and Nutrition Students in 8 mixed Secondary Schools in Benin Metropolis in Edo State, Nigeria. The sample drawn from the population was 48 SS II Foods and Nutrition Students from Secondary Schools in Egor and Oredo Local Government Area in Edo State. The instrument for data collection were a standardized West African Examination Certificate (WAEC) past question for knowledge test and an adapted WAEC and National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) Check list. The adapted checklist was validated and reliability determined using Cronbach alpha statistics and the co-efficient was 0.79 before it was used. Research question 1 and 2 were answered using frequencies and
percentages while before hypotheses were analysed using mean, standard deviation, paired
sample t-test, t-test of independent samples and two-way Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. XIV The results from the findings of the study revealed that: (i) the Practical Demonstration Instructional Method was effective after exposing students to the treatment, (ii)
there was interaction effect of treatment based on gender; (iii) students have poor knowledge of hygiene practices in food handling; (iv) female students are more knowledgeable in handling practices than the male students. It was concluded that the treatment was effective on the experimental group irrespective of gender. The researcher recommended among others, that Foods and Nutrition Practicals Demonstration Instructional Method guarantees effective teaching of Foods and Nutrition and so should be encouraged in Public Secondary Schools for teaching Food and Nutrition Practicals. There should be provision of facilities for teaching Food and Nutrition Practicals in schools and that Food and Nutrition should be encouraged in boys’ schools.