ABSTRACT

This study was designed to investigate the effect of classroom interaction patterns on academic achievement and interest of secondary school chemistry students in Abia State, Nigeria. The study adopted pre-test, post-test quasi experimental design. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of 3150 senior secondary SS1 chemistry students and the sample consisted of one hundred and thirty-six (136) students purposively drawn from a co-educational school. The sample comprised fifty (50) male students and eighty-six (86) female students. Three intact classes were assigned the different classroom interaction patterns (group classroom interaction patterns, whole classroom interaction patterns and individualistic classroom interaction patterns). The instruments used for data collection were Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) and Chemistry Interest Inventory (CII). The instruments were validated by two chemistry experts and an expert in measurement and evaluation. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Result showed that classroom interaction patterns were effective in enhancing students’ academic achievement when taught gas laws, however, students taught gas laws using individualistic classroom interaction pattern had higher achievement than those taught with group classroom interaction patterns and whole classroom interaction patterns. Furthermore, gender has no significant effect on students’ academic achievement and interest when taught gas laws using the three different classroom interaction patterns. Recommendations were made which include among others that chemistry teachers should consider implementing classroom interactions in teaching-learning of chemistry concepts in order to make learning student-centered. This will arouse students’ interest and solve the problem of poor academic achievement in chemistry.