Effects Of Concept-Mapping And Guided-Inquiry On Students’ Achievement In Senior Secondary Practical Chemistry In Cross River State Of Nigeria

Abstract

This study explored the effectiveness of three teaching methods on academic achievement of Chemistry students in Cross River State. Literature was reviewed based on the dependent and independent variables. The study had eight objectives from which eight research questions and six null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Quasi-experimental, non-randomised design, embodying pretest, treatment, control and post-test was adopted. The population for the study comprised 4200 SSII students in public secondary schools out of which a sample of 396 students was drawn, using purposive sampling technique. Same sampling technique was used to select six secondary schools from a population of 58 public secondary schools in Cross River State southern educational zone. A 30-item multiple choice practical chemistry achievement test (PCAT) administered as pretest and post-test was used in gathering data for the experiment. The reliability of the research instruments were determined using Kuder-Richardson 21 (KR-21) which gave a reliability coefficient of 0.80. Data gathered were analysed using mean and standard deviation for research questions and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for the hypotheses with pretest as covariate. The analysis revealed that guided-inquiry and concept-mapping were more facilitative than lecture method of teaching. Gender and school location had no significant influence on academic achievement of students. The study concluded that the two more facilitative methods be adopted for teaching chemistry for optimal results.