EFFECTS OF FOUR INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACHES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND COGNITIVE ATTAINMENT IN PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study investigates the effects of four instructional strategies on students’ cognitive attainment, and performance of students practical skills in practical chemistry, specifically on Stoichiometry and Chemical Reactions. School location and parental supportiveness served as moderator variables. A pretest, post-test, control group, quasiexperiment with 4x2x2 factorial design was used. A total of 584 chemistry students from secondary schools in Rivers State of South-South Nigeria participated. Three hypotheses were tested. Nine instruments, including four stimulus instruments, were used and data analyzed with Analysis of Covariance and Sheffe posthoc test. There is a significant main effect of treatment on students’ cognitive attainment (F(2,571)= 161.941; p<0.05) and performance in practical skills (F(2,571 =78.45; p<0.05). Students exposed to guided inquiry with/without demonstration strategies
achieved better than those exposed to demonstration and conventional strategies. School location had a significant main effect on student cognitive attainment (F (2,571) = 50.60; p<0.05) and performance in practical skills (F (2,571) = 16.62; p<0.05). The interaction effect of treatment, school location and parental supportiveness was not significant on the cognitive attainment in practical chemistry. The teaching and learning of practical chemistry seem to be most favoured by the use of guided inquiry, however guided inquiry could be supplemented with demonstration since the strategy was also an effective treatment.