EFFECTS OF CONCEPT MAPPING STRATEGY ON SENIOR SECONDARY TWO STUDENTS’ RETENTION IN REDOX REACTIONS IN JOS NORTH, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of concept mapping strategy on senior secondary two students' retention in redox reactions in Jos North, Plateau State, Nigeria.  Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study.  The study adopted Quasi-experimental design of the non-equivalent control; group design. The population of the study comprised 3088 students for 2022/2023 academic session studying Chemistry as a subject. A sample of 167 students, consisting of 82 female and 85 male students were drawn from two public senior secondary schools. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the two public senior secondary schools. The instrument used for data collection was Redox Reaction Retention Test (RRRT) with reliability coefficient of 0.77.  RRRT was adopted from the West African Examination Council past questions and answers. The test consisted of 25 objective items. Mean and standard deviation (SD) were used to analyze the collected data to answer the research questions, ANCOVA was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.  The findings of the study revealed   that there was a significant difference in the mean retention scores of students taught redox reaction using concept mapping strategy and those taught using lecture method in favour of the student taught using concept mapping. With respect to gender, there was a significant difference in the mean retention score of male and female students taught Chemistry using concept mapping teaching strategy. Going by the findings, it was concluded that, the use of concept mapping teaching strategy enhanced students’ retention in Chemistry more than the lecture method. It was therefore, recommended that Chemistry teachers should be encouraged to use concept mapping in teaching and learning to improve students’ retention in redox reaction.