EFFECTS OF INQUIRY TEACHING STRATEGY ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ RETENTION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY IN JALINGO

Abstract

The study investigated the Effects of Inquiry Strategy on Senior Secondary School Students’ Retention and Achievement in Chemistry in Taraba State, Nigeria. It was based on the premise that over the years (2011-2021) students’ achievement in secondary school Chemistry examinations in Nigeria and in Jalingo Education Zone have been poor. The fluctuating and poor results are due to teachers’ use of inappropriate teaching strategy in most secondary schools that does not encourage active learning by students. The study employed the quasi-experimental of pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group research design. The target population consisted of 1,500 senior secondary two (SSII) students in 32 co-educational secondary schools. The sample consisted of 150 SSII intact group Chemistry students for the experimental and control groups. A 50 multiple-choice Periodic-Table Achievement Test (PTAT) with reliability value of r = 0.91using Kuder-Richardson formula 20 was used to gather data for the study. Two research questions guided the study while two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 levels of significance. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Findings from the study showed, amongst others, that Inquiry Teaching Strategy was more effective in facilitating students’ retention and improved students’ achievement in chemistry than the Lecture Teaching Strategy. Furthermore, the result revealed a significant difference of using ITS and LTS on SS II students’ achievement and retention mean scores in Periodic-Table. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others, that Chemistry teachers should adopt Inquiry Teaching Strategy in teaching Chemistry in senior secondary schools. Stakeholders should organize workshops and seminars for in-service and pre-service Chemistry teachers on the use of Inquiry Teaching Strategy.