GUIDED INQUIRY LABORATORY-BASED INSTRUCTION AND SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS’ LEARNING OUTCOME IN CHEMISTRY IN RIVERS STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of guided inquiry laboratory-based instruction on senior secondary school students’ learning outcome. The study which was conducted in Port Harcourt Local Government area of Rivers State was guided by four objectives, four research questions and four null hypotheses. Simple random sampling was used to draw a sample of one hundred and fifteen senior secondary class one students from a population of 2,564. The quasi experimental design was employed to present one experimental and one control group. The instrument used to collect data was a validated twenty-five item multiple-choice questions. The test retest method was used to obtain a reliability of 0.82 for the instrument. The experimental group was taught separation technique using the guided inquiry laboratory-based instruction while the control group was taught using the unguided inquiry laboratory-based instruction. Both groups were given pretest, posttest and post posttest. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the analysis of covariance was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significant level. The result showed that students taught with guided inquiry laboratory-based instruction had a higher performance and retention than those in the control group with a statistically significant difference. It was recommended amongst others that teachers should endeavor to use guided inquiry laboratory-based instruction to teach students chemistry in schools.