ADOPTING PROCESS-ORIENTED GUIDED INQUIRY LEARNING METHOD FOR ENHANCEMENT OF CHEMISTRY STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN DELTA STATE

Abstract

The study examined the use of process-oriented guided inquiry learning method for the enhancement of chemistry students’ achievement in Delta State. Two research questions were raised, and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 levels of significance. A quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent pre-test, post-test, and control group design using a 2 x 2 factorial design was adopted for the study. The population of this study comprises a total of 29,409 Senior School II (SS II) students. A sample of 95 SS2 students was drawn from two secondary schools in Delta State. The purposive non-randomised sampling technique was used for the selection of the schools. The Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) was used for data collection. The reliability index was 0.85. Data collected using the CAT was analysed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent t test. The major findings of the study are that there was a significant difference between the mean achievement scores of chemistry students in process-oriented guided inquiry learning and the control group in Delta State, and there is no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and female students taught chemistry using process-oriented guided inquiry learning in Delta State. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that the use of process-oriented guided inquiry learning enhances the academic achievement of chemistry students in Delta State. Besides, it was concluded that variation in academic achievement has nothing to do with sex but is entirely related to the instructional methods. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended, among others, that chemistry teachers make a deliberate effort to incorporate process-oriented guided inquiry learning into the teaching of chemistry so as to promote better academic achievement among secondary school students.