EFFECT OF LEARNING APPROACHES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF CHEMISTRY STUDENTS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL IN AWKA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA.

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of learning approaches on academic performance of chemistry students in senior secondary school in awka south local government area. Two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Quasi-experimental design was adopted, specifically the pre test-post test non-randomized control group design was used. The population of the study comprised 1956 senior secondary two (SS2) students offering chemistry in Awka south LGA, from which 147 students involved in the study were drawn using purposive sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was Chemistry Performance Test (CPT) validated by two experts from the Departments of Science Education and one from Educational Foundations, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The reliability of CPT was established using Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 which yielded a coefficient of internal consistency of 0.78. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation where as analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings showed that; students taught chemistry using PBL and IBL had higher mean achievements cores than those taught using lecture method and the observed difference in their mean score was significant. Gender also had no significant influence on students’ academic performance in chemistry. It was recommended among others that chemistry teachers should teach chemistry using PBL and IBL approaches among others.