EFFECT OF CONTEXT-BASED TEACHING STRATEGY ON SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

EFFECT OF CONTEXT-BASED TEACHING STRATEGY ON SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

The study was designed to investigate the effect of context-based teaching strategy on senior secondary students’ achievement in physical chemistry. Five research questions were answered and five null hypotheses were formulated and tested at the 0.05 level of significance. A quasi experimental (the non-equivalent pre-test control group) design was adopted for the study. 451 SSII chemistry students selected from four secondary schools in Agbani Education Zone of Enugu State were used for the study. Stratified random sampling technique was used in the selection and classification of the population into the experimental (treatment) and control groups. Thus, four single-sex schools were used for the study. The two schools one male and one female were selected from each of the urban and rural locations respectively. 230 and 221 students were selected and classified into experimental and control groups in the urban and rural schools respectively. Experimental group consisted of five intact classes while the control group consisted of five intact classes of male and female students which were randomly selected by balloting from the schools with more than six arms of SSII students. Only one instrument, which was constructed by the researcher, the Physical Chemistry Achievement Test (PCAT), was employed in the data collection. The instrument was validated and its reliability coefficient established was 0.56. The PCAT instrument was administered as both the pre-test and post-test. The data obtained from the administration of the instrument was analyzed using mean, standard deviation and analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). The study found out, among others that context-based teaching strategy was significantly better than the expository method in enhancing students’ transfer achievement in chemistry. Based teaching strategy be adopted in teaching and learning of physical chemistry in the secondary and tertiary levels of the educational system. It was also recommended that seminars, workshops and conferences should be mounted by professional bodies Federal and State Ministries of Educations on the use of context-based teaching strategy. This will enable the chemistry educators, serving teachers, students and all to benefit from the approach.