Search

The study investigated the relationship between teachers’ content knowledge, qualifications, experience and students’ achievement in Chemistry in Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses. A sample of 25 Chemistry teachers and 187 Chemistry students out of a population of 98 Chemistry teachers and 2,897 SSII students respectively from Otukpo LGA of Benue State, Nigeria was used for the study. A validated 50 item Chemistry Teachers’ Content Knowledge Achievement Test (CTCKAT) and 25 item Chemistry Students’ Achievement Test (CSAT) was the instruments used to collect data. Reliability coefficient of 0.78 was established using Pearson Product Correlation. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. Frequencies, and Percentages were used to answer the research questions and Pearson Correlation Moment Coefficient was used to test the hypotheses. The result indicated among others that there is a strong positive correlation between teachers’ content knowledge scores in Chemistry with students’ achievement scores in Chemistry (r= 0.89), the result also revealed that, there is a strong positive correlation between teachers’ qualifications and students’ achievement scores (r= 0.72), and also there is a positive correlation between teachers’ years of teaching experience and students’ achievement (r= 0.51). The study recommended among others that students’ achievement in Chemistry is likely to improve in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State, if teachers engaged to teach chemistry have good content knowledge of Chemistry and good teaching qualifications.

The research was on the effect of hands-on activities on achievement and retention of senior secondary chemistry students in stoichiometry. A sample of 292 students from eight purposively selected secondary schools out of a population of 8,381 SS II students from zone C of Benue State, Nigeria was used for the study. The study adopted quasi-experimental research design. The instrument used for data collection was Stoichiometry Achievement Test (SAT) with the reliability value of 0.92 using Pearson Product Moment Coefficient. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The research questions were answered using Mean and Standard Deviation scores while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The study revealed that students taught stoichiometry using hands-on activities had significantly higher mean achievement scores than those taught using demonstration method (F=555.374, P(0.0001

In this study, improving senior secondary students’ retention in electrolysis using Collaborative Concept Mapping Instructional Strategy (CCMIS) was examined. A sample of 189 students from six selected secondary schools out of a population of 5,114 Senior Secondary I students from Ardo-Kola Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria was used for the study. Non-equivalent quasi-experimental research design was adopted. The instrument used for data collection was Electrolysis Retention Test (ERT) with the reliability value of 0.78 using Kuder-Richardson. Two research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. Mean and Standard Deviation scores were used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses. The study revealed that there is significant difference in the mean retention scores between students taught electrolysis using CCMIS and discussion method in favour of CCMIS; [F(1,97) =6.300, P0.050]. It also found no significant interaction effect between methods and gender on the mean retention scores of students in electrolysis; [F(1,197) =.318, P>0.050]. It was recommended among others that CCMIS should be adopted while teaching electrolysis since it has been proved to be a viable option in enhancing students’ retention capacity regardless of their gender.

The study examined the effect of gender on students’ achievement in stoichiometry using hands-on activities. A sample of 292 students from eight purposively selected secondary schools out of a population of 8,381 SS II students from zone C of Benue State, Nigeria was used for the study. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. Stoichiometry Achievement Test (SAT) was used for data collection. Reliability coefficient of 0.92 was established using Pearson correlation moment coefficient. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The study revealed that there is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores between male and female students taught stoichiometry using hands-on activities; (F(1, 145) = 4.160, p>0.05). It also found no significant interaction effect between methods and gender on the mean achievement scores of students in stoichiometry; (F(1, 291) = 0.11, p>0.05). It was recommended among others that since hands-on activities method is not gender sensitive therefore both male and female students should be involved in hands-on activities to enhance their achievement in stoichiometry.

The study investigated the effect of hands-on activity-based method on interest of senior secondary chemistry students in organic chemistry. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design. A sample of 184 students from four purposively selected secondary schools out of a population of 2,381 SS II students from Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria was used for the study. The experimental group was taught organic chemistry using hands-on activity-based method while the control group was taught using discussion method. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. A validated 25-item Organic Chemistry Interest Inventory (OCII) was the instrument used to collect data. Reliability coefficients of 0.84 were established using Cronbach Alpha. Mean and Standard Deviation scores were used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that students taught using hands-on activity-based had significantly higher mean interest scores than those taught using discussion method (F=387.370, P(0.00010.05). It was recommended that teachers should be encouraged to adopt hands-on activity-based method in teaching organic chemistry to enhance students’ interest in organic chemistry.