Effects of Guided Discovery and Problem Solving on Achievement of Secondary School Students’ in Volumetric Analysis in Niger State

Abstract

This study investigated effects of guided discovery and problem solving instructional strategies on achievement of secondary school students in Volumetric Analysis in Minna Metropolis, Niger State. Two research questions and one research hypothesis were tested at alpha level 0.05 of significance. A 3x 1 Factorial design was adopted for the study. The population consisted of senior secondary school two (SSSII) students with sample size of 238 students selected from six secondary schools in Minna Metropolis. The research instrument employed was a 24-item Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) developed from Volumetric Analysis and was validated by six experts in the subject area. The CAT was pilot tested on intact class of Chemistry students and reliability of 0.88 was obtained using Kuder Richardson (K-R21). Students were pretested before the treatment began, and the reshuffled or disguised version of the CAT was administered after the treatment in the posttest. The data obtained from both pretest and posttest were analyzed statistically using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Analysis of covariance, ANCOVA) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0.The results showed that students in the experimental groups (guided discovery and problem solving) generally have higher mean achievement scores in Chemistry than their counterparts taught Chemistry with conventional teaching method (control group), and this indicates that guided discovery and problem solving strategies have enhanced achievements in Chemistry more than traditional method of teaching. ANCOVA test also revealed that there was a significant difference among the students taught Chemistry using the three instructional strategies, and Scheffe post hoc test indicated that students in the guided discovery group achieved better The hierarchical order of achievement of Chemistry students vis-à-vis the instructional strategies considered in this work is established as: Guided Discovery ˃ Problem Solving ˃ Conventional Teaching Method. It is concluded that guided discovery and problem solving strategies are more effective in enhancing students’ achievements in Chemistry than the convention teaching method. Thus, it is recommended that teachers should expose Chemistry students to guided discovery and problem solving instructional strategies that promote and encourage social interaction, active learning and ultimately enhance achievement. The stakeholders in education sectors should also encourage and enforce the use of guided discovery and problem solving instructional strategies in teaching and learning of Chemistry in particular and sciences in general in our secondary schools.