INQUIRY-BASED AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING APPROACHES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PHYSICS STUDENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN IKONO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

ABSTRACT This study investigated on the effect of inquiry-based and collaborative learning approaches on academic performance of physics students in secondary schools in Ikono Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State. The study was guided by three research questions and three null hypotheses. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 2075 students in thirteen (13) public co-educational secondary schools in Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. A sample of 100 students was used for the study. Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the two (2) schools from thirteen (13) secondary schools in the study area. The instrument used for the data collection was “Physics Performance Test in Simple AC Circuit (PPTSAC). The instrument was validated by a senior physics lecturer, Akwa Ibom State University and an expert in Measurement and Evaluation in Faculty of Education, Akwa Ibom State University. A reliable coefficient of 0.85 was obtained for the instrument using Kuder-Richardson 20 formula. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while independent t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses. The result of analysis showed that there is no significant difference in the mean performance scores of students’ in physics when taught the concept of electric current using inquiry-based and collaborative learning approaches. The findings of the study also reveal that there is no significant difference in the mean performance scores of male and female students in physics when taught the concept of electric current using inquiry-based learning approach. The result further showed that there is no significant difference in the mean performance scores of male and female students in physics when taught the concept of electric current using collaborative learning approach. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that students’ academic performance depends largely on the teaching approaches employed by the teacher. Inquiry-based and collaborative learning approaches teaching was found to be more effective at improving students’ performance in simple AC circuit. It was recommended among others that; teachers should employ inquiry-based and collaborative learning approaches in the teaching of physics in senior secondary schools’ classroom to enhance students’ performance since the learning approaches are student-centered based.