EFFECT OF PROBLEM SOLVING INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUE ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN KINETIC THEORY IN BEKWARRA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF CROSS RIVER STATE

This study investigated the effect of problem-solving instructional techniques on students’ academic achievement in Kinetic theory in Bekwarra local government of Cross River State. Three research questions were posed and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design specifically, the pretest-posttest non-randomized control group design. The population of the study consisted of all SS 2 chemistry students in Bekwarra local government area. The sample of the study consisted of 100 chemistry students from the two sampled schools used for the study. Kinetic Theory Achievement Test (KTAT) developed by the researcher and validated by experts, was used as instrument for data collection. The reliability estimate of 0.84 was obtained on KTAT using Kuder Richardson formula 20. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions while analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that problem solving instructional technique is more effective in enhancing the student’s academic achievement in kinetic theory than the conventional method. There was significant difference on students’ achievement in kinetic theory due to gender. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommended among others, that problem solving instructional technique should be adopted by chemistry teachers to help students learn kinetic theory more effectively.