RECIPROCAL QUESTIONING AND INQUIRY-BASED TEACHING STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN CHEMISTRY

ABSTRACT The study was carried out to examine the effect of reciprocal questioning and inquiry-based teaching strategies on students’ academic performance in Chemistry in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The design for the study was quasi-experimental research design. The population for the study consisted of all the 2350 senior secondary two Chemistry students in sixteen (16) public secondary schools in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area. The sample size comprised of 77 Senior Secondary two (SS2) Chemistry students from two intact classes in two selected public secondary schools in the study area. Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the two schools used in the study. The instrument used for data collection was entitled “Chemistry Performance Test on Periodic Table (CPTPT)”. The instrument was validated by a Chemistry lecturer and an expert in Measurement and Evaluation in the Department of Science Education. A reliability coefficient of 0.85 was obtained for the instrument using test-retest method. Mean and standard deviation were used for answering the research questions while independent t-test was used for testing the hypotheses. The findings of this study showed that there is significant difference in the mean performance scores of students taught periodic table using reciprocal questioning and inquiry-based teaching strategies. The finding also showed that there is no significant difference in the mean performance scores between male and female students' when taught periodic table using reciprocal questioning and inquiry-based teaching strategies. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that reciprocal questioning strategy enhanced students’ academic performance in the concept of periodic table in Chemistry more than the inquiry-based strategy in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area. It was recommended among others that, teachers should regularly teach students with reciprocal questioning strategy so as to promote and encourage social interaction, active engagement in learning which would lead to good academic performance of students.