COMPUTER SIMULATIONS AND THINK-PAIR SHARE TEACHING STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY IN MKPAT ENIN LGA

The study was carried out to examine the effects of computer simulations and think-pair-share on students’ academic achievement 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 design. The population of this study comprised all the 1740 Senior Secondary one (SS 1) chemistry students in the sixteen (16) public secondary schools in the study area during the 2022/23 session. A sample size of 94 students was selected for the study using simple random sampling technique. The researcher-made instrument titled “Chemistry Performance Test on Gas Laws (CPTGL) was used for this study. The instrument was validated by a Chemistry lecturer and an expert in measurement and evaluation in the Department of Science Education Akwa Ibom State University. A reliability coefficient of .80 was obtained for the instrument using Kuder-Richardson 20 formula. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while independent t-test was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of this study showed that there is significant difference in the mean achievement scores of chemistry students taught the concept of gas laws using computer simulations and think-pair-share teaching strategies. The findings also revealed that there is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores between the male and female students taught the concept of gas laws using computer simulations and think-pair-share teaching strategies. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that computer simulations enhance students’ academic achievement in Chemistry in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area more than think-pair-share. It was recommended among others that, government should also provide computers to secondary schools for effective use of computer simulations teaching strategy.