Effects of Inquiry-Based Strategy on the Acquisition of Process Skills and Interest in Chemistry among Senior Secondary Students, Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study scrutinised the effect of inquiry-based strategy on the acquisition of process skills and interest in chemistry among senior secondary students in Kogi State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses. The population of the study comprised all SS II chemistry students in Kogi State. Simple random sampling was and purposive sampling procedure were used. The instruments used for data collection were Science Process Skills Acquisition Checklist (SPSAC), and Chemistry Practical Interest Inventory (CPII). The internal consistency of SPSAC and CPII were determined using Cronbach Alpha which gave an index of 0.82 and 0.87. The null hypotheses were tested using t-Test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The research questions were answered using mean score and standard deviation. The findings from this study indicated that; there was significant difference between the mean acquisition of process skills and mean interest scores of experimental group taught chemistry using inquiry-based strategy and their counterpart in control group. The study concluded mong others that students exposed to inquiry-based strategies display higher engagement and sustained interest in chemistry due to the interactive nature of the activities, which helps in making abstract concepts more tangible. And recommendations were made among others that teachers should adopt inquiry-based strategy to create a more dynamic learning environment that encourages students’ interest and adequate process skills in chemistry practical.