Comparative Effects of the Laboratory and Discussion Methods on Senior Secondary Students' Achievement in Chemistry OJAA-13-O53

The study examined the comparative effects of the laboratory and discussion methods on senior secondary students’ achievement in chemistry. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. A sample of 196 students out of a population of 1,924, SS II students from zone B of Benue State, Nigeria was used for the study. A validated 30 item Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) was the instrument used to collect data. Reliability coefficients of 0.78 and 0.68 were established using Kuder-Richardson (KR – 21) formula. Mean (M) and Standard Deviation (SD) scores were used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that students taught using the laboratory method achieved significantly higher than those taught using discussion method F(1,195 = 31.90), P<0.05. The study further revealed that students taught using both laboratory and discussion methods achieved significantly higher with a small class size in terms of student population than those with a large class size F(1,97) = 166.66,P< 0.05 and F(1,97) = 79.89, P<0.05 respectively. The study therefore recommended among others that laboratory method should be used in teaching chemistry and small class sizes (40 students) is being advocated for all schools’ offering chemistry instead of large (populated) classes.