EFFECTS OF LABORATORY PRACTICAL WORK AND DEMONSTRATION METHOD ON STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN CHEMISTRY

Abstract

This study investigated effects of laboratory practical work and demonstration method on students’ achievement and interest in Chemistry. The design adopted for the study was quasi– experimental research design. The sample consists of 96 SS2 chemistry students selected from one education zones in Enugu State. The purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of the two co-educational schools from the zone. One school was used for laboratory practical work (LPW) consisting 50 Chemistry students (30 female and 20 male) while one was use for demonstration method (DM) consisting 46 Chemistry students (14 female and 32 male). The criteria being that the schools must have presented candidates for West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for at least three times. Secondly, the school must have a qualified Chemistry teacher with at least five years’ experience. For effective study four purpose of study, four research question and four hypotheses where formulated by the researchers. The two instruments which were developed by the researchers’ were titled Acid- Base Achievement Test (ABAT) and Chemistry Learning Interest (CLI). The ABAT was produced base on the Chemistry concept of volumetric analysis and CLI was produced base on the perceived interest of Chemistry students with reliability of .81 and .76 using Kuder Richardson 21 and Cronbach alpha technique test. This indicating that the instruments were reliable; the instruments were scrutinized by two experts from Department of Science Education. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The result revealed that there is a statistical significance difference in achievement in pre-test and post-test of students taught Chemistry with Laboratory Practical Work (LPW) and those taught with Demonstration Method (DM) in favour of LPW, there is a statistical significance difference in achievement in male and female students taught Chemistry with LPW in favour of female, there is a statistical difference in achievement in male and female students taught Chemistry with DM in favour of male students, there is a significance difference in interest on students taught Chemistry with LPW and DM in favour of LPW, there is a significance difference in interest on male and female students taught Chemistry with LPW in favour of female students and is a significance difference in interest on male and female students taught Chemistry with DM in favour of male students. Based on these findings conclusions and recommendations were made.