EFFECTS OF EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH OF TEACHING ON KNOWLEDGE MASTERY AND SKILLS ACQUISITION IN CHEMISTRY IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF TESO SOUTH

Abstract

Chemistry as a subject is one of the very important science subject in the Kenyan secondary schools curriculum. Being a science, the subject is experimental in nature where learning should start with hands on experiences and not abstract definitions. In this approach of teaching, the learners interact with apparatus, make observations and come up with conclusions. In addition, it should conform to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics since the country is geared towards achieving vision 2030.The study looked at the effects of experiments on knowledge mastery and science process skills acquisition in Chemistry in Teso South Sub-County secondary schools. The Kenya National Examination Council reports of 2014, 2016, and 2017 which pointed out the need for practical work among secondary school learners hence the choice of the study. Specifically the objectives of the study were two; to determine the effects of experimental work on students’ knowledge mastery in chemistry and also effects of experimental work on students’ acquisition of science process skills. Piaget theory of constructivism formed the theoretical framework of this study. The units of analysis in this study were the form three students. This study targeted 1216 form 3 students in 18 secondary schools of Teso South Sub-County since chemistry is one of the compulsory subjects in the region. Of this, 333 form three students from six secondary schools were sampled out. The methodology employed in this research study was both quantitative and qualitative. The design used was quasi-experimental design. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain six mixed secondary schools; three treated as experimental while the other three control. The study employed three instruments namely: A Pretest, Observation Checklist for acquisition of skills and Post-test. The data obtained was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. For the first objective, the means for pre-tests for experimental group is 15.4±1.3 and that of the control group 17.3±1.8 while those of post-tests for experimental group 34.2 ± 1.3 and that of control group is 32.0 ±1.4. The p values were used to determine the significance of the study. In this research study, a p=0.001 was obtained; therefore there was significant difference in the learners’ performance for the experimental group of learners and the control group. For the second objective, seven science skills (of observing, measuring, recording, classifying, setting-up apparatus, reading scales, manipulating data) were examined whether students acquired them proficiently or to small extent or unable. The t-test of these three dimensions gave p=0.0026, p=0.0016 and p=0.0238 respectively, to mean that there was a significant difference in the science process skills acquisition for the leaners in the experiments group and those in the control group. In a nut shell, experimental group of learners performed better than the control group of learners in both mastery of knowledge and acquisition of process skills. Therefore, the study recommended teachers of chemistry to use experimental approach in teaching chemistry to enhance students’ performance. The findings of this study would be useful to chemistry and other science subjects, teacher training institutions, Kenya National Examination Council and finally Ministry of Education.