EFFECTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND PEER- TEACHING  ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN SOME DIFFICULT CHEMISTRY CONCEPTS

EFFECTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND PEER- TEACHING  ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN SOME DIFFICULT CHEMISTRY CONCEPTS

Abstract

Most Chemistry concepts in Senior Secondary School curriculum have proved to be difficult for students to learn. The perennial poor performance of students in the Senior Secondary School Chemistry examination has been of great concern to educators. It has been proved that the difficult Chemistry concepts pose strong resistance to the conventional teaching methods in realizing Chemistry education objectives. It was in a quest of better teaching approach which can permeate the resistance of the difficult Chemistry concepts that led the researcher into studying the extent to which cooperative learning and peer-teaching would help realize the expected outcomes of Chemistry education in the Senior Secondary Schools. The objective of the study was therefore, to investigate the relative effects of cooperative learning and peer-teaching on students’ achievement and interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts. In addition it was to determine which between the two teaching strategies would be more efficacious in enhancing students’ achievement and interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts.

Six research questions and six research hypotheses were tested in efforts to find solutions to the problems of the research work. The research work was quasi-experimental design type.

Two hundred and eighty three Chemistry students drawn from nine co-educational public schools within the Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra State were used for the work.

Simple random sampling technique was applied in choosing the schools as well as assigning each of the teaching approaches to the sample schools. The cooperative learning and peer –teaching groups were the experimental groups while the conventional teaching method group was treated as the control group.

Validated Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) and Chemistry Interest Inventory (CII) were administered to the students as pretest and posttest for collection of data. The CAT had reliability index of 0.98 while CII had reliability index of 0.93.The chosen concepts: electrolysis and Chemical equilibrium were taught to the three groups  using different lesson plans developed specifically for each of the teaching approaches. The treatment session lasted for five weeks. The data collected from the pretest and post-test were collated and analyzed. The mean scores were used to answer the research questions. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of confidence. Some of the results obtained from the research work were as follows:

1. Cooperative learning and peer – teaching were efficacious in enhancing students’ achievement and interest in difficult          Chemistry concepts.
2. Cooperative learning was more efficacious than the peer-teaching in enhancing students’ achievement and interest in difficult       chemistry concepts.
3. Neither cooperative learning nor peer-teaching made significant difference in students’ achievement relative to their sexes.
4. Neither cooperative learning nor peer-teaching made significant difference in students’ interest relative to their sexes.

From the findings of the research work, a number of implications were discussed. Recommendations and suggestions for further studies were also made.

 

EFFECTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND PEER- TEACHING  ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN SOME DIFFICULT CHEMISTRY CONCEPTS  

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 

Background of the Study

Chemistry as a subject offered at senior secondary school in Nigeria takes a central position in science and technology.  It is a subject that studies the structure, interactions, transformations and the energy consequences of matter.

The objectives of Chemistry curriculum at the senior secondary school level include: to show Chemistry and its link with industry, everyday life benefits and hazards, and to provide a course which is complete for individuals not proceeding to higher education. (FME, 2007).  Therefore, Chemistry is to develop both the individual and the entire society. It is a necessary prerequisite and integral part of such professions as Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Agriculture, Home

Economics, Food Science, Engineering to mention but a few.  Chemistry education is required to meet up with increase in demand for science and technology by private and government establishments.

Without effective Chemical education, our nation will likely remain impoverished.  This is because the natural resources which abound in Nigeria need to be harnessed, processed and converted to needed products for optimum use.  Our solid minerals such as coal, columbite, tin, iron ore, kaolin, lime stone, gold, uranium, etc and agricultural produce like animal hides and skins, rubber, palm produce, groundnut, cassava etc are under utilized (Adikwu, 2010).  Chemistry education would be very essential for more effective utilization of these resources.

However, as important as Chemistry is, science educators have been lamenting over the poor achievement and interest of students in the subject in our senior secondary schools for the past decades. (Ifeakor, 2006; Mari, 2002; Njoku, 2002 and 2009; Nwachukwu 2008). Many factors have been attributed to the observed poor performance and lack of interest in Chemistry by students. Some of these factors include teaching method used by Chemistry teachers, difficult nature of the topics/concepts, lack of equipment and instructional materials etc. (Ali, 1998; Ifeakor, 2006; Nnaka 2006; Nzewi, 2010; Ukwungwu, 2000).

Students’ poor performance and interest in Chemistry for quite a long time now, has resulted to inadequate number of students offering Chemistry oriented courses in tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria. The persistent poor performance has also contributed to  poor economy,  poor industrialization, lack of job, starvation, high maternal and infant mortality rate, spread of disease and sickness, environmental unfriendliness, lack of peace to mention but a few. Professionals required to take care of those problems can only be effectively produced through Chemistry education.

Many Chemistry concepts in the senior secondary school curriculum are perceived to be abstract and difficult to understand by the learners. West African Examination Council Chief Examiner’s reports (1992, 2003,2006) have consistently highlighted some of the difficult concepts/ topics the candidates performed poorly as: electrolysis, chemical equilibrium, mole, geometric isomerism, balancing chemical equations, IUPAC nomenclature, structure of organic compounds, collision theory, Gay Lussac’s law, solubility.  The report also goes further to enumerate candidates’ weakness as poor language expressions, inability to adhere to instructions, poor interpretation of questions, inability to tackle numerical questions, poor definitions, omission/wrong units, inability to write balanced equations, use of formulae instead of names, poor drawing skills, inability to read and interpret graph, inability to draw sensible inference from recorded observations.

Kozma and Russell (2004) reported that the concept of chemical equilibrium is very difficult to understand. Tajudeen (2005) using hundred and sixty SS III Chemistry students randomly selected from 28 senior secondary schools in seven states of the Nigerian federation discovered that the students perceived thirteen out of twenty (65%) topics in Chemistry as difficult. The topics perceived to be difficult by students according to the study are: particulate nature of matter, chemical combination, gaseous state and gaseous laws, organic chemistry, structure and energy level of atom, qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, rate of chemical reaction, chemical equation, non metals and their compounds, thermochemistry, nuclear chemistry, and astronomical chemistry. The study also revealed that students’ sex has no influence on their perception of difficult topics. However, the study did not cover many other important topics which examining body like West African Examination Council adjudged difficult to students.

Ali (1998) opines that the most important factor for effective learning to take place in science is an interesting instructional approach. Njoku (2009) maintains that teachers are under intense pressure to cover the curriculum and get students ready for external examinations. This makes teaching of Chemistry inadequate as special approach needed for the teaching of difficult chemistry concepts are over looked. Learners therefore find the subject irrelevant to their daily experience and survival needs in their sociocultural and economic environment. Ezeliora (2003) also attributes students’ poor performances in Chemistry to poor instructional approaches involving excessive teacher-talk, copying of notes, rotelearning as encouraged by expository method of instruction.

Poor instructional approach is therefore recognized as a major contributor to poor achievement in Chemistry. Nnaka (2006), Nzewi (2010), Okebukola (2002) suggest a shift and going beyond the conventional approaches of teaching Science, Technology and Mathematics, (STM) for better performance and interest in STM education in our primary and secondary schools. Shifting and going beyond the conventional teaching approaches according to Nnaka (2006) implies adopting the innovative approaches to teaching and learning STM.

Cooperative learning is the deliberate instructional use of small groups of students who work together to maximize each others learning. Cooperative learning is theoretically based on the work of psychologists like Levi Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner among others who propose that children actively construct knowledge in a social context (Conway, 1997). The teacher therefore should create room for cooperation amongst students for effective cross-fertilization of ideas and knowledge sharing.  No child learns effectively in isolation.

The teacher, who adopts the cooperative learning strategy, organizes the students in small groups of between four to six members. Each group should be heterogeneous in ability and sociocultural background; members work jointly through a given instructional assignment until every member successfully understands, and completes the assignment. The students are rewarded in their groups.

Peer- teaching is an instructional strategy in which groups of children under the guidance of the teacher work together through a given instructional assignment with brilliant child, the peer teacher; providing assistance and instruction to others, the peer students. Peer- teaching is also theoretically based on the conceptions of the cognitive theorists like Vygotsky who, proposed the zone of proximal development. The proposal points to the child’s ability to profit from interaction with more competent peers. (Igbo, 2004).

The teacher who adopts the peer teaching strategy will identify the high, middle and low achievers amongst the students. The high achievers are used as the peer teachers and middle/low achievers are assigned in their small numbers to the peer teachers for instruction and assistance. The teacher prepares the lesson plan and reviews it for the peer teachers in sequential order. He also trains the peer teacher on how to inform, reward and relate to the students.

Both the cooperative learning and peer teaching are childcentered instructional approaches, which is an approach recommended on the National Policy on Education for teaching sciences. (Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004, 9). Researchers have found in different occasions the two approaches effective in tackling instructional problems (Anaekwe.1997;Igbo,2004;Okebukola,1984). Okebukola (1984) found cooperative learning effective in tackling the problem of large class in Biology. Anaekwe (1997) investigated the effects of students’ interaction patterns on cognitive achievement, retention and interest in Chemistry. The investigation found cooperative learning efficacious. Igbo (2004) found peer-teaching effective in improving the learning disabled achievement in mathematics. There is therefore the need to explore the effects of the two child-centered instructional approaches: cooperative learning and peer-teaching on students’ achievement and interest in some perceived difficult Chemistry concepts so as to probably improve students’ performance in Chemistry and avert the problems of poor achievement and interest in senior secondary school Chemistry.

Interest, an aspect of affective domain is a construct that has to do with ones readiness to like or dislike something. It could be aroused in individual by activity that tends to satisfy the individuals needs (Geoscience, 2007). Since more than sixty percent of Chemistry concepts are difficult (Tajudeen, 2005) students’ interest in the subject can easily be at low ebb. Njoku (2003); Nwachukwu (2008); Suwaid and Dambata (2009) showed that students’ interest in

Chemistry is low. However while Njoku (2003) and Suwaid and Dambata (2009) maintained that low interest leads to poor achievement in Chemistry; Nwachukwu (2008) concluded that relationship between interest and cognitive achievement of students in Chemistry is insignificant. Ezeliora (2003) and Ali (1998) maintain that students’ interest in learning Chemistry could be achieved by Chemistry teachers through careful choice of the most appropriate teaching approach.

The appropriate teaching strategy if used by the Chemistry teacher can overcome such events as lack of drive, timidity, selfimposed isolation, poor previous experience etc. that hinder interest in the students. Ezeliora (2003) specifically noted that the conventional lecture method commonly used in teaching Chemistry in Nigeria is boring and uninteresting. Performance and interest in Chemistry could be enhanced if effective instructional approach is adopted in teaching difficult Chemistry concepts.

Nworgu,1995; Nzewi, 2010; Okeke, 2007  believe that there is disparity in performance and interest among boys and girls in science. Mari, 2002; Nwachukwu, 2008 claim relative poor and narrow participation of women in Science, Technology and Mathematics. Nzewi, (2010) discussed the nature of science and teaching strategies as factors that negatively influence female participation and performance in science and technology. Njoku, 2005 and Nzewi 2010 identified teaching method as one of the causes of sex-related differences in science performance. Boys perform better than the girls when instructional approach adopted in sciences is competitive while girls perform optimally in a cooperative academic environment (Nwachukwu, 2008). As an important subject required for sustainable development and nation building, Chemistry should be taught, using effective instructional approach capable of seeking for and maintaining high interest and performance among students irrespective of sex.

Since the conventional teaching methods persistently used by Chemistry teachers (Amaefule, 1999; Ezeliora, 2003) cannot permeate the difficult Chemistry concepts which manifests in perennial poor students’ achievement, the researcher therefore deemed it necessary to study the effects of cooperative learning and peer-teaching on students’ achievement and interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts. These instructional strategies have been found effective in over coming other instructional problems such as large class size in Biology (Okebukola, 1984) and learning disabled achievement in mathematics (Igbo, 2004). It might therefore not be out of place to investigate the effects of these strategies on student’s achievement and interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts in an attempt to improve on student’s achievement in Chemistry.

 

Statement of the Problem

Poor students’ achievement and interest in Chemistry is alarming inspite of the fact that many researches have been carried out to ameliorate the bad situation. Many instructional approaches have been proffered by psychologists like Brunner, Peaget, Gagne, Ausubel for improved achievement and interest in Chemistry and other sciences.

Amaefula(1999) and Njoku(2010) strongly believed that the instructional approach adopted by Chemistry teacher in teaching Chemistry is to a large extent responsible for the observed consistent poor achievement and interest in Chemistry. The conventional teaching methods lack student’s cooperation and interaction required for effective learning of the difficult Chemistry concepts. Adequate students cooperation and interactions are required for over learning and transfer of learning in Chemistry concepts, which are mainly difficult, and abstract (Nzewi, 2010). Such cooperation and interaction are found in the cooperative learning and peer-teaching strategies. The problem of this study was to find an effective instructional approach that can improve students’ achievement and interest in some difficult concepts in Chemistry. This work therefore intended to investigate the effects of cooperative learning and peer-teaching on students’ achievement and interest in some difficult concepts in Chemistry.

In more specific terms, the problem of the study was:  What are the effects of each of the cooperative learning and peerteaching on students’ achievement and interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts? What are the interaction effects of the instructional approaches and gender on students’ achievement and interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts?

 

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to determine the varying effects of cooperative learning and peer-teaching on students’ achievement and interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts. The study also aimed at determining the effects of cooperative learning and peerteaching on students’ achievement and interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts relative to their sexes. In specific terms, the purposes of the study were to determine:

• Achievement level of students in some difficult Chemistry concepts in Senior Secondary School when taught using cooperative learning and peer-teaching.
• Achievement level of male and female students in some difficult Chemistry concepts in Senior Secondary School when taught using cooperative learning and peer-teaching.
• Whether gender interacts with instructional approaches in their effects on student’s achievement.
• Interest level of students in some difficult Chemistry concepts in Senior Secondary School when taught using cooperative learning and peer -teaching.
• Interest level of male and female students in some difficult Chemistry concepts in Senior Secondary School when taught using cooperative learning and peer-teaching.

 

 

• Whether gender interacts with instructional approaches in their effects on students’ interest.

 

Significance of the Study

The significance of the study derived from a number of points.  Firstly, most important Chemistry topics are abstract and difficult to understand. Efforts to teach them through the conventional methods of teaching have proved abortive (Ezeliora,2003).  The result of this work will therefore sensitize Chemistry teachers to use effective instructional approaches for improved students’ understanding and achievement. It will also serve as an eye opener to teachers in other fields of learning to explore and adopt better instructional approaches in handling abstract and difficult topics and concepts in their own areas for improvement.

Secondly, the way Chemistry is hurriedly taught in secondary schools, according to Njoku (2009), makes the subject matter irrelevant to the learner resulting in their inability to transfer learning to everyday life and poor academic performance.  Thus the result of the work will help to improve on students’ performance in Chemistry   and ensure better quality Chemistry candidates for the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination. Again, the work will help to produce more qualified candidates for courses in science and technology in the tertiary institutions of learning, which in turn will boost national wealth and development.

It will also sensitize teachers and curriculum planners about gender influence on instructional approaches. The results of the study would also contribute to the pool of research in the area of education in Chemistry in particular and science education in general.

 

 

Scope of the Study

 The study established the differential effects of   cooperative learning and peer- teaching on students’ achievement and interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts in Senior Secondary School. It also determined the effects of   cooperative learning and peer- teaching on students’ achievement and interest in some difficult  Chemistry concepts in Senior Secondary School relative to their sexes.  Electrolysis and Chemical equilibrium were the difficult concepts used for this study. The two concepts were selected by random sampling from concepts persistently reported by West African Examination Council Chief Examiner’s Report on concepts found difficult by candidates. Both concepts are in senior secondary 2 scheme of work.

The study was conducted in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra state. This zone was selected from the six education zones in the state by random sampling.

 

Research Questions

The following research questions were raised:

1. What are the mean achievement scores of students taught some difficult Chemistry concepts using cooperative learning, peer- teaching and conventional teaching method?
2. What are the mean achievement scores of male and female students taught some difficult Chemistry concepts using

 

 

cooperative learning, peer-teaching and conventional teaching method?

3. What are the interaction effects of teaching strategies and sex on students’ mean achievement scores in some difficult Chemistry concepts?
4. What are the mean interest scores of students taught some difficult Chemistry concepts using cooperative learning, peer- teaching and conventional (lecture) teaching method?
5. What are the mean interest scores of male and female students taught some difficult Chemistry concepts using cooperative learning, peer-teaching and conventional teaching method?
6. What are the interaction effects of teaching strategies with sex on students’ mean interest scores in some difficult Chemistry concepts?

 

Hypotheses

The study will be guided by the following hypotheses to be tested at 0.05 level of significance.

1. There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught some difficult Chemistry concepts using cooperative learning, peer- teaching and conventional teaching method.
2. There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female students taught some difficult Chemistry concepts using cooperative learning, peer-teaching and conventional teaching method.
3. The interaction effects of teaching strategies and sex on students’ achievement in some difficult Chemistry concepts as measured by their mean achievement scores is not significant.

 

4. There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores of students taught some difficult Chemistry concepts using cooperative learning, peer- teaching and conventional teaching method.
5. There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores of male and female students taught some difficult Chemistry concepts using cooperative learning, peer-teaching and conventional teaching method.
6. The interaction effects of teaching strategies and sex on students’ interest in some difficult Chemistry concepts as measured by their mean interest scores is not significant.

EFFECTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND PEER- TEACHING  ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN SOME DIFFICULT CHEMISTRY CONCEPTS

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