THE EFFECT OF LEARNING CYCLE MODELS ON NIGERIAN SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY

Abstract

The method of teaching Chemistry in Nigerian classrooms has given it an image of being a subject with a body of abstract ideas, giving room for dwindling performances in the subject at the secondary school level. It is within this context that this study investigated the impact of 5E and PDEODE Learning Models on students’ achievement in senior secondary Chemistry. The research design was a pre-test, post-test, control group quasi-experiment, involving a 3x2x2 factorial matrix. A total of 188 students drawn from three senior secondary schools in three Local Education Zones of Lagos Education District III of Lagos State, Nigeria formed the sample. Results revealed, among others, that there was significant difference (F (2, 175) = 3.660, P < 0.05) in the post-test mean achievement scores of the students in Chemistry after exposure to the different instructional strategies. Also, the students’ post-test mean achievement scores in Chemistry after exposure to the different instructional strategies varied significantly (F (2, 175) = 3.582, P < 0.05), between the sampled male and female students. The independent and moderator variables jointly accounted for 36.9% of the variation in the students’ achievement scores. This study concluded that exposing students to the PDEODE learning model led to higher mean achievement gains in Chemistry than the 5E learning model and the conventional method .It was therefore recommended that teachers be trained in the use of conceptual change model such as PDEODE learning model in the teaching and learning of Chemistry to enhance students’ achievement.