INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING AS A PREDICTOR OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS INTEREST IN BIOLOGY

Abstract

The present study investigated the predictive effect of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) on secondary school students’ interest in Biology. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was adopted. The population of the study comprised 13,596 Biology students in Anambra State public secondary schools. The sample size consisted of 300 SS3 Biology students (134 males and 166 females) drawn from six intact classes. The experimental group consisted of 165 students (80 males and 85 females), while the control group had 135 students (54 males and 81 females), randomly assigned. The instrument for data collection was the Biology Interest Scale (BIS) with a reliability coefficient of 0.86. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while ANCOVA was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed a p-value of 0.000 in students’ interest, leading to the rejection of the corresponding null hypotheses. However, with a p-value of 0.905 for male and female students’ interest, the null hypothesis was accepted, showing no significant gender difference. By implication, students exposed to IBL developed significantly higher interest in Biology than those taught with the lecture method, although interest was not influenced by gender. A major contribution to knowledge of this study is that it established that exposure of secondary school students to IBL is essential in enhancing motivation, engagement, and sustained interest in Biology, while fostering investigative and critical thinking skills necessary for future academic pursuits and employability.