EFFECT OF INTERACTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN CHEMISTRY IN AWKA EDUCATION ZONE

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of interactive instructional strategy on academic achievement of students in chemistry in secondary schools in Awka Education Zone of Anambra State, Nigeria. Two research questions were formulated to guide the study and two hypotheses tested at 0.05 significant levels was used. Quasi -experimental research design was adopted for the study involving experimental and control groups. The experimental group was taught using interactive instructional strategies, while the control group was taught using the Conventional lecture method. The population of the study was 1,609 senior secondary year two students who offered Chemistry in Awka education zone in 2024/2025 session.The study sample comprised 120 Senior Secondary II (SS II) Chemistry students selected from two co‐educational secondary schools in Awka education zone using multi- stage sampling procedure. The instrument for data collection was Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) validated by three experts, two from the department of science education and one from Measurement and Evaluation Unit, Department of Educational Foundations, both from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.81 and this was found using Kuder-Richardson 20 (K-R20) formula. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. Findings revealed that students exposed to interactive instructional strategies performed significantly better than those taught using conventional lecture method. The study also found that both male and female students benefited similarly from the interactive instructional strategy with no statistically significant gender difference. It was recommended among others that chemistry teachers in Awka education zone should adopt interactive instructional strategy to enhance student’s achievement in chemistry.