Effect of Individualised Instruction and Structured Inquiry Method on Physics Retention among Secondary School Students in Akwa Ibom State

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of individualized instruction and structured inquiry method and physics retention among secondary school in Akwa Ibom State. The research was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study employed pre-test, post-test quasi experimental design. The target population of the study consists of 2,114 SS II students, made up of 1,077 males and 1,037 females in Ikot Ekpene Education Zone. Simple random sampling technique was used in the selection of the Education Zone while purposive sampling technique was used in the selection of three schools out of the eight government owned secondary schools in the Education Zone. A validated researcher-made instrument, namely, Physics Retention Test (PRT) was used for collection of data. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was found to be 0.813 using Kuder Richardson 20 formula. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used to answer the research questions while the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that students taught physics using individualized instruction and structured inquiry method retained physics concept significantly better than their counterpart taught using lecture method. Also, male students retained physics concepts slightly but not significantly better than their female counterparts when exposed to individualized instruction and structured inquiry method. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that serving secondary school physics teachers should embrace individualized instruction and structured inquiry method in teaching physics topics in order to enhance the students’ retention of the concepts being taught.