EFFECT OF CO-OPERATIVE AND SCAFFOLDING INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL CHEMISTRY STUDENTS IN IMO STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the effect of cooperative and scaffolding instructional strategies on academic achievement of secondary school chemistry students in Imo state the scope of the study is six coeducational secondary schools from the six education zones in Imo state. Three research questions and three hypotheses were posed to guide the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental design. The area of the study was Imo state. The population of the study was 25,322 SS2 chemistry students. The sampling technique was purposive sampling. The treatments were assigned to the schools by balloting. The sample of the study was 130 students, which was made up of 56 males and 74 females. The instrument for data collection was the researcher made chemistry achievement and retention test (CART). Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was use to test the hypotheses. The result of the study revealed that: the mean achievement scores of students taught chemistry using cooperative and scaffolding strategies differ significantly, with scaffolding strategy being more effective and the two instructional strategies used for the study were not gender selective. It was recommended among others that chemistry teachers should use scaffolding strategy often, in teaching chemistry since it was found to be more effective in enhancing students’ academic achievement and retention in chemistry.