Effect Of Inquiry-Based Learning Approach On Senior Secondary School Students’ Retention In Biology
Dr Regina I Enebechi
Department Of Science Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka
Keywords: Inquiry-Based Learning, Retention In Biology, Senior Secondary School Students
Abstract
The study investigated the effect of Inquiry-based Learning Approach on Senior Secondary School Students’ retention in biology. Influence of gender on mean retention scores of students when taught biology with inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach was also investigated in the study. The interaction effect of gender and strategy was also investigated. Two research questions were posed and three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Quasi-experimental design of pre-test post-test non-equivalent control group was used for the study. The population of the study comprised 2624 SS II biology students. A sample size of 139 SS II biology students’ was used for the study. Two instruments were used for data collection in this study namely: Biology Achievement Test (BAT) and Biology Retention Test (BRT). The same test (BAT) was used as pretest, posttest, and retention test (RT). At each stage after the pre-test, the items were reshuffled. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significant. The results of the study revealed that IBL approach is more effective than the conventional approach in enhancing students’ retention in Biology. Secondly, IBL approach enhances gender parity as it concerned students’ retention in Biology. Based on these findings, the educational implications were identified and highlighted. It was recommended among others that Biology teachers should adopt the use of inquiry-based learning approach in their lessons in order to enhance students’ retention ability in biology.