EFFECT OF MODEL-BASED  INQUIRY INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUE ON ACHIEVEMENT SKILLS ACQUISITION AND INTEREST OF PRE-SERVICE CHEMISTRY TEACHERS

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of Model Based Inquiry (MBI) instructional strategy on achievement, skills acquisition (creative and critical thinking) and interest of male and female pre-service chemistry teachers. Eight research questions and twelve null hypotheses tested at

0.05 level of significance guided the study. A quasi experimental (non-equivalent control

group) design was  adopted  for  the  study.  174  (151  males  and  23  females)  pre-service chemistry teachers (NCE II) from two State Colleges of Education (SCOEs) in North West geo-political zone were involved in the study. Simple random sampling by balloting was used to select the two SCOE out of the seven SCOEs in the geo-political zone. The two randomly selected SCOEs were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. In each of the two selected colleges, all the NCE II chemistry students were used in their intact classes.  The regular chemistry lecturers in each of the colleges who were earlier trained in the details of instructional sequences of MBI and Conventional Inquiry (CI) were involved in teaching the subjects. The experimental group was taught CHEM 221 using MBI instructional technique while the control group (CI) was taught the same course with CI approach. The colleges’ regular time tables were used for the period of 10 weeks. Four instruments were used for the study, these are: Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT), Creative Thinking Test (CTT), Test of Critical Thinking (TOCT) and Chemistry Interest Inventory (CII).The four instruments were subjected to face and content validation. The instruments were also trial tested and from the data collected, the reliability coefficients of the instruments were obtained. CAT had 0.81 using Kudder-Richardson (K-R20) while CTT had 0.79 using Kendal’s coefficient of concordance (W). TOCT had 0.85 using Pearson Product Moment correlation and CII had

0.87 using Cronbach’s Alpha. The validated instruments were administered as both pre and

post tests while the data obtained were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for the research questions and the Analysis of Covarience (ANCOVA) for the  hypotheses. The findings among others showed that teaching chemistry with MBI  instructional technique enhanced pre-service teachers’ achievement, skills acquisition (creative and critical thinking) and interest better than CI approach. This will avail pre-service teachers the opportunity for

the acquisition of sustainability related competencies required for the 21st century. Based on

the findings, among others, it was recommended that the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) should incorporate MBI instructional technique in the National Certificate of Education (NCE) minimum standards.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Science and technology education are critical to sustainable national development. The duo has been transforming human life in one way or another for thousands of years. It is glaring that the pace of science and technological transformation has been very rapid in recent times precipitating numerous challenges on daily basis. Inherently, issues challenging the sustainable existence of humankind and general wellbeing such as automation, globalization, workplace change and policies increasing personal responsibility are evolving (Jerald, 2009). This has necessitated a need to equip current and future citizens in general and Chemistry students in particular, with the skills to address the rapidly evolving technology needs/challenges of the 21st  century (Ezema, 2011). These skills go beyond the science process skills, but the broader skills such as critical thinking skill and creativity (Silva, 2008; Nwosu, 2015). Chemistry education has the potential to provide for the needed solutions to the challenges of the millennium (Ezeudu & Okeke, 2013).

The potentials of Chemistry education in providing the desired national sustainability is mirrored in the intents of its inclusion in the nation’s curricular packages at different educational  levels.  At  the  basic  education  and  secondary  school  levels,  the  learning experience   is  aimed  at   the  acquisition  of  appropriate  level  of  literacy,   numeracy, manipulation and life skills such as the critical thinking and creativity for useful living within the society (FRN, 2004). At the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) level, chemistry education is designed to produce competent chemistry teachers with the capacity to further encourage the spirit of inquiry and creativity in the learners and to apply the skills and knowledge to solve day-to-day problems (National Commission for Colleges of Education,

2008). However, these objectives are yet to be achieved in our schools and colleges as a

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result, poor academic achievement of students in chemistry have been recorded in recent times. This view is supported by Aina and Akintunde (2013) at college level, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) Chief Examiner’s report (2013) and by extension, Ozaji (2008) the analysis  of integrated science for five consecutive years. Science educators have identified some factors militating against the attainment of the objectives to include teachers’ methodology and strategies.

Methods and instructional techniques are ways  by which teachers present course materials to learners and engage them in the task of learning the curriculum content. They are the tools used by the teacher for actualizing the set aims and objectives (Bello, 2012). If the tools are faulty or inappropriate, the aims and objectives of the teaching and learning will not be achieved. It is clear from the foregoing that the possibility of Chemistry education to provide for the needed solutions to the challenges of the millennium depends on the ability of Chemistry teachers to select and maximally utilize appropriate instructional techniques in their lesson delivery. Chemistry teaching methods should therefore reflect a modern society mandating the need for functioning, thinking-oriented, decision-making students. To be successful, teachers should select and use a wide variety of innovative instructional strategies, because excellent and effective teaching demands high quality techniques and a host of other devices to achieve cross critical outcomes.

The ability of Chemistry teachers in particular to select and utilize the appropriate instructional techniques  in their  delivery  is  a  function of the  pre-service and  in-service training they received from the teacher producing institutions and departments. The quality of teachers is dependent on preparation for professional role as distinct practitioners (Aina & Akintunde, 2013).   In Nigeria however, low level of performance of pre-service teachers, especially their poverty of knowledge and skills has been a recurrent problem in science education (Agoro, 2013). This underscores the need for the current study. The identified

weakness raises the concern about pre-service Chemistry teachers’ ability in particular to prepare  students  for  the  21st   century  knowledge  society.  Quality  of  teacher  education programs and the ability /willingness of the Colleges of Education (COEs) and universities to provide for innovative programs that will produce better prepared teachers are being questioned (Agoro, 2013). There is an overall lack of political and public confidence in teacher training systems and a profound mismatch between the radically new key competencies demanded from students in the knowledge society and the teaching skills that pre-service teachers are equipped with, in teacher training institutions (Moreno, 2006).

Nevertheless, the need for exposing the prospective science teachers at higher education levels to quality knowledge and skills, both practical and cognitive, remains a necessity. Science educators maintain that the task cannot be accomplished without a radical change from the use of teacher centered traditional practices in teacher preparation programs to the use of student centered approaches such as the inquiry (Nwosu, 2015).

Inquiry signifies search for knowledge or information which involves a systematic process of investigation. Promoted by  American educator  and  philosopher,  John Dewy, Inquiry falls under “inductive” approaches to teaching and learning. The term inquiry refers “to a process of seeking knowledge, raising questions, searching answers, evaluating information and asking new questions” (Virginia & Whitney, 2011). Regardless of the type of inquiry, the  processes aim at  the  improvement  of the active  involvement  of science students in the instructional processes towards attaining the goal of inquiry which according to Oral (2012) is to develop better and richer experiences, hence the authentic knowledge growth. In this study, conventional inquiry entail students explore the academic content through investigation, asking questions and raising answers under the support of the teachers, However, research findings indicate the continuous abuse of the Conventional Inquiry (CI) as verification  activities  where  students  closely  follow  directions  dictated  by  lecturers’

laboratory manuals and memorizing what science lecturers and text books have indicated as truth about the natural world. Windschitl, Thompson & Braaten, (2008) and Witt & Ulmer (2010) support further, that students tend to regurgitate with minor variations, the steps of the inquiry without understanding how and why of the procedures. The conception of knowledge mind and learning no longer serve in the 21st century where what we know is less important than what we are able to do with knowledge in different contexts and  where our capacity for learning far outweighs the importance of our ability to follow rules (Glibert,  2005). This lead to the proposition by science educators for a more reformed innovative inquiry based instructional technique such as the Model-Based Inquiry (MBI), to align the Conventional

Inquiry (CI) with the skill requirements of the millennium.

Model-Based Inquiry is an instructional technique in which science students utilize models as representations of physical properties such as characteristics, entities, and conceptual relationships blended in inquiry process. De Jong and van Joolingen (2008) state that in MBI, students try to grasp the properties of an existing models (learning from models), learn from creating models (learning by modeling) and a way of learning in which these two forms are combined. In MBI, unlike the conventional inquiry, there is always a provision for students to develop an initial platform of understanding (a model) to inform their previous knowledge, questions and hypotheses and data generated are not only used to characterize how outcome are related to conditions but also why the conclusion is reached in particular way (Windschitl, et al, 2008). In sum, conventional inquiry focused on testing hypothesis while MBI is grounded in content, goes beyond how something happens (testing hypothesis) to  why something  happens  i.e.  testing  idea  (Louca,  Zacharia,  &    Constantinou, 2011). Example, in an activity involving the determination of dissolution of different sizes of sugar crystals, the smaller sugar crystals will dissolve faster than the larger sugar crystals (CI) but in MBI, the underlying explanations based on the analyses of how molecular motion helps

break the chemical bonds between molecules of sugar will be  addressed. In this study, MBI is an instructional technique which engages students in chemical inquiry through physical and conceptual modeling of characteristics and the underlying cause and relationships that exist among organic chemistry concepts. These aspects of the MBI having the potential of wider applicability need to be imbibed by pre-service chemistry teachers during training at the colleges to become competent teachers with the capacity to further encourage the spirit of inquiry and creativity in the learners at the secondary school and basic education levels and to apply the skills and knowledge to solve day-to-day problems. However, studies relating to investigative approaches at pre-service teacher programs indicate the paucity of empirical studies on the effects of MBI in Chemistry instructional practices at colleges of education level.

Chemistry is that aspect of sciences that deals with the nature of matter, its properties and its changes in conditions. Organic chemistry constitutes one of the major branches in chemistry. It is the study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-containing compounds, which include not only hydrocarbons but also compounds with  any  number  of  other  elements,  including  hydrogen  (Rice,  2014).  The  range  of application of organic compounds is enormous and also  includes, but  is  not limited to, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, food, explosives, paints, plastics and cosmetics. This provides a justification that its study improves the standard of living. Chemistry education in general has a crucial role to play in helping to find answers to various human and socio- economic problems as well as making the society scientifically literate (Ezeliora, 2009; Hua- Jun, 2014). However, Chemistry education can only address these globalization challenges if pre-service chemistry teachers are provided the opportunity to explore and develop their innate potentials. The pre-service chemistry teachers in this study are the level II students of Colleges of Education (COEs). The study did not consider NCE I & III because of newness

and standardization issues respectively. NCE II however, is the intermediate and the rate determining stage of the program. From the researcher’s experience, majority of these pre- service chemistry students score low grades with a lot of failures in CHEM 221. Such failures have been recorded at the COE level throughout Nigeria (Aina and Akintunde, 2013). The major reason for this problem advanced by some educators is that teaching and learning in COEs especially in northwest geopolitical zone, are still based predominantly on traditional practices such as lecture, expository, demonstration (Education Sector Support Program in Nigeria [ESSPIN], 2009; Ijaiya, Alabi & Faasasi, 2011). Such practice militates against the realization  of  the  objectives  of  pre-service  chemistry  teachers’  training  (Adeyemi  & Adeyemi, 2014). Moreover, the Northwest geopolitical block leads in the country on the shortage of NCE teachers both in quality and quantity (Egwu, 2009).These circumstances vis- à-vis the knowledge and skill requirement (especially critical and creative thinking) of the millennium underscore the need  for the shift  in emphasis to the use of more  students’ (activity) centered instructional techniques such as the Conventional inquiry. However, the continuous abuse of this type of inquiry has been established in the literature. Thus, science educators proposed reformed innovative inquiry approaches such as the MBI (Windschitl, et. al., 2008). Yet, the MBI has not been satisfactorily explored in determining students’ learning outcomes especially at pre-service teacher level.

Students’   achievement   connotes   academic   performance   in   school  subject   as symbolized by a score or mark on achievement test. According to Anene (2005), students’ academic achievement  is quantified by a measure of the students’ academic standing in relation to those of other students of his age. Ogunsaju (2004) states that, the academic standard in all Nigeria educational institutions have fallen considerably below societal expectations. One of the reasons for the low standard could be associated with the quality of teachers  trained  in  the  colleges  of  education  (Adeyemi  &  Adeyemi,  2014).  However,

students’ achievement is determined by certain factors such as teachers’ attitude, enthusiasm, and learning environment as well as students’ attitude and background (Adeyemi, 2014). A strong relationship exists between high-quality instruction, teacher professional development and students’ achievement (Araoye, 2013). So effective teaching demands quality techniques and host of other devices to achieve cross critical outcomes (Van Wyk, 2010). However, despite the importance of chemistry to mankind and the efforts of researchers to improve on its teaching and learning, the achievement of students in the subject remains low in Nigeria (Adesoji & Olatunbosun, 2008). This is a manifestation of a negative ripple effect throughout the education system which stems from the teacher preparation programs. Since improved teacher  preparation  will  lead  to  greater  teacher  effectiveness  and  ultimately  improved students’ achievement  (Okeke-Oti &  Adaka,  2012)  and  there  is  paucity  of research on students’ learning outcomes at the pre-service level employing MBI, the need for this study becomes crucial.

Learning outcomes in terms of cognitive and intellectual skills that are relevant with wider  applicability  which  pre-service  students  should  imbibe  during  training  is  the acquisitions of skills to enable them become useful members of the society (FRN, 2004). The type of curriculum designed, its quality, and the instructional delivery which accommodates the acquisition of skills is germane for manpower development. This implies that pre-service teacher programs must provide training in the acquisition of skills which in this study are the

critical thinking and creativity among other 21st century skills. These skills, though implied in

the NCE science curriculum as higher order thinking skills, problem solving skills, scientific skill/attitudes or analytical thinking, they are not well developed/addressed, hence the need to do so because of the millennium skill requirement.

Critical  thinking  is  a  rational  thinking  in  the  pursuit  of  relevant  and  reliable knowledge about the material world. It is a purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which result

in interpretation, analysis, evaluation and inference as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological or contextual considerations upon which judgment was based (James, 2007). Critical thinking in this study is a reflective thinking which enables pre- service teachers to draw conclusions, make tacit assumptions, deduce, interpret and evaluate arguments. The goal of critical thinking, which concurs with the goals of science teaching, according to Kalman (2008) is to enable students to become the maximally rational human beings that they are capable of being. The rationality involves the use of those skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. Angeli and Valanides (2008) state that critical-thinking skills are necessary for active citizenship in any pluralistic and democratic society, where citizens are daily confronted with tremendous amounts of information and ill defined problems with real uncertainty as to how they can be best solved. Research findings, though inconclusive, relate critical thinking with a number of instructional approaches such as between constructivist and traditional approach (Tynjalas, 1998), Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) integrating High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (Yan, 2014) and between dialogical and non-dialogical approach (Frijters, 2008). Other studies such as Myer and Dyer (2006), Heong, Yunos and Hassan (2011) and Ramos, Dolipas and Villamor (2013) discovered that achievement relates positively to CT skill acquisition at  different education  levels  including  higher  education.  These  researches  were  based  on  foreign countries however the need for developing critical thinking and creativity more than ever before, less have been reported on the Nigerian environment with MBI.

Creativity on the other hand involves not only the generation of ideas but also the evaluation of them and deciding which one is  the most adequate. Creativity is a meta- cognitive process of generating novel or useful associations that better solve a problem, produce a plan or result in pattern, structure, or product not clearly present before (Hargrove,

2012).  Creativity  in  the  context  of  this  study  entails  pre-service  teachers  utilizing  the

instructional experiences to come up with something original, generate new and different classes  of  ideas  and  products.  While  a  conclusive  definition  of  creativity  is  elusive, researches on creativity have outlined the components of creative thinking (e.g. Karpova, et al, 2011) to include fluency (ability to generate ideas), originality (the degree to which the produced ideas are unique or novel), elaboration (ability to build on existing ideas), and flexibility (ability to generate different classes of ideas). There are inconclusive results on how creativity correlates with achievement.   Naderi, Abdullahi, Aizan, Sharir and Kumar (2010),  Abayomi  (2014)  found  a  positive  correlation  between  the  two  construct  while Olatoye, Akintunde and Yakassai (2010) and Adeola (2011) found no significant correlation between creativity and students achievement. Karpova, et al. (2011) on the aspect of instructional   delivery   found   out   that   incorporating   creativity   exercise   promote   the development  of  creative  thinking  in  students.  Creativity  and  Critical  thinking  can  be integrated  to  allow  students  develop  original  ideas  supported by  well reasoned,  logical argument linked to dispositions such as the need to evaluate information and a tendency to approach problems uniquely.

There is a glaring citizen outcry against below average quality manpower production characterized by poverty of knowledge and skills from nation’s educational system (Pollyn,

2014),  substantiating the  paucity  of innovative  instructional strategies  in  our  traditional classrooms at all education levels (Colman, 2014; Giginna and Nweze, 2014; Aniodoh and Ezeh, 2014). As a result, pre-service teachers produced from such COEs in particular are seriously limited in intellectual skills especially those of the critical thinking and creativity (Nwosu, 2015).  This  has  produced ripple  effect  throughout the  educational system and contributing to a perpetual state of underdevelopment (Ijaiya, et al, 2011). Several methods like cooperative learning, concept mapping, learning styles etc were employed by science teachers at different educational levels including the COEs, in various attempts to ameliorate

the problems but yet the outcome is inconclusive. It is also clear that there is paucity in such attempts as to exploit the curriculum at this level to develop and utilize the combined skills especially employing the MBI in our trainee chemistry teachers in attempts to propel their curiosity and interest in chemistry for success in their classrooms and personal lives

Interest involves a sense of commitment with and curiosity about something, for instance, students having interest in science subjects. The term interest usually refers to preference to engage in some types of activities rather than others (Hagey, Baram-Tsabari, Ametler, Cakmakci, Lopes, Moreira & Pedrosa-de-jesus, 2012). Interest is fundamental in any individual’s choice of task. Interest-driven actions involve personally valued objects or activities; they are accompanied by positive emotions and are self-intentional (Krapp and Prenzel 2011). Hagey et al., posit that an interest may be regarded as highly specific types of attitude, when we are interested in a particular phenomenon or activity; we are favorably inclined to attend to it and give time to it. By implication, students’ positive attitude towards science  leads  to  a  positive  commitment  to  science  that  influences  lifelong  interest  and learning in science.

The concept of interest strongly affects an individual’s affective functioning with respect  to  learning  (Kim as  cited  in  Lamb,  Annetta,  Meldrum  &  Vallett,  2011).    The generalized characteristics of interest  according  to  Lamb,  et  al.,  (2011) include  state of focused attention, flow, increased cognitive functioning, and increased affective functioning. Researchers have shown that students’ general interest in science was positively related to performance (Bybee and McCrae, 2011) and specifically in chemistry (Agogo, Odoh & Simon, 2014). However a mixed outcome was reported on gender and interest.  Hagey et al., (2012)  reported  that  boys  in  general  are  more  interested  in  science  than  girls  but  in developing countries girls have the same (Alao & Abubakar, 2010) or even more positive attitude and interest in science than boys (Bello & Aliyu, 2013) in electrical electronics and

physic respectively.  Nworgu (2004) further discovered that girls developed higher interest because they developed greater enthusiasm and enjoyed the biology lesson much more than the boys. Hagey et al. further state that while Biology is of great interest to girls, Physics and Technology prove significantly less interesting to girls than to boys although Chemistry is liked to a similar extent by both genders. A major contradiction in this regard was reported by Fenshman (2007) that females were found to be high achievers than their male counterparts in physics but had very low interest in physics. However, beside the gender issues and interest, Agogo, Odoh and Simon (2014), Blunuz and Jerrett (2007) found out that methods/ instructional techniques are also a function of interest. It is evident that there have been continued inconsistencies in the research findings in the area of interest in science which serves a  meditational role  for  academic  achievement  of both male  and  female  students especially at the pre-service science teacher preparation level. Hence, there is therefore the need to investigate the effect of the MBI on the identified variables on pre-service chemistry teachers.

Gender according to Santrock (2001) involves the biological dimension of being a female or male. This has been a crucial matter to the educationists. Issues that are multidimensional in outlook as they relate to the teaching and learning of science in this regard have been very contentious.   Providing quality education ensures sustainable development. Adapting an approach that takes into account the relationship and interaction between males and females, according to the United State Agency for International Development (USAID, 2008) will address four dimensions: equality of access; equality in the learning process; equality of educational outcomes and equality of external results. Science educators  such  as  Adigwe,  2012  and  Nwosu,  2015  conducted  researches  on  gender differences   and   achievement.   The   results   though   inconclusive,   showed   measurable

differences in between male and female students in achievement, and interest in science related subjects (Keziah, 2011).

Most of the studies conducted on gender differences found out boys have better performance than girls. A wide range of factors are responsible for the observed disparity. According to Nwosu (2015) and Eze (2007) sex-role stereotyping or gender stereotyping appears to be the most predominant and perhaps the source of all other causes of gender difference in science, technology and mathematics education. Also related is the cognitive sex differences resulting from a complex phenomenon known as stereotype threat (Miller & Halpern,  2014), composition of classroom peers (Legewie  &  DiPrete, 2012) and  socio- cultural factors (Njoku, 2000). This is opposed to the fact that sustainable development is participatory and needs the involvement of both males and females (Nwosu, 2015) as enshrined in the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDG) initiatives and United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Education for All (EFA) objective of achieving gender equality.  Similarly,  it  contradicts the  intent  of the National policy on Education (FRN, 2004) that every Nigerian child shall have a right to equal  education  opportunities,  irrespective  of  any  real  or  imagined  disabilities,  each according to his or her ability. However, literature abound with statistics that gender parity could be established in science classes that emphasize hands-on/activity based instructional strategies. In view of the fact that inquiry methods such as the conventional inquiry have been used as well as other activity based strategies such as cooperative learning on gender issues in science, the result is still inconclusive. Hence, there is the need to try the MBI and ascertain its impact on achievement, skill acquisition and interest of both male and female pre-service chemistry teachers.

Statement of the Problem

Science and technology have been critical to sustainable national development and positive transformation of human life.  Issues that  challenge the sustainable existence of human kind such as globalization, automation and workplace change are evolving. This necessitates the need to  equip all students including pre-service chemistry teachers with knowledge and skills especially those of critical thinking and creativity to thrive in a rapidly evolving technology driven world.

There is no automatic connection between education and such needed sustainable development  except  through a good pre-service teacher  preparation programs. However, Colleges of Education (COEs) as one of the production pipelines for teachers both in quantity and quality, often fail to satisfactorily equip pre-service teachers for this 21st century environment. The major reason for this problem advanced by some educators is that teaching and learning in COEs especially in northwest geopolitical zone, are still based predominantly on traditional practices such as lecture, expository, demonstration. These practices promote gender disparity in learning, impede students’ interest and the acquisition of requisite knowledge and skills. These circumstances vis-à-vis the knowledge and skill requirement

(especially critical and creative thinking) of the millennium underscore the need for the shift in emphasis to the use of more students’ (activity) centered instructional techniques such as the Conventional inquiry. But research findings indicate the continuous abuse of inquiry as verification activities, where students closely follow directions and memorizing what science teachers and text books have indicated as truth about the natural world. This lead to the proposition by science educators for a more reformed innovative inquiry approaches such as Model-Based Inquiry (MBI). Moreover, the paucity of the use of MBI in science teaching and learning at all levels of education system has been established. Since the quality of teacher  education determines,  to  a great  extent, the quality of instructions and  learning

outcomes, there is the need to explore the efficacy of MBI at pre-service teacher level. Hence the problem of the study posed as question is: What  is the effect of MBI instructional technique on achievement, skill acquisition and interest of pre-service Chemistry teachers? Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to determine the effects of MBI instructional technique on achievement, skills acquisition and interest of pre-service chemistry teachers. Specifically, the study hopes to determine the:

1.       Relative effectiveness of MBI instructional technique and the Conventional Inquiry

(CI) approach on pre-service teachers’ achievement in chemistry.

2.        Relative effectiveness of MBI instructional technique and the CI approach on pre- service teachers’ creative thinking skills acquisition in Chemistry.

3.        Relative effectiveness of MBI instructional technique and the CI approach on pre- service teachers’ critical thinking skills acquisition in Chemistry.

4.        Relative effectiveness of MBI instructional technique and the CI approach on pre- service teachers’ interest in chemistry.

5.       Influence of gender on pre-service teachers’ achievement in Chemistry.

6.       Influence of gender on pre-service teachers’ creative skills acquisition in Chemistry.

7.       Influence of gender on pre-service teachers’ critical skills acquisition in Chemistry

8.       Influence of gender on pre-service teachers’ interest in Chemistry.

9.        Interaction effect of treatment and gender on pre-service teachers’ means achievement scores in Chemistry.

10.      Interaction effect of treatment and gender on pre-service teachers’ mean creative thinking skills acquisition score in chemistry.

11.      Interaction effect  of treatment  and  gender  on  pre-service teachers’  mean critical thinking skills acquisition score in chemistry.

12.      Interaction effect of treatment and gender on pre-service teachers’ mean interest score in chemistry.

Significance of the Study

The study has both theoretical and practical significance. On the theoretical perspective, this study is anchored on the psychological theories of learning with particular reference to cognitive and constructivist learning theories. Cognitive theorists such as Piaget and Dewey maintain that students begin by developing operation to act on the material world and eventually by the stage of formal operation they acquired abstract logico-mathematical reasoning capacities that allow them to detach themselves from the object world so that they can reason about it  in strictly logical perspectives. The constructivists such as Vygotsky however  hold  the  view  that  knowledge  is  constructed  by  the  individual  learner  and  is embodied in human experiences, perceptions, imaginations and mental and social constructions. They also hold the view that construction of knowledge includes both physical and  intellectual activities  in  which  students  interact  with objects,  people  or  events  and eventually construct a reality of them. In MBI, students are exposed to group problem solving activities  in  a  social  supportive  environment  where  they can  freely  and  collaboratively express themselves, ask questions and resolve conflicts of opinions. The conversations in MBI will create an authentic learning opportunity for students through the manipulation of resources as advocated by the socio-cognitive theories of learning. This is supported by provision for students to develop an initial platform of understanding, i.e. a model (to be subsequently validated), which informs their previous knowledge, questions and hypotheses and data generated are not only used to characterize how outcome are related to conditions but also why the conclusion is reached in a particular way.

Practically,  the  findings  of  this  could  be  of  benefit  to  students,  teachers  and curriculum planners.  Students  exposed  to  MBI  were  provided  with the  opportunities to

collaborate with one another, share information, seek solution and explore alternatives in a social supportive environment  in the  process of authentic  knowledge construction.  It  is anticipated that the use of MBI will help students develop and justify explanations. It will also give them the opportunity to develop meta-knowledge in scientific practices and the understanding of both content  and  processes of science  through model generation.  The finding  of this  study will  therefore  help  to  establish  the  extent  such  model generation

practices  affected  the  development  of  21st   century  skills,  such  as  critical  thinking  and

creativity needed for success in their classrooms and personal lives.

The finding of the study could help science teachers particularly chemistry teachers, to  be  aware  of the  effect  of MBI  as  a  modified  inquiry on students’  learning  through sensitization programs, workshops, conferences and seminars. These activities will demonstrate the need to adopt it as an alternative instructional strategy for teaching chemistry for easier  understanding and  effective  learning  by  students (pre-service teachers)  in the acquisition of skills, especially those of critical thinking and creativity as well in engendering interest among all students irrespective of gender.

The finding of this study when published could provide empirical evidence, which could serve as a guide for organizing conferences, seminars and workshops for professional science teachers, administrators, curriculum planners as well as textbook writers in their effort to help improve acquisition of 21st century skills and interest among science students in general.

The findings of the study when published may also create awareness for curriculum planners especially the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to review the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) minimum standard in the aspect of pedagogy to incorporate MBI in the teaching and learning of sciences. Curriculum planners could also

benefit from the findings by providing them with information like the indices of achievement, skill acquisition and interest of both male and female students.

Scope of the Study

The study was  restricted to  the determination  of the  effect  Model-based Inquiry instructional technique on achievement, skills acquisition and interest of NCE 11 chemistry students from the state colleges of education in north-western geo-political zone of Nigeria. The area of study forms a block of educationally disadvantaged section of the country with attendant negative consequences. The key indicator of the scenario was reflected in the Road Map for Nigerian Education sector (Egwu, 2009) that out of the 38.75% of teachers with certificates below the NCE, the North-East and North-West regions constitute about 70% of the said percentage. The course selected for the study is Chem 221 (organic chemistry 2) in which mechanisms of the  various reactions throughout the contents are necessary. This accounts for most of the failures recorded in this course because it requires high degree of logical reasoning from students. The major topics in the course include Alkanes, Alkenes, Alkynes, Markovnikoff’s rule, Polymerization, di-enes. (See Appendix A, p. 180).

Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1.        What is the effect of MBI instructional technique and CI on pre-service teachers’

achievement in Chemistry?

2.        What is the effect of MBI instructional technique and CI on pre-service teachers’

acquisition of creative thinking skill in Chemistry?

3.        What is the effect of MBI instructional technique and CI on pre-service teachers’

acquisition of Critical thinking skill in Chemistry?

4.          What is the effect of MBI instructional technique and CI on pre-service teachers’

interest in Chemistry?

5.          What is the influence of gender on pre-service teachers’ achievement in Chemistry?

6.         What  is  the  influence  of gender  on  pre-service  teachers’  Creative  thinking  skill acquisition in Chemistry?

7.         What  is  the  influence  of  gender  on  pre-service  teachers’  Critical  thinking  skill acquisition in Chemistry?

8.        What is the influence of gender on pre-service teachers’ interest in Chemistry?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses tested at  0.05 level of significance guided the study:

1.         There is no significant difference in mean achievement scores of pre-service teachers taught Chemistry with MBI and those taught using CI.

2.         There is no significant difference in mean creative thinking skills acquisition scores of pre-service teachers taught Chemistry with MBI instructional technique and those taught with CI.

3.         There is no significant difference in the mean critical thinking skills acquisition scores of pre-service teachers taught Chemistry with MBI instructional technique and those taught with conventional inquiry methods.

4.         There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores of pre-service teachers taught Chemistry with MBI instructional technique and those taught with conventional inquiry method.

5.        There is no significant difference in mean achievement scores of male and female

Pre-service chemistry teachers when exposed to MBI.

6.         There is no significant difference in the mean creative thinking skills scores of male and female pre-service chemistry teachers when exposed to MBI.

7.         There is no significant difference in the mean critical thinking skills scores of male and female pre-service Chemistry teachers when exposed to MBI.

8.         There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores of male and female Pre- service chemistry teachers when exposed to MBI.

9.         There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on pre-service teachers’ means achievement scores in Chemistry.

10.       There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on pre-service teachers’ mean creative thinking skills score in chemistry.

11.       There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on pre-service teachers’ mean critical thinking skills score in chemistry. 12.                   There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on pre-service teachers’ mean interest score in chemistry.

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