EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING STRATEGY ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KATSINA ZONAL EDUCATION QUALITY ASSURANANCE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the Effect of CLS on Academic Performance and Retention of Organic Chemistry among Secondary School Students in Katsina ZEQA, Nigeria. The general objective of the study is to investigate the effect of CLS on academic performance and retention of organic chemistry among secondary school students in Katsina, the study answered four research questions and tested four research hypotheses. The study adopted Quasi-experimental research design. The population of the study comprised of 14,469 students from 24 co-educational secondary schools in Katsina ZEQA. Cluster and Simple Random Sampling technique were used to sample two schools and intact classes were used in each school with a sample size of 141 students. One validated instrument namely Organic Chemistry Performance Test with a reliability coefficient of 0.879 was used for data collection. The Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while null hypotheses were tested at P ≤ 0.05 level of significance using ANCOVA and t-test independent samples. The findings revealed significant difference exists in the academic performance and retention of the students taught using CLS and those taught using lecture method. Students in the experimental group developed and obtained a significantly high positive academic performance and retention respectively than students in the control group. It was concluded CLS helps in improving academic performance and retention of both male and female students in organic chemistry. The study recommended that Organic Chemistry concepts should be taught using techniques and strategies like CLS that allows active participation and creative manipulation of the learnt materials.