EFFECTIVENESS OF PROBLEM-BASED AND THINK-PAIRSHARE TEACHING METHODS IN ENHANCING SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN ELECTROCHEMISTRY IN ENUGU EDUCATION ZONE

Abstract

The study investigated the effectiveness of problem-based learning and think-pair-share methods on secondary school students’ interest in electrochemistry in Enugu Education Zone. Three research questions guided the study while three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. Specifically, the pretest, post-test, non-randomized experimental groups was used. The population of the study comprised seven thousand eight hundred and twenty-four (7,824) Senior Secondary School year two (SS 2) students offering Chemistry in the thirty-one (31) public secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone. A sample size of one hundred and twenty-six (126) SS2 Chemistry students, made up of seventy-five (75) males and fifty one (51) females were involved in the study obtained using multi-stage sampling procedure. The instrument used for data collection was Chemistry Interest Scale (CIS). The coefficient of reliability was established through Cronbach Alpha Formula and internal consistencies of 0.81 was obtained, indicating that the instrument was reliable. The experimental group one (E1) were taught using problem-based method, while the experimental group two (E2) was taught using think-pair-share method. The treatments lasted for six weeks. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and Analysis of Covariance.
The results revealed that problem-based and think-pair-share methods are effective in enhancing students’ interest in electrochemistry; problem-based method is more effective than think-pair-share method in enhancing interest in electrochemistry; the use of problem-based learning and think-pair-share as teaching
methods were significant factors on the students’ overall interest in electrochemistry and that gender was a significant factor on the overall students’ interest in electrochemistry. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were proffered among others that, chemistry teachers should adopt problem-based and think-pair-share teaching methods when teaching in order to enhance students’ interest in chemistry. Also, students and chemistry teachers should be trained properly on the use of these two methods in teaching by teacher educator tertiary institutions.