A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TEACHING SCIENCE (BIOLOGY) AS INQUIRY VERSUS TRADITIONAL DIDACTIC APPROACH IN NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS. (VOLUMES I AND II)

This study is a comparison of achievement in biology by Nigerian secondary school biology students (tenth graders), when taught either by the inquiry method or the traditional (lecture) method. It was undertaken to address two major questions: (1) what effect, if any, would inquiry as a pedagogical method have on the Nigerian science student in terms of cognitive achievement in science? (2) could the level of pupil understanding of science and scientific processes be improved by teaching science as inquiry?;Analysis of covariance was used to analyze students' scores. The results show that students in the inquiry group attained a significantly higher level of achievement than students in the traditional group. Based on these results, it is concluded that (1) teaching science as inquiry significantly enhances Nigerian students' achievement in science; (2) the inquiry method is a more effective method of teaching science than the traditional lecture method.;A teacher training package was developed by this investigator. The training package consisted of two main parts. Part one consisted of (a) strategies for laboratory activities; (b) questioning strategies; (c) strategies for discussion activities and (d) the observation instrument used to monitor teacher classroom activities. Part two contained inquiry-oriented lessons. The development of the package was based on the inquiry approach contained in Biology Teachers' Handbook (2nd Ed., 1970). The package was used to train teachers during a workshop organized by this investigator. Only teachers in the inquiry (experimental) group were trained. Teachers in the traditional (control) group were not trained. A biology content test, based on the tenth grade biology syllabus as specified by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), was developed by the investigator, and used to measure students' achievement in biology.