A Study of the Effects of Discussion and Inquiry Methods on Students’ Scholarly Performance in Biology

Abstract

This study examined the effects of discussion and inquiry methods on secondary school students’ scholarly performance in Biology. The study adopted quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test, control group research design. Three hundred and eighty (380) secondary school one Biology students from nine schools through the simple random sampling technique were used as the research sample. The control group were instructed employing the lecture method, while the experimental group participated using the inquiry method. Both groups were instructed with same biological concepts in intact classroom for six weeks. Biology Achievement Test (BAT) was administered to collect data for pre-test and post-test. A reliability coefficient of 0.76 was obtained using kuder-Richardson Formula 21. The data collected were analysed using the statistics of mean to answer the research questions and t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study’s findings indicated a significant difference in the scholarly performance of male and female students instructed using discussion and inquiry methods, with the former yielding better results; and a significant difference in the scholarly performance of discussion- and inquiry-based instruction when it came to student gender. In conclusion, both discussion and inquiry methods of teaching help Biology students do better in high school, but the discussion method works better than the inquiry method. Based on these, recommendations were made.