Assessment of the Inquiry Teaching Method on Academic Achievements of Students in Biology Education at Mawuko Girls School, Ho, Ghana

Abstract

The study assessed the inquiry method on students’ academic achievement in biology in Mawuko Girls School in Ho Municipality using quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test non-equivalent control group design. It employed lecture teaching method as a control to established the variation between the lecture teaching method and that of inquiry. Second-year students offering biology were used for the study. Two research questions and two hypotheses were tested at 5% level of significance. The sample size of the study was 101 second-year biology students drawn by purposive sampling technique from the school. The classes used for the study were selected by simple random sampling using the ballot method. Mean, grand mean, standard deviation and t-test statistic were used to analyze data from the result of a Researcher Made Biology Test (RMBT) used for data collection. The results show that there was a significant difference between the achievements of students taught with the inquiry method and those taught with lecture method in favour of inquiry (p ≤ 0.05). There was, however, no statistically significant difference between the mean pretest scores of the experimental and control groups used for the study (p>0.05). The mean post-test scores show a wide difference. Inquiry method proved more effective than lecture method in enhancing students’ academic achievement in biology. Workshops, seminars and refresher courses on inquiry teaching and learning are therefore recommended for teachers and educational instructors to build their competency levels. Also, laboratories, as well as other infrastructure that supports inquiry learning, should be made available to the school.