Effectiveness of PQ4R Study Technique on Performance of Students In Chemistry

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe study investigated the effectiveness of PQ4R study technique on performance of students in Chemistty in secondary schools in Ibadan south east Local Government Area, Oyo State. The study adopted pretest, posttest control design. A sample of 80 students selected from two schools by simple random technique was used. One school constituted the experimental group and the other the control group. An instrument which consisted of forty objective and two essay questions was developed, validated and used for the study. The instrument was titled "Chemistiy Achievement Test" (CAT.) Data collected were analyzed using t-test The results showed that while there was no difference in the pre-test scores of the experimental and control groups (t = 0.53, p > 0.05), there was a significant difference in the post-test scores(t= 8.2, p 0.05). Hie study concluded that the PQ4R was effective in improving the performance of students in Chemistiy.Keywords: PQ4R, Study technique, Experimental, Comprehension, Chemistry.IntroductionScience students require a good performance in Chemistry to advance in their chosen careers. To excel in any science or technology based discipline demands a solid foundation in Chemistry. In the Senior School Certificate and the Unified Tertiaiy Matriculations Examinations, Chemistry is a compulsory subject for all science students. This underscores the need for a good performance in the subject. However, going by the Chemistry results in the Senior School Certificate Examination, a good number of science students do not perform well in Chemistry. In fact, it is common knowledge that the problem of poor performance in Chemistry has been on the rise. Olatunbosun (2006) corroborated this in his study. Reasons have been adduced for the persistent poor performance in Chemistry over the years. Among the reasons put forward to explain the decline in performance of students in Chemistry at the Senior School Certificate Examination are teachers' methods of teaching, lack of provision of standard infrastructure by the school management, students' negative attitude to Chemistry and lack of comprehension of written texts. No doubt, the above reasons are cogent and a pointer to the cause of students' poor performance in Chemistry. However, this paper wishes to address the problem of students' lack of comprehension of written texts.The critical place of comprehension of written texts in good performance in science cannot be over-emphasised. Highlighting the behavioural objectives of a unit of study in science education, Klopfer cited by Adesoji 2002 stated that one of the objectives which a learner should achieve after he has undergone a unit of study in science is the acquisition of knowledge and comprehension. This goes to submit that comprehension of written text and acquisition of knowledge is like a set of Siamese twins that may not be so easily separated. The implication of this is that for the objective to be achieved there is the need to re-visit pedagogical strategies that promote the development of good comprehension skills in educational settings.Chemistry shares a few similarities with Mathematics. Like Mathematics, it uses a symbolic language and involves calculations and problem-solving. Hence, a good performance in the subject demands the development of scientific literacy by the student. To give credence to the development of scientific literacy, the curriculum traditionally emphasizes the mathematical and problem-solving aspects of the subject. No attention is paid to the development of comprehension of written texts and the non-mathematical aspects of the subject matter. This situation leaves much to be desired as there are aspects in Chemistry that are not mathematically oriented and have contents that need to be thoroughly understood. …