Efficacy of Periodic Board-Scrabble Game (PBSG) Teaching Approach on Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Chemistry.

Abstract

The dynamic role of Chemistry as a discipline in the technological development of any nation demands that more thoughtful attention be given to its method of teaching and learning. This has necessitated the innovation of different teaching approaches and strategies by Chemistry educators to enhance students’ achievement and sustainability of Chemistry Education. This study investigated the efficacy of the use of Periodic Board-Scrabble Game (PBSG) teaching approach developed by the researchers on students’ achievement in Chemistry. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental research design, precisely the non-equivalent pre-test and post-test control group design. The population of this study was one thousand and eighty-nine (1,089) Senior Secondary School students of the penultimate class from thirty-two Senior secondary schools in Nsukka Senatorial District of Enugu State. One hundred and forty-two students from two co-educational schools in this population were sampled purposively. Two intact classes were randomly drawn from each of the two schools. The instrument used was the Periodic Board-Scrabble Game and Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT), developed by the researchers. The reliability of the Chemistry achievement test was established using Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (K-R 20), and the index obtained was 0.94. Mean and standard deviation (SD) were used to answer the research questions while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at p<0 .05. The study revealed that the use of Periodic Board-Scrabble Game (PBSG) approach enhanced students’ achievement in Chemistry. It was recommended that chemistry teachers should adopt the use of Periodic Board-Scrabble Game(PBS) approach in teaching the concept of the periodic table. It is also recommended that this game should be translated into a video game.