The Effects of Usage of Sequential Instructional Strategies on Students’ Problem-Solving Ability in Selected Chemistry Concepts.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of sequential use of teaching strategies on chemistry students’ problem solving ability in tasks involving mole and electrolysis. It sought to find out whether the time of usage of each of three strategies during a lesson matters. The three strategies were: lecture, analogy and discussion method. The design was pretest-posttest experimental design. Sixty senior secondary two chemistry students were randomly selected from three schools, pretested and grouped into three. The first group was taught the mole concept and electrolysis in the sequence: lecture method, analogy and discussion. The second: analogy, discussion and lecture while the third group: discussion, lecture and analogy. The effectiveness of the different sequence of presentation was measured using chemistry problem solving test (CPST). Data obtained were analyzed using one way ANOVA. Results obtained showed that there was no significant difference in the pre-test means scores of the groups. However, there was a significant difference in the post-test mean scores of the three groups. The students in group one who were taught with lecture, analogy and discussion in that sequence, performed better than group two who also performed better than group three. The sequence of presentation affected their problem solving ability. The order in which the three instructional strategies were used during teaching was important. The study recommends the use of student-centered strategies in close succession to one another without interruption when teaching students problem solving in mole and electrolysis.