Effects of Demonstration Method on Teaching and Learning Chemistry in Secondary Schools in Nsukka Education Zone
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of study
In this study, the researcher intended to find out whether the nature of the effect of lecture and demonstration method on teaching and learning secondary chemistry in Nsukka education zone is as a result of their chemistry teachers’ personality and chemistry teaching approaches. In other words, the researcher wanted to:
- Find out whether the degree of learning performance of students in senior school chemistry examinations in schools of Nsukka education zone, Enugu state is as a result of the type of teachers they have.
- Find out the teacher variables or factors which influence the chemistry students’ performance in senior school chemistry examination in Nsukka education zone, Enugu state.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
All too often in a typical science classroom lecture becomes the everyday routine for many teachers. This is often because teachers are lacking the time and energy along with a poor understanding of how to use different pedagogical techniques in the classroom such as demonstrations, to engage their students (Meyer et al., 2003). After teaching in the science classroom for several years, I have seen my students’ eyes glaze over if all I do is lecture the whole time. I found this to be extremely frustrating because when it comes time for me to evaluate the students’ understanding of concepts, they often cannot remember that I lectured on a particular concept let alone take and pass an assessment on that topic. One way I have found to keep my students attention throughout a chemistry class period is to mix science demonstrations into some of my lectures. Demonstrations are illustrations of points in a lecture or lesson by using something other than conventional methods and/ or a visual-aid apparatus (Taylor, 1988). By presenting a concept in two different ways, students are able to see the concept at work in real life. I am not alone in my use of demonstrations. “Educators have often sought different ways to teach chemistry, and the use of demonstrations is but one of many teaching approaches adopted to enthuse students” (Erlis & Subramanaim, 2004). Another reason to consider the use of demonstrations in the classroom is for assessment. The teacher is able to ask probing questions on the topic being demonstrated and receive immediate feedback from the students. This allows a teacher to determine whether a new topic can be broached or if the one just taught needs to be revisited (Pierce & Pierce, 2007; Bowen & Phelps, 1997). 2 In this thesis, I tested whether through the use of student centered demonstrations in the chemistry classroom students will understand concepts more thoroughly than students in a classroom where demonstrations are not used. I focused primarily on the topics covered in four separate chapters of the Modern Chemistry Textbook (Davis et al., 2009). The topics in Chapter 1 where demonstrations were used included extensive vs. intensive properties, physical change vs. chemical change, basic behavior of molecules in solids vs. liquids vs. gases, and mixtures (homogenous vs. heterogenous) vs. pure substances (Davis et. al, 2009 pages 3- 27). Chapter 6 from the textbook which covers topics on ionic bonding vs. covalent bonding, ionic vs. polar covalent vs. nonpolar covalent bonding, and Lewis structures was also included as well (Davis et al., 2009 pages 175-217). The final chapters used in the study were Chapter 10 with the focus on diffusion of gases, density of gases and liquids, phase diagrams and surface tension (Davis et al., 2009 pages 329-359) and Chapter 11 focusing on Boyle’s Law, Charles’s Law, Gay-Lussac’s Law and Avogadro’s Principle (Davis et al., 2009 pages 361-399). While there is a lot of literature showing the effectiveness of demonstrations in the classroom, very little has been documented in high school settings. Most of the studies conducted show the effects of demonstrations on students in the collegiate setting. The two studies I have found that show the effectiveness of demonstrations in the high school setting are done in an all girls’ school and all boys’ school, respectively
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought challenge of effects of demonstration method on teaching and learning chemistry in secondary schools in Nsukka education zone
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain effects of demonstration method on teaching and learning chemistry in secondary schools in Nsukka education Zone
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of demonstration method on teaching and learning chemistry in secondary schools
Summary
This study was on effects of demonstration method on teaching and learning chemistry in secondary schools in Nsukka education Zone. Two objectives were raised which included: Find out whether the degree of learning performance of students in senior school chemistry examinations in schools of Nsukka education zone, Enugu state is as a result of the type of teachers they have and find out the teacher variables or factors which influence the chemistry students’ performance in senior school chemistry examination in Nsukka education zone, Enugu state. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected secondary schools in Nsukka education zone, Enugu state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up principals, vice principals adm, teachers and junior staffs were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Demonstration experiments prescribed by curriculum were performed in school research has been conducted in. These experiments are rather simple and do not require complicated or expensive laboratory equipment, so it was somewhat expected that they were performed regularly. However, experiments are not performed regularly in primary schools, even though they also are simple, so we can conclude that teachers’ role is crucial. Teachers believe that demonstration experiments should be more extensively applied but they do not have resources they need. However, creativity of a teacher is required especially in these kinds of activities. Today, Internet resources are available and many experiments are given with non-expensive or non-toxic chemicals from everyday life. Students remember performed demonstration experiments and knowledge acquired with use of demonstration experiments is more permanent than theoretical facts. We saw that there was a high percent of correct answers regarding concepts explained using demonstration experiments on test of knowledge. It is interesting that students prefer demonstration over individual laboratory work. Perhaps we can explain it by the lack of experience or teachers’ continuous instructions for safety during experimenting, so these students prefer to watch their teacher.
Recommendation
Based on the findings above, it is recommended that teachers should be more encouraged to be familiar with the use of teaching methods that will help the students to maintain a high level of mental alertness to develop their clear thinking. It is also recommended that the curriculum development should be geared towards demonstration method of chemistry.
References
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