Abstract:
This study investigated the effects of chemistry-based puzzles on senior secondary school chemistry students’ achievement, retention and interest in chemical periodicity. The quasi-experimental design with a pre -test and post- test was adopted in the study. A total of 129 students were used in four intact classes from four purposively sampled schools. Two schools were randomly assigned in the experimental group and two in the control group. Students in the experimental groups were instructed with chemistry-based puzzles while students in the control groups were instructed with the demonstration method. A detailed collection of chemistry-based puzzles were developed into lesson plans for use in the experimental group. This was done with the theory of social constructivism in mind and trained research assistants were used to deliver the course. An achievement test called Chemical Periodicity Concepts Achievement Test (CPCAT) and an interest inventory called Chemical Periodicity Concepts Interest Inventories (CPCII), constructed by the researcher and validated by experts from three universities in Nigeria, were used in the study. Reliability coefficients of the two instruments were found to be 0.96 and 0.79 respectively. Treatment in the two groups lasted for three weeks and a retention test was taken after an interval of four weeks. Nine research questions and nine hypotheses were raised and tested at 0.05 confidence level (significance level). The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while hypotheses were tested with Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Findings showed that students in the experimental group who were taught with Puzzle-Based Strategy (PBS) achieved slightly higher scores than those in the control group who were taught with the demonstration method. However further analysis with ANCOVA showed that there was no significant difference in achievement in the two groups. Interest of students due to instructional strategy in the experimental group was significant. There were no significant difference in gender by achievement, retention and interest. There was significant difference in students’ retention, but there was no significant difference in students’ retention by gender. Interaction effects of gender and treatments on achievement, retention and interest were not significant. It was suggested that the chemistry curriculum be reviewed to reflect the area of puzzles in the teaching content, and as instructional resources. Text writers and publishers were advised to write texts which should include puzzles as exercises. Also, teachers were advised to incorporate puzzle-based instructional strategies in their teaching as a variety to curb boredom in the classroom due to monotony of the conventional methods. Finally, students were advised to download puzzles on the internet and use them to occupy their idle time meaningfully.
