Boosting Students’ Academic Performance in Chemistry: Examining The Roles of Enriched Lecture and Guided Discovery Methods

Abstract

Chemistry remains a cornerstone of scientific advancement, yet students’ academic performance in the subject continues to lag in Nigerian secondary schools. This study examined the effectiveness of enriched lecture and guided discovery methods in improving the academic performance of Senior Secondary 1 students in Kogi State. Guided by four research questions and five hypotheses, a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design was employed. A total of 180 students were selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Instructional treatments spanned four weeks, after which the Chemistry Performance Test (CPT) was administered with a reliability index of 0.88. Data were analyzed using means, standard deviation, and ANCOVA. Findings revealed that enriched lecture and guided discovery methods significantly enhanced students’ academic performance compared to the conventional method, with enriched lecture outperforming guided discovery. However, both methods favored male students, revealing a gender gap in achievement. These findings suggest that chemistry teachers need to adopt enriched lectures while providing targeted support to female students to close the gender disparity. The study recommends that professional bodies such as the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) promote training on enriched lectures and advocate for gender-responsive instructional strategies. The research contributes new insights into comparative pedagogical effectiveness and the critical need for inclusive education practices in science teaching.