Effect of Wait-Time on Attitude and Retention of Senior Secondary School Students to Learning Chemistry Concepts

Abstract

Chemistry is one of the sciences that has significantly influenced society. However, Nigerian secondary students' performance in the subject has long been a source of considerable worry. Nevertheless, adopting appropriate techniques, such as wait time, becomes essential when we recognise the importance of attitude and retention in classroom experiences for improving students' chemistry academic performance. This study investigated effect of wait-time on attitude and retention of senior secondary school students to learning chemistry concepts. Specifically, the study investigated: i. the effect of wait- time on students’ attitudes towards chemistry and ii. effect of wait-time on secondary school students’ retention ability in chemistry. The study involved one experimental group and one control group and they were both Pretested, Post-tested to determine their retention ability. Chemistry Students’ Attitude Questionnaire (CSAQ) was administered on the experimental group only after the treatment to determine their attitude towards the use of wait-time instructional technique. Two research questions were answered in the study. The results of the study indicated that: the interaction has no effect on the attitude of the students towards learning chemistry after adopting a one-way ANOVA since it consists of one independent variable (experimental and the control group), one dependent variable (attitude) and the pre-attitude serves as the covariate. The result from the analysis revealed p-value greater than 0.5 indicating that the mean difference between the attitude of the two groups is not statistically significant and there is statistically significant difference in the academic performance of the students in the experimental group in the post test and post post-test as the p-value is less than 0.05, hence, the experimental group were able to retain their performance. Hence, wait time has an effect on their retention ability. It was, however, recommended that a larger sample and longer experimental period be recommended for future research; this will give the researcher more time to carry out the research appropriately and give a clear causal effect of the treatment on the experimental group. According to the findings, the wait time instructional strategy is particularly helpful for improving students' retention ability in chemistry, hence, it should be encouraged in senior secondary school chemistry instruction.