The relative effectiveness of three methods of teaching on student's achievement in college chemistry

• Main Author: Palmes, Nenita D.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1995
• Subjects: Chemistry > Study and teaching; Teaching > Methods; Effective teaching; Academic achievement; Chemistry
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/729
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study examines the effects of the three methods of teaching on the achievement of second year college students in Chemistry.The three methods of teaching were (1) the traditional-lecture approach, (2) the individualized instruction method, and (3) the cooperative learning approach. The cooperative learning approach was a method where students worked in small, mixed-ability groups for a common task activity. Individual instruction was a method in which students performed the activity individually at their own place. The traditional approach was the lecture method where the teacher was in command of the whole learning process. Worksheets, considered as self-instructional packets, were designed for both individualized instruction and cooperative learning groups.The effectiveness of these three teaching methodologies was measured in terms of the posttest scores the students got from the achievement test developed for the study.The different methods of teaching were also compared in the light of the differing personality types (extroverts and introverts) of students as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The existence of interaction effects between personality types and the strategies of teaching was also considered.The researcher used the non-equivalent control group design where intact classes were used. A 30-item achievement test was constructed and validated. This was administered as the pretest and posttest. A 2 x 3 factorial design was used. Analysis of covariance was used as the data analysis procedure with the pretest as the covariate. The F-test revealed significant differences in the achievement of students exposed to the three methods of teaching. When the differences between means for the different methods of teaching were compared using the Scheffe method of multiple comparison, the traditional method group performed better than the individualized instruction group. No other pair of means was found to be significantly different.An analysis of data also showed that the group means for the introverts and extroverts were not found to be significantly different. The performance of the introvert was not significantly different from that of the extroverts. The analysis further revealed no significant interaction between the treatment, the methods of teaching, and the extrovert-introvert type of students. Thus, regardless of the method used in teaching, its effect on the achievement of introverts and extroverts was the same.Results of the study further showed that there were certain topics that were better taught using a particular method. This suggested that strategies of teaching must be varied according to topics to keep students interested and motivated to learn.