ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effect of concept mapping teaching strategy on the retention and academic achievement of chemistry students in secondary schools. It also examined the differential effect of this teaching strategy on the retention and academic achievement of male and female chemistry students. Four research questions and four hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study, was a total of 202 students which is the total number of the SS1 chemistry students in all the eight co-educational Secondary Schools in ljmunneochi L.G.A, in Umuahia Education zone of Abia State, while the sample size was a total of 90 students which is the number of chemistry students in two intact SSI classes in two of the eight co-educational secondary schools. Those two intact classes were used separately as the experimental and control groups respectively. The study used a quasi-experimental pre-test — post-test--delayed post-test non-equivalent group design. Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) on the concept of Atomic structure which is a 20-item multiple choice objective questions adopted from WASSCE and NECO past question papers was used for data collection. The research questions were answered using Mean scores, while the hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The results of the study showed that the students taught using concept mapping strategy had a higher mean achievement and retention scores of 71.1111 and 64.8 889 respectively than that of their counterparts taught using the conventional teaching method who had a lower mean achievement and retention scores of 51.0000 and 37.8889 respectively. The study also recorded a higher mean achievement and retention scores of 78.40000 and 76.40000 respectively among the male students taught using concept mapping strategy over their female counterparts taught using the same method who had a lower mean achievement and retention scores of 62.0000 and 50.5000 respectively. The study therefore recommended among other things, adequate training of chemistry teachers on the use of concept mapping strategy in teaching chemistry in secondary schools and that curriculum developer should incorporate this strategy in curriculum guidelines