EFFECTS OF IMPROVISED AND STANDARD TEACHING MATERIALS ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHEMISTRY

The study focused on the effects of improvised and standard teaching materials on students attitude towards chemistry in Idah local government area of Kogi state, Nigeria. The aim of the study is provide an objective basis for taking instructional decision relating to more effective utilization of improvised and standard teaching materials in teaching and learning chemistry, thereby ensuring students positive disposition towards chemistry. The study was guided by a research question and a hypothesis. Quasi-experimental design was employed for this study; specifically the pre-test, post test, non-equivalent and non-randomized control group. The population of the study consisted of the senior secondary one (SS1) in Idah local government of Kogi state. A sample made up of 378 SS1 students were randomly drawn from intact classes of each of the six schools for the study, using multi stage sampling technique. A 20-item researcher developed instrument titled chemistry attitude scale (CAS) was used to collect data. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research question, while the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test hypothesis. Finally, turkey procedure was used to indicate the direction of the difference. The result showed that the students attitude toward chemistry were significantly enhanced by their being exposed to the improvised and standard teaching materials types. However, no significant differences existed between improvised and standard teaching materials in enhancing students attitude towards chemistry. The educational implications, therefore is that this study has acted to wipe away the notion that standard teaching materials is superior to improvised counterparts. And since there are abundant local teaching materials in Nigerian environment, lack of standard teaching materials should no longer be a good reason for chemistry teachers not to ensure effective teaching and learning. Therefore it was recommended that chemistry teachers and students should endeavor to use improvised teaching materials in absence of the standard ones.