Influence of Enhanced Instructional Strategies on Academic Performance in Chemistry among Secondary School Students in Kirehe District, Rwanda
Keywords:
Instructional materials; instructional strategies; learners’ performance; pedagogical tools.Abstract
The teaching and learning of Chemistry in secondary schools continue to face challenges associated with poor academic performance, partly due to limited use of instructional materials. In response, this study examined the influence of enhanced instructional strategies on students’ academic performance in Chemistry in Kirehe District, Rwanda. The study used a quasi-experimental design, involving control and experimental groups. The study involved 260 Senior Two students selected from four public secondary schools, where 130 students formed the control group and 130 students formed the experimental group. Data was collected using a Chemistry Achievement Test administered before and after the intervention. The experimental group was taught using enhanced instructional strategies such as laboratory experiments, visual aids, simulations and improvised teaching resources while the control group was taught using conventional teaching methods. The study used the independent samples t-tests to analyze the data. The pre-test results revealed no statistically significant difference between the two groups, indicating baseline equivalence. However, the post-test results showed a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group (M = 48.47, SD = 12.47) than those in the control group (M = 28.29, SD = 6.95), with the p-value of .000. The study concludes that enhanced instructional strategies significantly improve students’ academic performance in Chemistry and recommends increased provision of enhanced instructional strategies for improved learning outcomes.
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