Effects of Role Play and Discussion Methods on Students' Academic Performance in Teaching the Concept of Reactivity of Element in Chemistry

The study was carried out to examine the effects of role play and discussion methods on students’ academic performance in the concept of reactivity of elements in Chemistry in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The design for the study was quasi-experimental design. The population comprised all the 2781 Senior Secondary two (SS 2) Chemistry Students in the sixteen (16) public secondary schools in the area of study during the 2022/23 academic session. A sample of 49 Senior Secondary two (SS2) Chemistry students was selected for the study. Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting two schools in the study area. In each of the selected schools, one intact class of SS 2 Chemistry students was used for the study. The instrument used for the study was “Chemistry Performance Test on Reactivity of Elements (CPTRE)”. The instrument was validated by a chemistry lecturer and an expert in measurement and evaluation in the Department of Science Education, Akwa Ibom State University. A reliability coefficient of .89 was obtained for the instrument using Kuder Richardson formula 20 (KR-20). Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while independent t-test was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of this study showed that there is a significant difference in the mean performance scores of chemistry students taught the concept of reactivity of elements using role play and discussion method in favour of discussion method. The findings also showed that there is no significant difference in the mean performance scores between male and female chemistry students taught the concept of reactivity of elements using role play and discussion methods. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that discussion method enhances students’ academic performance in the concept of reactivity of elements in chemistry more than the role play method in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area. It was recommended among others that, Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Education should organize seminars, workshops and conferences for teachers, most especially, Chemistry teachers on how to use discussion method to enhance students’ academic performance.