Impacts of Improvised Instructional Materials on Grade Nine Learners’ Performance in Chemistry

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the impacts of improvised instructional materials on grade nine learners’ performance in chemistry. It is a quasi-experimental study that employed pre- and post- test to investigate the impacts of improvised instructional materials on learners’ chemistry performance. A sample of 450 learners randomly selected was used in this study. Thus, a researcher formed two groups, control group made of 255 learners taught with traditional lecture teaching method and an experimental group made of 255 learners that was taught using improvised instructional materials. Learners in both groups were given a survey questionnaire to fill about their views in relation to the use improvised materials. In addition, the researcher gave a pre-test and a post-test to learners in both groups before and after intervention. The results from survey questionnaire showed that learners learned actively and performed better when they learned through improvised instructional materials. The pre-test results [t (248) = .0992; P>0.5] showed that there was no difference in learners’ performance. However, post-test results [t (248) = .000; P<0.5], showed a significant difference in learners’ performance in favor of those taught with improvised instructional materials. It is, therefore, recommended that chemistry teachers develop and use regularly improvised instructional materials to broaden learners’ knowledge and to improve chemistry learners' performance through hands-on activities.