CHEMISTRY TEACHERS’ PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE AND TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BAYELSA AND DELTA STATES

Author: Anthony Asiyai Asiyai

Abstract

This study investigated the pedagogical content knowledge of chemistry teachers and their teaching effectiveness of public secondary schools in Bayelsa and Delta States. The study was guided by eight research questions and six hypotheses. A sample of 789 respondents comprising of principals = 80, students = 480 and chemistry teachers = 229 were selected using the simple random sampling techniques from public secondary schools having chemistry teachers in the two States. The instrument for data collection from respondents comprised of eight sections. Section A contained demographic information of the respondents. Section B and C contained classroom lesson observation guide used to assess the content and pedagogical knowledge of the teachers. The other sections of the instrument D, E, F G and H contained items for answering research questions 3-6 and their corresponding hypotheses. Descriptive statistics namely mean, standard deviation and Pearson coefficient of determination were used to answer the research questions. The hypotheses were tested using inferential statistics such as t-test and Pearson r. The findings obtained for lesson observations revealed that chemistry teachers in the two States demonstrate adequate content and pedagogical knowledge. However, chemistry teachers in Delta State appears to be more regular in writing daily lesson notes, exhibited good general knowledge of chemistry and have more adequate knowledge of entry behaviour for each topic. While Bayelsa State secondary school chemistry teachers appears to have more adequate knowledge of chemistry concepts and knowledge of instructional materials to be used for teaching specifics topics in chemistry. Nevertheless, Delta State secondary school chemistry teachers seems to show better pedagogical knowledge in areas such as making judicious use of questions to elicit students’ understanding, the use of humour to make topics interesting and sustain students’ attention. The hypotheses tested in this regard showed that there was a significant relationship between content knowledge of the teachers and their teaching effectiveness in Bayelsa and Delta States. There was a significant relationship between pedagogical knowledge of the teachers and their teaching effectiveness in Bayelsa and Delta States. In addition, the findings revealed that for Bayelsa State, there was a significant difference between the perception of male and female chemistry students regarding their teachers pedagogical content knowledge for teaching the subject, while for Delta State, there was no significant difference between the perception of male and female chemistry students regarding their teachers pedagogical content knowledge for teaching the subject. And that there was a significant relationship between pedagogical content knowledge of the teachers and their teaching effectiveness. Additionally, the findings revealed that there are several strategies that could be adopted for enhanced development of chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. The study concluded by recommending amongst others that Government of Bayelsa and Delta States should formulate policies for continuous updating of knowledge of teachers through in-built professional development programmes on a regular basis for chemistry teachers in the States.

Prof. Emperor Kpangban