INCORPORATING LOCAL PRACTICES INTO SENIOR SECONDARY TWO CHEMISTRY TOPICS FOR STUDENTS' INTEREST IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of incorporating local practices into senior secondary two Chemistry topics for students’ interest in Lere, Kaduna State, Nigeria. The study adopted quasi-experimental design. A sample size of 57 Chemistry students was selected through a purposive sampling technique. The instruments for data collection was Incorporating Local Practices on Students Questionnaire (ILPSQ). The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.83. The research questions were answered using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation while t-test for independent samples was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed Chemistry students taught using local practices knowledge showed high interest level than those taught in the control group. Also, male students slightly showed high level of interest in Chemistry when taught using local knowledge than their female counterparts Chemistry students in the public school slightly showed high interest level in Chemistry than those in the private school. There was no significant difference between the interest mean scores of students exposed to local practices and those not exposed to local practices. It was concluded that incorporating local practices knowledge in teaching Chemistry has significant effect on senior secondary II students’ interest in Chemistry. It was also concluded that gender had no significant effect on Chemistry students’ interest in Chemistry. The study recommended that teachers should actively incorporate local practices and examples into their Chemistry lessons. This could make the content more relatable and interesting for students, enhancing their engagement and understanding of the subject matter. By using familiar contexts, students could better grasp complex concepts and see the relevance of Chemistry in their daily lives. It was also recommended that school authorities should provide professional development opportunities for teachers so as to effectively integrate local practices into the curriculum.