Abstract:
This study was designed to investigate the relative efficacy of the guided inquiry and the expository methods of teaching on the biology achievement and attitude in biology of students of different level of scientific literacy. Four research questions and four null hypotheses were answered and tested respectively. It was hypothesized that the effects due to teaching methods, scientific literacy levels and the interaction of the two will not be significant (P< 0.05), relative to students' mean achievement and attitude scores in Biology. A pre-test post-test non-equivalent control group design was adopted for the study. One hundred and forty-seven (147) SS I1 biology students from four secondary schools in Nsukka urban area of Enugu State were selected by both simple and stratified random sampling techniques. Two schools each were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups and two intact classes were randomly selected (by balloting) from each school for the study. Three instruments namely; Scientific Literacy Test (SLT), Biology Achievement test (BAT) and Attitude to Biology Scale (ABS) were used for data collection. The SLT and BAT were constructed and validated by the researcher while the ABS was adapted from an Attitude to Science Scale developed by Ato and Wilkinson (1979) and re validated by the researcher using expert from educational measurement and evaluation and science education. The SLT was administered as a pre-test only and was used to categorize students into levels of scientific literacy. The BAT and ABS were administered as both as both pre- and post-tests. The reliability of the three instruments were established before use. The research questions were descriptively answered using means and standard deviation scores while the null hypotheses were tested at (P< 0.05) using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). A Post-hoc multiple comparison - Scheffe test was conducted to compare the mean scores between the experimental and the control groups. The results showed that the guided inquiry method favoured the high level group better than the medium 'and low level groups respectively in terms of enhancing achievement in biology. That the attitude of all levels of scientific literacy students was positively high for both guided inquiry and expository groups. No significant interaction was observed between teaching methods and scientific literacy levels for both achievement in and attitude to biology. Based on the above findings, the following recommendations were made among others: biology teachers should endeavour to use the guided inquiry method in teaching, since it appeals to all level of scientific literacy student; that their should be closer co-operation among science teachers at workshops and seminars on the use of the method in teaching for inculcation of scientific literacy.
