Effects of guided-inquir and expository teaching methods on senior secondary school students’ performances in Biology in Imo State

This study investigated the effects of guided-inquiry and expository teaching methods on students’ performances and interest in Biology. Students’ performances in the sciences (Biology) have been below expectation. The performances of the students in the Researcher-Made Biology Test (RMBT) using the expository method and guidedinquiry were compared. Furthermore, the interests of the two groups of students in Biology were compared. A purposive sample of 84 senior secondary school two (SSS II) students was drawn from two intact classes in a co-educational secondary school in Imo State. Two instruments were used for the study namely Biology Achievement Test (BAT) and Biology Interest Scale (BIS). The reliability of BAT was established at 0.78 through the use of KuderRichardson (K-R 20) statistic. The reliability of Biology Interest Scale (BIS) was calculated through the use of Cronbach Alpha statistic and the coefficient of 0.91 obtained. The research questions were answered using Means and Standard deviations while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA). Major findings of the study include: Teaching methods have statistically significant effect on students’ performances in Biology. Students taught with guided-inquiry teaching method out-performed students taught with expository teaching method in Biology. The female students out-performed the males in the RMBT. The female students have higher interest levels in the RMBT than the males. The researcher recommended among other things that Biology teachers and Science teachers in general take into consideration these teaching methods when presenting Biology and science materials to the students in the classroom.