EFFECTS OF CONCEPT MAPPNG ON CHEMISTRY STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION IN CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIUM IN KEFFI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NASARAWA STATE

This paper investigated the effect of concept mapping on chemistry students achievement and retention. The design employed was a pre-test, post-test control, quasi experimental design. The population of the study was Senior Secondary School II students in Keffi Local Government Area, Nasarawa state. Two schools with close pre-test scores were selected from the seven public schools for the study. Two intact classes, one class each from the two schools were randomly assigned to the experimental group and control group. The instrument used was the Chemical Equilibrium Achievement Test (CEAT). The reliability index obtained for the CEAT was 0.87 using Spearman-Brown prophecy formulas. The experimental group was taught chemical equilibrium for two weeks using concept mapping while the control group was taught chemical equilibrium for two weeks using the conventional approach. Following treatment, the post-test (Post CEAT) was administered to both the experimental group and control group. Mean and standard deviations were used to answer the two research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the two null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study reveals that students taught chemical equilibrium using concept mapping performed better than those taught using the conventional approach. Also, the result of the ANCOVA test indicates that there was a significant difference in both the achievement scores and retention scores of the two groups is in favour of the experimental group taught using concept mapping. It was recommended that concept mapping should be used in teaching chemical equilibrium in secondary schools