Effect of Discussion and Invention Teaching Strategies on Secondary School Students on Retention of Chemistry Concepts in Delta State: Nigeria

The study took step in finding the effect of discussion on retention of chemistry concepts. The moderating effects of academic ability and gender were also investigated. The study adopted a pre-test, post-test, follow up test, control group quasi-experimental design with a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial matrix. The participants consisted of 224 senior secondary II chemistry students from intact classes in 9 selected secondary schools in Delta Central Senatorial District. The instrument for data collection include chemistry retention test (r = 0.84) Ability test in chemistry (r = 0.85) and Teachers instructional packages 3 research questions were raised and answered while 3 hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha levels. Data were analyzed using ANCOVA, while sheffe post-hoc analysis was used to explain the significant difference. There were significant effects of treatment on students retention of chemistry concepts (Fc2.803) = 151.94 and student of varying abilities (Fc11.242) = 2.03), but, there were no significant effect of treatment on gender of retention ability (Fc1.537) = 1.499) in chemistry. The discussion and invention instructional strategies improved students retention of chemistry concepts more than the conventional lecture method. It was recommended that teachers should adopt the discussion and invention methods in teaching of chemistry at the secondary school.