Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Summer 8-23-2022
Abstract
Abstract
The study explored the effect of library resources on secondary school students’ academic ability levels as determined by their academic achievement in Chemistry. The study employed a quasi-experimental design. Precisely, the pre-test, post-test, and non-equivalent control group design. Two research questions with corresponding null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was all the senior secondary school class two (SS2) chemistry students of the 295 public secondary schools in Enugu State in the 2019/2020 academic session. A sample of 166 chemistry students (Male 89, and Female 77) was drawn through the purposive sampling technique from two secondary schools. Four intact classes were used. Two were assigned to experimental and the other two to control groups. The regular chemistry teachers of the sampled schools were trained and used as research assistants for the study. The instruments for the study were a 30-item multiple-choice chemistry achievement test (CAT) and the library resource teaching manual (LRTM). The instrument was face and content validated by three experts. The CAT was pilot-tested on 30 students and a reliability coefficient of 0.70 was obtained using Kuder-Richardson’s formula 20 (KR-20). The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the null hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistics at a 0.05 level of significance. The study found that the chemistry students exposed to lessons with the use of library resources improved their academic ability levels more than their counterparts taught with the conventional method. It was recommended among others that chemistry classroom teachers should keep up pace with the developmental trends in teaching and learning by using library resources and new technologies for effective instructional delivery. The implication of the study is the overall improvement of students’ academic performance in chemistry and science subjects in general for the economic, scientific and technological development of the nation.