TEACHERS' STRATEGIES AND SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY SKILLS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN OSUN STATE

Abstract

The study examined the prevalent strategies employed by teachers in inculcating
scientific inquiry skills in early basic class pupils in Osun State and determine the
influence of teachers' strategies on pupils' scientific inquiry skills in the study area.
The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population for the study
was all teachers and pupils in the early basic classes in Osun State. One hundred and
fifty (150) teachers of early basic classes and 750 early basic classes' pupils were
randomly selected through multistage sampling procedure. Two instruments titled,
'Teacher Strategies for Scientific Inquiry Development Observational Schedule
(TSSIDOS) and Pupil Scientific Inquiry Observation Rating Scale (PSIORS) were
used for data collection. Data collected were analysed using percentage, mean,
standard deviation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The finding showed that
recitation and explanation were the most frequently used strategies 139 (92.7%)
respectively while experimentation was the least employed strategy 16 (10.6%). It
also showed that the strategies used have significant influence on the development of
pupils' scientific inquiry skills (F= 2.944; p < 0.05). The study concluded that
though teachers employed majorly traditional otherwise referred to as conventional
strategies, they still have positive influence on pupils' acquisition of scientific inquiry
skills. It is therefore recommended that while teachers use traditional strategies,
modern or strategies that are child –centred be adopted to make children engaged in
the teaching - learning process. Training should also be organized for teachers to
make them acquainted with modern or child-centred strategies.