Exploring Effects of Science-Technology-Society Instructional Approach as an Innovation in Improving Learners’ Interest in Chemistry

Abstract

Continuous dwindling in learners’ interest in chemistry is a threat to global development. The abstract nature of chemistry and other factors are capable of damping the interest of the learner during instruction which can mar the realization aims and objectives of chemistry instruction. The learning environment is shaped by the instructional approaches adopted by the teacher. Thus, the use of innovative instructional approach capable of making the learning experiences relevant to the learner, build and sustain the interest in the learner during chemistry instruction becomes very imperative. This study investigated Science-technology-society (STS) instructional approach as an innovation in improving learners’ interest in chemistry. The study was conducted using senior secondary school 2 chemistry learners in Onitsha Education zone of Anambra state, South-East of Nigeria. The study adopted quasi experimental design of the pretest posttest non equivalent control group design. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Three hundred and ten students from purposively sampled twelve coeducational public secondary schools were used for the study. Six schools were randomly assigned to the treatment group while the remaining six assigned to the control group. The treatment group was taught electrolysis using Science-technology-society instructional approach while the control group was taught the electrolysis using the conventional instructional approach. Validated Chemistry Interest Inventory (CII) was used to collect data for the study. The CII had reliability index of 0.93. The mean score and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while analysis of variance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of confidence. The study revealed among other things that there was significant difference in the interest mean scores of learners taught chemistry using Science-technology-society instructional approach and those taught chemistry using conventional instructional approach. From the findings of the study, the following recommendations among others were made: Chemistry teachers should adopt STS instructional approach in teaching and learning chemistry and use of STS instructional approach should included in chemistry teacher education programme

Effectiveness of Science-Technology-Society (STS) approach on students’ learning outcomes in science education: Evidence from a meta-analysis

“…When each study was analyzed, STS approach had been to have a large and positive impact on students' critical thinking ability (Astuti et al, 2019;), scientific attitudes (Astuti et al, 2019;, interest in learning (Igboanugo, 2021;), ability to apply scientific concepts (Kapici et al, 2017), scientific learning (Poluakan et al, 2020, scientific literacy (Pratama et al, 2018;Prasasti & Listiani, 2019), scientific skills (Prasasti & Listiani, 2019), motivation (Priyambodo, Sukirno et al, 2021), and learning outcomes (Putra, 2021;Widiastuti & Purnawijaya, 2021). Medium effect sizes were observed in the studies of Budi et al (2018) and on students' critical thinking skills.…”

“…Over the chemistry subgroup, the science, biology, and natural sciences subgroups have significant and favorable effect sizes. The outcome is attributed to the complexity of the concepts (Igboanugo, 2021;. The students who participated in the intervention considered the subjects electrolysis and acid-base chemistry to be challenging.…”

“…Compared to the other domains of scientific literacy, the collaborative connections had a significant impact on the students' learning of the science content. When using only the STS approach, Kapici et al (2017) and Igboanugo (2021) found that students' interest in chemistry and their ability to apply their knowledge of science both increased. Comparatively to students who received textbook-focused instruction, students were better able to meaningfully apply fundamental scientific concepts to novel situations.…”

“…Thus, this meta-analysis is geared to investigate curricular science reform through STS instruction as described by empirical studies conducted by educational researchers all over the world. Through this systematic literature review, the extent to which the STS approach is effective is determined by analyzing research studies that have been conducted in various scientific disciplines, such as biology (Astuti, Manurung & Juriani, 2019;Pratama, Abdurrahman & Jalmo, 2018;Putra, 2021), chemistry (Igboanugo, 2021;Poluakan et al, 2020;, science (Kapici et al, 2017;Prasasti & Listiani, 2019;, and natural science (Budi, Sunarno & Sugiyarto, 2018;Widiastuti & Purnawijaya, 2021). The core of this research, which includes a myriad of scientific data, is to analyze the relative effect sizes of the different characteristics and moderators of the STS approach.…”

“…Poluakan et al ( 2020), for instance, used the STS approach to teach twenty-five students about additives and addictive substances. Prasasti and Listiani (2019) conducted the approach for twelve weeks, Kapici et al (2017) for nine weeks, Igboanugo (2021) for five weeks, and Putra (2021) for three weeks, while the other studies do not mention the implementation's duration. The majority of the research designs in the articles were quasi-experimental (86%), with only 7% using mixed method or pure experimental research designs.…”