Effect of Household Materials on Senior Secondary Schools Students’ Academic Achievement in Chemistry, Osun State: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The study explores the effect of household materials on senior secondary school students’
academic achievement in chemistry in Ayedaade Local Government Area: Osun State: Three
hypotheses guided the study at the 0.05 level of significance. A quasi-experimental design was
employed with a sample size of 74 Senior Secondary II students. Two intact classes (experimental
and control) were used, with 40 students in the experimental group and 34 in the control group.
The experimental group was taught using household materials, while the control group was taught
using the traditional (conventional) laboratory method. Data were collected using a validated
Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) with a reliability coefficient of KR-20 = 0.84 and analyzed
using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The findings revealed that household materials
significantly improved students’ academic achievement compared to conventional laboratory
methods, F(1, 71) = 130.09, p < 0.001, η² = .647 while gender had no significant main effect, F(1, 71)
= 0.115, p = .735, η² = 0.002, and no significant interaction effect between gender and instructional
strategy was observed, F(1, 69) = 2.33, p = 0.132, η² = 0.033. The study concludes that the utilization
of household materials constitutes a cost-effective and pedagogically inclusive intervention that
significantly enhances students’ achievement in chemistry, irrespective of gender. It recommends
their systematic integration in resource-constrained schools as a means of addressing laboratory
inadequacies and promoting equitable access to effective science instruction.