Application of Innovative Methods to Enhance the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry

Abstract

The Nigerian chemical education has been faced with many challenges. One of these challenges is the methodology of teaching used by chemistry teachers. The old teaching pedagogy of teaching like lecture and demonstration methods did not favor the 21st century learners in chemical science which as result contributed significantly to the poor performance of chemical students. It is against this background this paper critically discussed the concept of innovation in science education, the role of technology-based teaching and the weakness of lecture and demonstration methods to chemistry students. However, innovative teaching pedagogy such as Peer Instruction (PI), the use of Audio-Visual (AV) supplement, student-centered learning, improvisation and cooperative learning were briefly discussed as an alternative. Meanwhile, this paper recommended among others, the research studies using Peer Instruction (PI) and Cooperative Learning (CL) in Nigerian schools at all levels should be carried out in chemistry education to ascertain their effectiveness.