Adapting the Study of Chemistry in Senior Secondary Schools in the Gambia to Cost-Reducing Strategies

Abstract

In an attempt to elaborate the concept of cost reduction, the researchers tried to explain why the judicious application of expendables and the need to miniaturize experimental models should be introduced in schools, embellishing and drawing examples from relevant literature materials. The researchers further explored, through a survey, the perception of Gambian based teachers on the extent to which their experience and qualification had influenced their judicious use of expendables. And, through an experimental study, the researchers compared the learning outcome derived from student learners who were taught chemistry by the conventional macro model on the one hand with their equivalent counterparts taught the same chemistry concepts by the micro model on the other hand. In the survey design; three research questions were answered and three hypotheses tested while in the experimental design two research questions were answered and one hypothesis tested. By means of multi-stage random sampling techniques, samples of 100 chemistry teachers and 200 senior chemistry students were used for the study. A questionnaire validated and reliably determined with a composition of 27 items was administered to the chemistry teachers, while a standardized test of ten items was also administered to two equivalent groups of 100 chemistry students each taught by the macro and micro models, respectively. At the level of 0.05 probability, qualification and experience, acting independent of each other, were significant factors in adjudging the extent to which chemistry teachers had applied expendables judiciously. At the same level of probability, no significant difference existed between the learning outcomes obtained in the use of the two models, even though the chemistry students taught chemistry by the micro model had a slight edge over their macro model counterparts. Finally, relevant recommendations were made.