This study was conducted to investigate the effect of instructional conversation strategy on student’s academic performance in chemistry in Edo State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three corresponding hypothesis were raised and formulated to guide the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The design used for this study is the pre-test post-test control group quasi-experimental design. The Chemistry Achievement Test was the instrument used for data collection The instruments’ validity and reliability were properly determined before they were used. The reliability of the CAT instrument was found to be 0.88 using Kunder-Richardson 21 formula. The sample consist of 60 science students drawn from two public schools in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. Data collected were analyzed using statistic of the mean, standard deviations, student’s independent sample t-test and ANOVA. The major findings of the study included the following (i) instructional conversation strategy group students significantly performed better than the lecture method group students. (ii) the study showed a non-significant difference in the performance of male and female students taught with instructional conversation strategy. (iii) the study showed a non-significant interaction effect of method and sex on chemistry students’ achievement. Based on the findings of the study, it was therefore recommended that instructional strategy which encourages social interaction should be used in the teaching and learning of chemistry in this 21st century.
Keywords: Gender, Performance, instructional conversation
