Effects of Inquiry Teaching Method on Academic Achievement in Keyboard Manipulative Skills among Business Education Students of Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of inquiry teaching methods on academic achievement in keyboard manipulative skills among NCE II Business Education students in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria. Two research objectives and two null hypotheses were formulated. Adopting a quasi-experimental design. The population of this study consisted of 629 Year 2 Business Education students. The study involved 338 students purposively selected from two Federal colleges of education. Participants were assigned to inquiry, and lecture (control) groups. Data were collected using a validated Keyboard Achievement Test (KAT) and analysed with Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed a significant main effect of teaching methods on students’ academic achievement in keyboard manipulative skills, with the inquiry method producing the highest mean gains, while the lecture method yielded the lowest performance (F = 12.308, p < .001, partial η² = .069). There was no significant main effect of gender (F = 1.534, p = .216), and the interaction between inquiry based teaching method and gender was not significant (F = 0.954, p = .386), indicating that both student-centred methods were equally effective for male and female students. Pretest scores significantly covaried with post-test achievement (F = 44.651, p < .001). The study concludes that interactive, student-centred approaches particularly inquiry method significantly enhance mastery of keyboard manipulative skills compared to the conventional lecture method. It recommends that Business Education lecturers in Colleges of Education be trained and retrained in the design and facilitation of inquiry-based instruction, and that regular formative assessment with immediate feedback be institutionalised to sustain skill development.