Influence of gender on chemistry students' acquisition of science process skills across school type using open inquiry instructional strategy

Science process skills (SPS) are fundamental to effective science education, fostering students’ ability to engage in scientific inquiry, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Despite the importance of SPS, disparities exist in students’ acquisition of these skills based on gender and school type. This study investigated the influence of gender and school type on secondary school chemistry students’ acquisition of SPS using the open inquiry instructional strategy. A quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test design was employed, involving 322 Senior Secondary School students selected through a multistage sampling technique. The experimental group was taught using the Open Inquiry Instructional Guide (OIIG), while the control group received instruction through the Demonstration Instructional Guide (DIG). The Science Process Skills Test (SPST) was used to evaluate students' ability to design experiments, observe, formulate hypotheses, and draw conclusions. Data were analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The results indicated that students instructed using open inquiry significantly outperformed those instructed through the demonstration method in SPST. Although female students had slightly higher mean scores than males, the difference was not statistically significant. Similarly, students in private schools scored marginally higher than their public school counterparts, but this difference was also insignificant. There was no significant interaction effect of gender and school type on SPS acquisition. These results suggest that open inquiry is an effective instructional strategy for improving SPS acquisition across diverse student populations. It is recommended that educators integrate open inquiry into science curricula and provide professional development for teachers to enhance its implementation.