Impact of Discovery Learning on Students’ Achievement and Retention in Probability: A Case Study of Chinika Secondary School

This study was an investigation on the impact of discovery learning on learners’ achievement and retention in probability at Chinika secondary school of Lusaka district in Lusaka province of Zambia. The assumption behind this research is that pupils encounter difficulties in probability by not using the correct formula, not finding the correct probabilities and above all not drawing the probability tree diagrams correctly, leading to poor performance in probability and mathematics as a whole. To that effect, discovery learning approach was used in order to find out if it can have an impact on students’ achievement and retention in probability. This study adopted the quasi-experimental non-randomised pre-test, post-test, post-test control research design in which two grade 11 classes, selected at random, one from the morning session and the other from the afternoon session were used in the study. The experimental group, which was the afternoon class had 65 participants and the control group which was the morning class had 65 participants making a total of 130 participants. The questionnaires, pre-test, post-test1 and post-test2 were used for data collection. Data obtained from the achievement and retention tests were analysed using descriptive statistics and the hypotheses tested using the independent samples mann-whitney u test. The Pupils Questionnaires which were open-ended were issued to the control group of 65 participants and teachers Questionnaires were issued to 10 teachers, but only 7 were responded to. The analysis of the Questionnaires was done by categorising the responses of the pupils and the teachers into two categories i.e. lack of understanding and lack of materials categories. The results of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant increase in achievement scores and retention scores in probability when discovery learning approach was used for the experimental group than the control group taught by direct instructions (traditional learning approach).The study, therefore, recommended the use of discovery learning approaches when learning probability at Chinika secondary school.