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Abstract
This quasi-experimental study examined the role of outdoor experiments in developing scientific inquiry skills among junior secondary school students in Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. Drawing on Kolb's experiential learning theory, Dewey's philosophy of educative experience, and the National Research Council science-practice framework, the study compared an eight-week Outdoor Experiment Instructional Package with conventional classroom demonstration. A sample of 236 intact-class Basic Science students (experimental n = 120; control n = 116) was drawn from four coeducational public junior secondary schools. Scientific inquiry skills were measured with a 50-item Scientific Inquiry Skills Test covering six constructs. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from .78 to .85 for the constructs and .91 for the composite. After statistical control of pretest scores, students taught through outdoor experiments obtained substantially higher posttest inquiry-skill scores than students taught conventionally, F(1, 233) = 198.42, p < .001, partial η² = .460, Cohen's d = 1.79. Gender differences within the outdoor-experiment group were negligible, t(118) = 0.62, p = .536, d = 0.11, and the method-by-gender interaction was nonsignificant. Gains were largest for planning investigations and interpreting data. The findings support the use of locally available outdoor phenomena as a low-cost pathway for inquiry-skill development in resource-constrained Nigerian science classrooms.