International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE) Vol. 12, No. 2, June 2023, pp. 991~997 ISSN: 2252-8822, DOI: 10.11591/ijere.v12i2.24165  991 Journal homepage: http://ijere.iaescore.com Relationship between inquiry-based learning and students’ attitudes towards chemistry Christine Mueni Nzomo 1 , Peter Rugano 1 , John Mungai Njoroge 2 1 Department of Education, University of Embu, Embu, Kenya 2 Department of Research & Development Knowledge Management, Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA), Nairobi, Kenya Article Info ABSTRACT Article history: Received Mar 17, 2022 Revised Feb 16, 2023 Accepted Mar 6, 2023 Students’ attitudes towards science subjects and especially chemistry have been attributed to the use of inquiry-based learning (IBL). The students’ attitudes are important predictors of academic achievement. The consistently poor performance in chemistry among secondary school students has been an issue of concern. This study sought to establish whether IBL has been used in the teaching of chemistry and if it had any influence on students’ attitudes towards chemistry. The study employed a correlational research design that involved conducting a survey of 21 teachers who were purposively selected, and 357 students selected through simple random sampling from the 21 classrooms that these teachers taught. The results revealed that teachers used IBL once a week (M=4.062) and students had positive attitudes towards chemistry (M=3.945). Besides, there was a significant association between IBL and the attitudes of students towards chemistry (r=0.997, p<0.05, R²=0.994). Keywords: Attitudes Chemistry practical Inquiry-based learning This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license. Corresponding Author: Christine Mueni Nzomo Department of Education, University of Embu Nairobi-Meru Highway, Embu Town, Kenya Email: 1319@student.embuni.ac.ke 1. INTRODUCTION Attitude of students in chemistry is a factor that researchers have been interested in and theorists and practitioners have agreed on the significance of such attitudes in predicting students learning outcomes [1], [2]. Positive or negative feelings toward chemistry are referred to as attitudes [3]. Attitudes have three components which include cognitive, affective, and behavioral [4]. The cognitive component stems from previous chemistry instruction and impacts students’ confidence. The affective component deals with a person’s subjective emotional reactions to an item, while the conative component is the proclivity to act or behave in specific ways in the presence of objects. Improvement of attitudes of students in chemistry is important because it is closely linked to academic achievement and it predicts behaviors [1]. Besides, attitudes are important factors that affect students’ learning and achievement [5]. Since attitudes influence academic achievement, students with positive attitudes are likely to perform better in chemistry [6]. However, even though attitudes predict performance, dismal performance in chemistry in Meru South Sub-County has been witnessed [7]. Students’ positive attitudes may be improved by employing engaging educational approaches such as inquiry-based learning (IBL) [5]. Instructional practices are a significant element influencing student learning outcomes and assessing the effects of various types of instructional practices on critical outcomes such as attitudes and academic accomplishment is essential [5]. As a result, it is necessary to investigate