Effects of Virtual Laboratory Experiments on Students’ Academic Performance in Physics Practical (Published)
This study investigates the effects of Virtual Laboratory Experiment (VLE) on senior secondary school students’ academic performance in Physics practical. It made use of pre-test-post-test quasi experimental design with two levels of treatment and control group. The accessible population was senior secondary school two (SSS2). Purposeful sampling was used to obtain a sample of three co-educational senior secondary schools from a local government area in Niger state, Nigeria for the study. Intact classes were used. The instrument employed for the study were conventional lesson plans, an adopted computer simulation package for the Virtual Laboratory Experiments (VLE) and Researcher Made Test of Academic Performance in Physics Practical (RMTAPP). The data collected were analysed using Descriptive Statistics, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and t-test statistics. The result of the study revealed that, the teaching strategies have significant effects on SSS2 academic performance in Physics practical and that, a combination of VLE and Conventional method is the most effective, followed by VLE while the Conventional is the least effective. It reveals further that gender does not have significant effect on students’ academic performance in Physics practical. The study therefore recommends that, Physics teachers should employ combination of VLE and Conventional teaching method to teach Physics practical and that, in schools with non-availability/inadequacy of science equipment, VLE method should be employed among others.
Keywords: Conventional Teaching Method, academic performance and physics practical, virtual laboratory experiment (VLE)
MASTERY LEARNING APPROACH ON SECONDARY STUDENTS’ INTEGRATED SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT (Published)
This study is aimed at finding the effects of Mastery Learning Approach (MLA) on students’ Achievement in Integrated Science. The study was Quasi-experimental Non-randomized Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design. The target population comprised of Junior Secondary School Students (JSS) in Delta Central Senatorial District of Delta State, Nigeria. The accessible population was JSS III Students drawn from the district co-educational schools in the Senatorial District. Purposive sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of four co-educational secondary schools. Each school provided one JS III class for the study, hence a total of 120 students were involved. The students were taught the same Integrated Science topic of Drug Abuse and Metabolism in the Human body. In the experimental group MLA teaching method was used while the conventional method was used in the control group. The experimental group was exposed to MLA for a period of four weeks. The researcher trained the teachers in the experimental group on the technique of MLA before the treatment. Pretest was administered before treatment and a posttest after four weeks of treatment. The instrument used in the study was Integrated Science Achievement Test (ISAT) to measure students’ achievement. The instrument was pilot tested to ascertain the reliability. The reliability co-efficient alpha was 0.74. Data was analyzed using ANCOVA statistics. Hypothesis was accepted or rejected at 0.05 significant level. The result of the study show that MLA teaching method resulted in higher achievement. The researcher concluded that MLA is an effective teaching method, which Integrated Science teachers should be encouraged to use and should be implemented in all teachers’ education programmes in Nigeria and other African nations
Keywords: Conventional Teaching Method, Experimental and Control Groups, Integrated Science Achievement, Junior Secondary School Students, Mastery Learning Approach