THE EFFECT OF LABORATORY WORKS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING OF PHYSICS IN ONITSHA NORTH, ANAMBRA STATE

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1 Journal of Sene and Arts Year 12, No. 1(18), pp , 2012 ORIGINAL PAPER THE EFFECT OF LABORATORY WORKS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING OF PHYSICS IN ONITSHA NORTH, ANAMBRA STATE SHEDRACK IFEANYI MBA 1, IKEM I. UBA 1 Manusrpt reeved: ; Aepted paper: ; Publshed onlne: Abstrat. What are the states of physs laboratores n seondary shools? Are there laboratory fators onsttutng onstrants to effetve teahng and learnng of physs? Does laboratory works nfluene students physs ahevements and general atttudes? To seek answers to these questons s the am of the present researh. Along the lne of survey researh method, strutured questonnare were admnstered to the teahers and students of physs n 10 seondary shools sampled from 16 Government Seondary shools n Ontsha North Loal Government Area of Anambra State. The nstrument used for olletng data were analyzed usng a smple mean due to the onformty of the queston and approprate deson on the result based on the mean was aheved through a omparson wth the theoretal ut-off mean alulated as = 2.5. The result of the analyss showed nablty of the students to explore dverse areas of physs as a result of nsuffent supply of laboratory equpments and unsatsfatory teahng and learnng due to obsolete nature of avalable materals. These auses lak of motvaton for teahng and learnng of physs. However, students wth a bank of varety of pratal experenes are lkely to perform better n sklls and onfdene than those wth lmted experene. Keywords: Laboratory works, teahng and learnng, physs, pratal works and students ahevements. 1. INTRODUCTION It an be realzed wth the help of researhers n physs eduaton that students at seondary and even unversty levels ontnue to hold fundamental msunderstandng of the world around them [18]. Sene learnng remans wthn the lassroom ontext and just a small perentage of the students are able to use the knowledge ganed at shool for solvng varous problems of larger physal world. In most ases, students hear letures wthout strong onnetons to ther everyday experenes. Students do not usually have opportunty to form ther own deas; they rarely get a hane to work n a way to be engaged n dsovery, buldng and testng models to explan the world around them [10]. Results from researh n ogntve sene and physs eduaton shows that atvtes n laboratores nrease students learnng, postve atttudes towards physs and permanene of knowledge [12, 19]. The one of the man goals of usng laboratores n physs eduaton s to teah students the phlosophy, branhes, tops, theores, laws of physs, the other one s to gan steps of the sentf method namely sene proess sklls whle learnng the 1 Nwafor Orzu College of Eduaton, Department of Physs, P.M.B. 1734, Ontsha Anambra State, Ngera. E-mal: prnefy85@ymal.om. ISSN: Physs Seton

2 76 The effet of laboratory works n teahng Shedrak Ifeany Mba, Ikem Uba phlosophy, branhes, tops, theores, laws of physs. One of the researhers [18] lsted the ams of wdely usng laboratores n sene eduaton as follows laboratores provdes: To get students to omprehend abstrat and omplex sentf onepts by usng onrete materals. To gan students problem solvng and analyzng sklls by omprehendng the nature of sene. To develop pratal experenes and speal talents of students To enjoy students wth laboratory atvtes and by ths way to develop postve atttude towards sentfally workng. To many researhers [1, 11], laboratory n physs eduaton has not aheved ts man goal, not provded meanngful learnng and not developed postve atttudes towards sene n reent years. As a result, t has been stated that more essental resoures and tme have to be alloated n order to enhane the effetveness of laboratores n sene teahng both n prmary and seondary eduaton [3]. It was emphaszed that the laboratory atvtes n sene teahng were put nto effet n 1960s [17], however, students ould not reah the desred levels by usng these atvtes. Yager and Engen [22] onluded that laboratory experenes are not meanngfully adequate for students and therefore they do not make a sgnfant ontrbuton to ther oneptual understandng. Teaher s provson n the senes [11] were examned n many ountres and found that 45% of the shools surveyed ndated nsuffent laboratores. Ths fndng agreed wth the fndng n Saud Araba [4] whh ndated nadequay n the provson of laboratory faltes n shools. The fndngs were also onsstent wth those found n Uganda [5] whh ndated that sene eduaton s faed wth the problem of lak of resoures wth half the shools havng no real laboratory. Few opportuntes are provded for the students to dsuss both experment and ts results, make and test hypothess or desgn an experment and fnally perform them. Besde, these some physs experments n seondary level are very dffult to be performed due to the tme onsumng, beng harmful and expensve, defeny of laboratory equpments, not representng the related onept or event presely, teaher s anxety about the omplexty of the urrulum [13]. In hopes of mprovng student learnng, researh questonnares have been admnstered to both physs students and teahers whh wll help elt nformaton on the state of physs laboratores n seondary shools and ther nfluene on the students ahevement. 2. PRACTICAL WORKS IN TEACHING OF PHYSICS The mportane attrbuted to pratal work, algned wth the man belefs shared by experts n sene eduaton [8, 20, 21] an llustrate ts mpat. Pratal work an motvate learnng, develop sentf and analytal sklls, enable an mproved aquston and omprehenson of onepts, develop a soluton-drven pragmat mndset, develop dsusson and rtal analytal sklls as well as ntrodue more rgors n sene researh. Physs Seton

3 The effet of laboratory works n teahng Shedrak Ifeany Mba, Ikem Uba STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Common observaton shows that seondary shools n Ontsha North of Anambra state have vared problems assoated wth ther physs laboratores. Some havng only one multpurpose sene laboratory for all the sene subjets others do not have well equpped laboratores. The mplaton of ths s that many students seem not to be exposed to pratal work n physs whh s ore subjet n seondary shool sene urrulum. The problem of ths study therefore, was what nfluene does laboratory works have on the students ahevement? and ts mplaton n teahng and learnng of physs n Ontsha North Loal Government Area of Anambra State. In addressng these problems, the followng researh questons were rased. What s the state of physs laboratory n Seondary Shools n Ontsha North? What are the laboratory fators that onsttute onstrants to effetve teahng and learnng of physs n Ontsha North? What nfluene does laboratory works have on students ahevement n physs n Ontsha North of Anambra State? 4. MATERIALS AND METHODS The nstrument for data olleton n ths study was questonnare and observatonal tehnques. Questonnare has been defned as survey n whh the respondent reads the questons and marks the answers whh are approprate to hs optons on paper nstead of verbally respondng to an ntervew [14]. There are two types of questonnare [16], the strutured or fxed response questonnare and the unstrutured or open-ended questonnare. Aordng to Fowler [7], the open-ended questonnare requres responses that must have more than just yes or no answer sne subjet must provde desrptve nformaton. However, ths study employed strutured questonnare as stated n the researh questons below: 4.1. TEACHER S RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE Queston 1: What s the state f physs laboratory n Seondary Shools n Ontsha North? 1. You have only one laboratory for all sene subjets. 2. There are suffent equpments n your laboratory. 3. Most of the laboratory equpments are already obsolete. Queston 2: What are the laboratory fators that onsttute onstrants to effetve teahng and learnng of physs n Ontsha North? 1. Students usually do not attend pratal lasses rather, they hope to heat n examnaton. 2. Insuffent qualfed teahers are responsble for neffetve laboratory works. 3. Insuffent tme does not stop a teaher from teahng effetvely. 4. You perform pratal works up to three tmes n a week. 5. Do you agree that lak of motvaton affets students performane n pratal works? ISSN: Physs Seton

4 78 The effet of laboratory works n teahng Shedrak Ifeany Mba, Ikem Uba Queston 3: What nfluene does laboratory works have on students ahevement n physs n Ontsha North of Anambra State? 1. Students performane n physs s dependent on how well they an perform laboratory works. 2. Teahers employng varety of methods n teahng promotes better understandng of pratal physs. 3. Usng mprovsed materals n the laboratory does not enourage better understandng of physs onepts. 4. Laboratory works motvate students to study physs wth relaxed mnd STUDENTS RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE Queston 1: What s the state f physs laboratory n Seondary Shools n Ontsha North? 1. You have physs laboratory where laboratory works are done. 2. You are provded wth enough and varetes of laboratory equpments. 3. Adequate seats and benhes are provded for laboratory works. Queston 2: What are the laboratory fators that onsttute onstrants to effetve teahng and learnng of physs n Ontsha North? 1. You use to do pratal wthout laboratory equpment 2. Teahers do not over ther ourse ontents before WAEC examnatons. 3. You do not have enough pratal text books. 4. You are not allowed to use laboratory on your own for rehearsals. Queston 3: What nfluene does laboratory works have on students ahevement n physs n Ontsha North of Anambra State? 1. You understand physs theores better when they are performed n the laboratory. 2. Do you agree that physs s a hard subjet when you do laboratory works? 3. Most of the students n your shool re-seat WAEC examnaton n searh of redt n physs. 4. You an explan the world around you usng physs prnples. As regards observaton, James [9] says the major purpose of observaton s to ontrbute desrptve nformaton, provde n-depth aounts of ndvduals or group of ndvduals as they behave naturally n some spef settng. The researher deemed t neessary to employ an observatory method n order to get muh needed nformaton for the problem. Ths method was adopted as to observe the laboratory work proeedngs durng admnstraton of the questonnare, notng the teaher s nteraton and how students partpated n ther pratal work lasses. Physs Seton

5 The effet of laboratory works n teahng Shedrak Ifeany Mba, Ikem Uba SAMPLE The sample of the study was omposed of seondary shool physs teahers and students that were randomly pked from 10 Government shools n Ontsha North out of 16 Government Seondary Shools. The seleted shools are omposed of four (4) Grls shools; four (4) Boys shools and two mxed shools. In all, 20 teahers and 300 physs students were used for the study. The samplng tehnque used n obtanng data was smple random samplng. It s stated that [15] when the populaton s large, samplng s used. Teller defned smple random samplng as the proess of seletng a representatve n suh a way that all ndvduals n the defned populaton have an equal ndependent hane of beng nluded n the sample. 6. PROCEDURE FOR DATA ANALYSIS The statstal tool or tehnque employed n analyzng the data s the mean. The mean was used as statstal standard due to the onformty of all questonnare tems. In ths ase, the researher organzed the nformaton nto a frequeny dstrbuton tables and bar harts, and omputed the mean responses on the questonnare tem. Thus we have, where F (1) N = 1, 2, 3 n s the number of rows. = mean of respondents for eah questonnare tem. F = Frequeny of eah questonnare tem = Number of eah of the ratng sale pont. N = Number of respondents Approprate deson on results based on the mean was aheved through omparson wth the theoretal ut-off mean. Based on the four pont sales was evaluated as follows: Strongly Agreed (SA): 4 ratng sale pont Agreed (A): 3 ratng sale pont Dsagreed (D): 2 ratng sale pont Strongly Dsagreed (SD): 1 ratng sale pont Cut-off mean of the sales 25. Hene, f the tem s rejeted (2) the tem s aepted That s, any tem n nstrument whh had a mean equal to or hgher than 2.5 was aepted whle any mean sore below 2.5 was rejeted. ISSN: Physs Seton

6 80 The effet of laboratory works n teahng Shedrak Ifeany Mba, Ikem Uba 7. RESULTS Ths seton presents the fndngs derved from the statstal analyss of data aqured from the admnstraton of the questonnare, eah table and hart aordng to ther researh questons and tems. Therefore, for eah of the tems we have: where T = tables R = row = 1, 2, 3... n TR (3 ) Researh Queston 1: What s the state of physs laboratory n Seondary Shools n Ontsha North? Statstal results of the teaher s responses to ths queston are gven n table 1. Table 1. Statstal results of the teaher s response on the state of physs laboratory n Ontsha North. S/NO ITEMS 1. You have only one laboratory for all 2.2 Rejeted sene subjets. 2. There are suffent equpments n your 2.1 Rejeted laboratory. 3. Most of the laboratory equpments are already obsolete. 2.7 Aepted As gven n table 1, T 1 R 3 was loated above the predetermned theoretal mean 25.. The respondents agreed that most of the laboratory equpments are already obsolete. T 1 R 1 and T 1 R 2 were loated below the predetermned theoretal mean ndatng that the respondents do not onsder provson of physs laboratory as a fator affetng teahng and learnng but onsders provson of equpment nsuffent. For students responses towards queston 1, the statstal results are presented n table 2. Table 2. Statstal results of students responses on the state of physs laboratores n Ontsha North. S/NO ITEMS 1 You have physs laboratory where laboratory works are done. 3.3 Aepted 2 You are provded wth enough and varetes of laboratory 2.1 Rejeted equpments. 3 Adequate seats and benhes are provded for laboratory works. 2.3 Rejeted Aordng to table 2, T 2 R 1 was loated above the predetermned theoretal mean 25.. The respondents do not onsder provson of physs laboratory as a hnderng fator to effetve teahng and learnng of physs n ther shools. T 2 R 1 and Q 1 R 3 had means 21. and 23. whh dd not meet the ut-off pont ndatng that the respondents onsder provson of laboratory equpments, seats and benhes nadequate. Physs Seton

7 The effet of laboratory works n teahng Shedrak Ifeany Mba, Ikem Uba 81 Fg. 1. Summary of the fndngs to researh queston 1. Researh Queston 2: What are the laboratory fators that onsttute onstrants to effetve teahng and learnng of physs n Ontsha North? The teaher s and students responses to ths queston are presented n tables 3 and 4 respetvely. Table 3. Statstal results of teaher s responses to researh queston 2. S/NO ITEMS 1 Students usually do not attend pratal lasses rather; they hope to 2.6 Aepted heat n examnaton. 2 Insuffent qualfed teahers are responsble for neffetve 3.6 Aepted laboratory works. 3 Insuffent tme does not stop a teaher from teahng effetvely. 1.9 Rejeted 4 You perform pratal works up to three tmes n a week. 2.3 Rejeted 5 Do you agree that lak of motvaton affets students performane n pratal works? 3.8 Aepted Respondng to these questons, the respondents reported students not to be attendng pratal lasses. They also reported nsuffent supply of qualfed physs teahers and nsuffent alloaton of tme to laboratory works. Most of the shools aordng to the respondents do not perform pratal works up to three tmes n a week where as most of them agreed that motvaton s neessary for the students to perform well n pratal works. Table 4. Statstal results of students responses to researh queston 2. S/NO ITEMS 1 You use to do pratal wthout laboratory equpment 2.7 Rejeted 2 Teahers do not over ther ourse ontents before WAEC 2.8 aepted examnatons. 3 You do not have enough pratal text books. 2.6 Aepted 4 You are not allowed to use laboratory on your own for rehearsals. 2.8 Aepted The mean responses of table four on the ssues of soure of problems onsttutng onstrants to effetve laboratory works are loated above mean ut-off pont = 2.5. Exept T 4 R 1 whh s below the ut-off mean. The mplaton s that all the tems are true aordng to the way they were stated exept T 4 R 1 whh has a mean = 1.7. ISSN: Physs Seton

8 82 The effet of laboratory works n teahng Shedrak Ifeany Mba, Ikem Uba Fg. 2. Summary of the fndngs to researh queston 2. Researh Queston 3: What nfluene does laboratory work have on students ahevement n physs n Ontsha North? Ths queston wll be answered usng tables 5 and 6. Table 5. Statstal results of the teaher s responses on the nfluene laboratory works have on students ahevement n physs. S/NO ITEMS 1 Students performane n physs s dependent on how well they an perform laboratory works. 2.9 Aepted 2 Teahers employng varety of methods n teahng promotes better understandng of pratal physs. 3.1 Aepted 3 Usng mprovsed materals n the laboratory does not enourage better understandng of physs onepts. 2.1 Rejeted 4 Laboratory works motvate students to study physs wth relaxed mnd. 2.6 Aepted In table 5, the respondents reatons to the T 5 R 1, T 5 R 2 and T 5 R 4 yelded means of 29., 31., 26. whh are above ut-off mean 25.. Ths ndates that the statements of the tems are true. T 5 R 3 had mean 21. whh s below ut-off mean 25.. Ths mples that mprovsaton n the absene of materals an enourage better understandng of physs onepts. Table 6. Statstal results of the students response on the nfluene laboratory works have on students ahevement n physs. S/NO ITEMS 1 You understand physs theores better when they are performed n the laboratory. 3.8 Aepted 2. Do you agree that physs s a hard subjet when you do laboratory works? 1.6 Rejeted 3. Most of the students n your shool re-seat WAEC examnaton n searh of redt n physs. 2.9 Aepted 4. You an explan the world around you usng physs prnples. 3.0 Aepted Table 6 above presents students responses to researh queston 3. T 6 R 1 ndated that students better understandng of physs theores s dependent on how they an perform them. They also onsdered physs to be easy when they are dong laboratory works as n Q 3 R 2 whh had mean of 1.6. They agreed that most students re-seat WAEC examnaton n searh of redt n physs, reason beng that pratal works onsttute 50% of the entre Physs Seton

9 The effet of laboratory works n teahng Shedrak Ifeany Mba, Ikem Uba 83 examnaton. T 6 R 4 whh had 30. ndated that wth laboratory works, students an easly explan the world around them applyng physs prnples. 8. DISCUSSION Fg. 3. Summary of the fndngs to researh queston 3. The foregong has examned the effet of laboratory works n teahng and learnng of physs n seondary shool n Ontsha North Anambra State. The fndngs have revealed sgnfantly the state of physs laboratores and ther mplatons n teahng and learnng of physs. It appeared that greater number of shools have physs laboratores but are not provded wth enough and varety of equpment, seats and benhes that makes laboratory works omfortable. Teahng and learnng tends to be faster and easer when adequate faltes are provded. Ths s n agreement wth the fndngs of prevous researher [5] n whh t was reported that n Uganda sene eduaton s faed wth the problem of lak of resoures wth half of the shools havng no real laboratory. The fndngs also revealed some laboratory fators that onsttute onstrants to effetve teahng and learnng of physs suh as students nonhalant atttudes towards attendng lasses, nsuffent tme alloaton and supply of qualfed teahers and text book materals, lak of motvaton among students, laxty among teahers and lak of students aess to laboratory equpment for prvate rehearsals. These fndngs are n onsonane wth suggeston of Ameran Assoaton of Physs Teahers (AAPT) [2] n ther gudelnes for shool physs programme n whh t was reommended that 40% of lass tme be devoted to laboratory atvtes n order to treat effetvely those tops that are onsdered hard by the students. In the order hand, government should attend to those problems whh affet teahng and learnng n laboratory sne t s a rtal varable n determnng students ahevements n physs as revealed by the fndngs that they tend to understand better when they are motvated and prates. 9. CONCLUSIONS It s very lear that teahng and learnng of physs to a greater extent s anhored n laboratory atvtes due to the fat that t s a subjet that should not be taught n abstraton. The more pratal done, the more lkelhood of students understandng the onepts prnples and laws of physs. But n a stuaton where reverse beomes the ase, teahng wll be jeopardzed and learnng greatly affeted. Ths s the stuaton of many government seondary shools n Ontsha North Loal Government Area, but t s good to pont out that these problems are not nsurmountable; the problems seem to be nter-dependent, one leadng to another. It s lear that wth good plannng, hard work and ooperate efforts of all and sundry, a lot wll be aheved n solvng the problems. ISSN: Physs Seton

10 84 The effet of laboratory works n teahng Shedrak Ifeany Mba, Ikem Uba 10. RECOMMENDATION The followng reommendatons an be posed wth the hope that postve effet of laboratory works on teahng and learnng of physs may be onsttuted. The Government should provde laboratory equpments and text book materals n all the shools havng shortages of laboratory equpments n Ontsha North n lne wth the provson of the Federal Republ of Ngera [6] n mprovng standards n shools. The federal government ould also assst through the Eduatonal Trust Fund n fundng physs laboratores n shools. Students themselves must do the prates of physs laboratory and develop the ablty of learnng va experment at seondary eduatons. There s also need for more qualfed physs teahers who an use laboratory equpments effetvely, mprovse when nstrutonal materals are not avalable and manage tme alloated to laboratory works. It s beleved that f these reommendatons are not set asde, the fators affetng teahng and learnng through laboratory works n government seondary shools wll be sgnfantly attended to. Equally, the status of physs wll be muh more enhaned. REFERENCES [1] Adeyem, T.O., Asan J. Inform. Manage, 2, 23, [2] Ameran Assoaton of Physs Teahers (AAPT), Gudelnes for Hgh Shool Physs Programs, retreved from [3] Azar, A., Sengule, A.O., Eurasan J. Phys. Chem. Edu., Speal Issue, 43, [4] Barrow, L.H., Evaluaton of Sene Laboratores n the Mddle Shools of Four Eduatonal Dstrts n Saud Araba PhD Thess, Mssour Unversty, Columba, 1991 [5] Blak, T.R. et al., Int. J. S.edu., 20(2), 239, [6] Federal Government of Ngera. Natonal Poly on Eduaton, Federal Mnstry of Eduaton, Lagos, [7] Fowler, F.J., Survey Researh Method, Newbury Park: Sage Publatons, [8] Gunstone, R.C., A Promotng Coneptual Change n the Laboratory London, Routlege [9] James, G., Researh n Psyhology Methods and Desgn, New York: John Wley and Sons, In., [10] Jeskova Z., Onderova, L., Atve Learnng n Physal laboratory, Department of Expermental Physs, Safark Unversty, Park Angelnum, Slovaka, 2000 [11] Jones, E., Teaher s Provson n Sene Edu. S., 140, 77, [12] Koubk, V., Obzory Matematky, Tyzky, Informatky, 5, 34, [13] Kurt, S., Butunlestr. Ogrenme Kuuran na Uygun Calsma Yapraklarnn Crelstrlmes, Unpublshed Master Thess, Karadenz Teknk Unversty, Trabzon 2002 [14] Kwoswk, S., Researh n Psyhology, London, Longman,1999. [15] Nwanna, C., Researh Struture and Organzaton, n Fundamentals Innovatons and Issues n Eduaton Enugu: Insttute of Eumenal Eduaton, [16] Nworgu, B.G., Eduatonal Researh; Bas Issues and Methodology, Nsukka, Ngera. Unversty Trust Publshers, [17] Roth, W.M., Journal of Researh n Sene Teahng, 31(2), 197, [18] Tamr, P., Journal of Researh n Sene Teahng, 14(4), 311, [19] Thornton, R.K., Physs Eduaton, 22(4), 230, [20] Wellngton, J., Teahng and Learnng Seondary Sene, London: Routledge, [21] Woolnough, B, Allsop, T, Pratal Work n Sene, Cambrdge Unversty Press, 1985 [22] Yager, R.E., Engen, H.B., Journal of Researh n Sene Teahng, 6(5), 76, Physs Seton