The effect of practical work on SHS students' understanding of some selected topics in physics

Abstract

This study examines the effect of practical work on students’ understanding in physics. Seventy two second year students of St. Rose’s Senior High School-Akwatia in the Denkyembour District in Eastern Region were purposively sampled into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was taught using practical work as instructional technique and the control group using the traditional method for teaching. The major objectives of the study were to find out; the effect of practical work on students’ performance in physics, the effect of practical work on students’ attitude towards the study of physics, the effect of practical work on students’ acquisition of science processes, the perception of students on the use of practical work as instructional strategy in physics. Four research questions and two hypotheses were raised in the study. The instruments used for the study were pre-test and post-test, practical activities and questionnaires for both the experimental and control groups. Data collected were analysed using z-test, t-test and descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that students exposed to frequent practical work performed better than those exposed to traditional method of teaching. The study recommends that physics teachers take students through a lot more practical activities, since this will help students gain better understanding of the concept and improve their academic performance.