ADAPTING TO VIRTUAL LABORATORY TEACHING STRATEGY DURING COVID-19: ITS EFFECTS ON PHYSICS STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE IN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated adapting virtual laboratory teaching strategy during Covid–19: its effects on physics students’ attitude. Two research questions and two hypotheses were raised and formulated respectively to guide the study. Physics Practical Attitude Scale (PPAS) was the instrument used for data collection with a reliability coefficient of 0.85 established using the cronbach alpha method. Two secondary schools were selected using the purposive sampling technique. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed a significant difference in the mean attitude score of students exposed to physics virtual laboratory practicals and those exposed to Physics conventional laboratory practicals in favour of virtual laboratory that had higher mean score. Also there is no significant differences on the students’ attitudes scores based on gender. It was recommended that physics teachers should adopt the use of virtual laboratory so as to help improve and enhance their attitude toward physics practical as well as help them from contacting COVID 19 virus.