EFFECT OF LABORATORY PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ATTITTUDE TOWARDS CHEMISTRY IN KOGI STATE

Abstract

This study examined the effect of laboratory practical activities on secondary school students’ attitude towards Chemistry in Kogi State. Quasi experimental research design was adopted for the study. The study involved a target population of 11,091 SS II students offering chemistry in Kogi State. The sample consisted of 160 SS II students selected using multistage sampling technique. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The instrument used for data was a validated Chemistry Attitude Scale (CAS). The reliability coefficient of the CAS was established to be 0.80 using Cronbach-Alpha. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that there was significant difference between the attitudes mean scores of students taught chemistry using laboratory practical activities and those taught using lecture method, in favour of laboratory practical activities. Furthermore, the findings showed that there was no significant difference between the attitudes mean scores of male and female students’ taught chemistry using laboratory practical activities. It was concluded that laboratory practical activities was more effective in enhancing students’ attitude towards chemistry. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that chemistry teachers should therefore be encouraged to prepare laboratory experiment for every topic and use the experiments in chemistry textbooks and workbooks recommended by the Ministry of Education.