Efficacy of virtual laboratory on the achievement and attitude of secondary school students in physics practical.

Abstract

This study investigated the efficacy of virtual laboratory (VL) on the achievement of secondary students in physics practical in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. It also examined the influence of gender, retention and attitude on the use of VL. The efficacy of authors developed virtual laboratory package (VLP) for teaching physics practical was determined using Pretest – Posttest Experimental group design. 56, SSII students (28 males and 28 females) were from two secondary schools in Minna Metropolis made-up the sample. The schools were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (EG & CG). The EG (n =28) was exposed to VLP while the CG (n = 28) was exposed to physical laboratory method (PLM). Three research instruments were used in this study: (i) Physics Practical Achievement Test (PPAT) used as a testing instrument, comprised of 40-item multiple-choices physics achievement test; (ii) Virtual Laboratory Package (VLP) used as a treatment instrument, was made up of three components (text, video and simulated experiment); and (iii Physics Attitude Scale (PAS) comprised of 20, four point Likert type items used to elicit response from the two groups before and after the treatments. The instruments were validated by experts. The Kudar-Richardson (KR=21) formula yielded 0.92 reliability coefficient for PPAT and 0.89 for PAS. t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. Results of this study showed that the application of the virtual laboratory had positive effects on students’ achievements, retention and attitudes when compared to PLM. Gender had no influence on the students exposed to VLP during posttest and retention test. Recommendations were made based on the findings.