Effects of simulation teaching technique on co-educational secondary schools students’ achievement and attitude towards learning physics in Buuri-East Sub-County,Kenya

Abstract

Science is a fundamental discipline on many grounds and it is credited for most of humanity‟s technological advances. Physics is a branch of science and is credited nearly all technological development at a national and global scale. As in most nations, Physics‟ prominence is revered in Kenya. Unfortunately, it is apparent significance does not reflect on academic performance in Kenyan secondary schools. This may be due to the inadequacy of conventional teaching techniques used for physics tutorage. Most physics concepts are abstract, and the techniques used may not allow learners to conceptualize such concepts. Conventional teaching techniques have led to student‟ slow achievement in physics and subsequently learners develop negative attitudes towards learning physics. This study aimed to investigate the effects of simulation teaching techniques on student achievements and attitudes towards learning physics. In this study, the Solomon four non-equivalent control group design was used. The target population was 1119 form two students in Buuri East sub-county in Meru County. The accessed population size was 542 form two students in co-education secondary schools in the sub-county. Purposive and Stratified sampling were used to select four co-education schools, the sample comprised of 123 participants. Physics Achievement Test (PAT) and Student Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) were used to collect research data. Education experts validated the instruments at the Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Management (CIEM). A pilot study was conducted in two co-education secondary schools, KR-20 was used to estimate the reliability of PAT, which was found to have a 0.84 coefficient. Cronbach alpha was used to estimate the reliability of SAQ, which was established to be 0.724, both reliability coefficients were accepted. Data was analysed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test. All statistical tests were subjected to a significance test at an alpha level of 0.05. The study‟s findings revealed a statistically significant difference in achievement for students exposed to the simulation teaching technique, unlike learners exposed to convectional teaching. The findings also showed no statistically significant difference in physics achievement and attitudes towards learning physics between male and female learners. The findings of this study may inform educator training of higher education institutions and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) while developing teaching materials. The findings may also be significant to physics teachers in their practice and to educational researchers.