IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULT PHYSICS PROCESS SKILLS IN PHYSICS PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PHYSICS STUDENTS IN AWKA EDUCATION ZONE

Abstract

The study was aimed at the identification of difficult physics process skills in Physics Practical Activities among secondary School Physics students. The sample was made up of 162 physics students from 6 secondary Schools in Awka education zone of Anambra State. The design for the study was a descriptive survey. The Physics Process Skills investigated were: controlling of variables, observation, conduct of experiment, measurement. Communication, data analysis and inference. The instrument for data collection was a Physics Process Skill Rating Scale (PPSRS) designed by the researcher and validated by physics educators in Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Anambra State and physics teachers teaching the SS 3 Physics students in Awka education zone. Test –retest method was used to establish the stability of the instrument using Pearson product moment correlation and the index of stability was 0.68 . The estimate of internal consistency using crombach alpha was 0.70. Physics students’ grades for one session were used to classify them as high and low ability. Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Data collected was analyzed using means, standard deviation and z-test. The study revealed that of the seven skills investigated, physics students had difficulty in the acquisition of six of the skills. The findings also revealed that female and low ability Physics students were the most affected. Among others, it was recommended that physics teachers should start practical activities from SS1. In addition, Physics teachers should be retrained by exposing them to seminars, workshops and conferences on Physics Process skills. Equally, physics teachers should also be sensitized on gender issues in physics.
Key words: Identification, physics process skills, physics practical