Impact of Laboratory activities and acquisition of process skills on attitude and academic performance in science among Senior Secondary School Students in Zaria, Kaduna State

Obochi M. Uche, Samuel Eze

Abstract


The Introduction of science as a compulsory subject in school curriculum was done with the view to develop scientific attitude, scientific temperament, critical thinking, active inquiry, independent work, science process skills and understanding the physical world from different perspectives. In line with this, this study seeks to establish the impact of laboratory activities on students’ acquisition of science process skills. In this study the sample consisted of 60 senior secondary school science students’. The research methodology is quasi experimental design where a pre-test and post-test was conducted on 30 students who served as the experimental group and another 30 students who served as the control group. Science Process Skills Achievement Test (SPSAT) was developed to test the null hypothesis which states that; there is no significant difference between the acquisition of science process-skill of students that have prior exposure to laboratory apparatus and those taught using lecture methods. The result of the analysis done using t-test, it was found that the students exposed to laboratory activities performed significantly higher than those taught using lecture method. The researchers therefore recommend among others, that laboratory activities should be used consistently in teaching science as it enhances scientific attitude, retention and science process skills acquisition.


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