Effect of Simulation on Students’ Achievement in Senior Secondary School Chemistry in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of simulation on students’ achievement in senior secondary school chemistry in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. The design of the study was quasi-experimental with specifically the pre-test and post-test. The sample of the study consisted of 159 senior secondary school I students (80 males and 79 females) randomly selected from two schools out of the secondary schools in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. The experimental group comprised of 39 males and 39 females (78 students) while the control had 41 males and 40 females (81 student). Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The achievement test in simulation (ATIS) was used to collect data on the student achievement.  Means and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the t-test was used to test the hypotheses a 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that simulation increased students’ achievement in chemistry more than the conventional method. There was no significant different in the achievement of male and female students on the chemistry concepts. Based on the results it was recommended that chemistry teachers should be re-trained on the use of simulation in teaching while the government and stake holders in Education should sponsor the purchase of simulators to be used in teaching chemistry in schools.

Key words: simulation, education, students’ achievement, chemistry, science and technology, National Policy on Education, gender, experimental and control groups.