The Impact of Physics Practical Work on Student’s Academic Achievement In Physics Education (The Case Of Ghimbi Preparatory School Of West Wollega Oromia Regional State)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of practical- based teaching on the student’s achievement in Physics at secondary level. Ten (10) lessons were selected from 12th grade Physics for this study. All the natural science students of Ghimbi preparatory school studying Physics at the 12th grade, constituted the population. A sample of 50 students was randomly selected from Government Ghimbi preparatory school. Pretest-Post test Control group and experimental group design of experimental research was selected for this research study. Two MCQs type achievement tests were used as research tools for the data collection. Experimental group was taught with the help of activities whereas the control group was taught the same lessons through traditional method of teaching for the period of six (6) weeks. T-test was used to analyze the data. The study revealed that the performance of experimental group was better than the performance of the controlled group of the students. Furthermore there was significant difference between the performance of the experimental group as compared to the control group with reference to knowledge, comprehension, and application skill. Overall, the findings of the study show that the practical based teaching was much effective than the lecture method teaching of science at preparatory.