Teachers’ Characteristics and Availability of Laboratory as Predictors of Senior School Students’ Performance in Physics in Ilorin, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated teachers’ characteristics and availability of laboratory as predictors of physics students’ performance in Ilorin. 40 teachers and 400 students formed the sample size. The instruments used were PTQ and PSPT. The PSPT was a set of 15 theory questions on the topics taught by the teachers to the students. The scores were used for data analysis and the hypotheses were tested using t-test. The findings that the general academic performance in Physics was fair (average); however, students that were taught by qualified physics teachers performed better than those taught by unqualified teachers, students taught by experienced teachers performed better than those taught by less experienced teachers, and students exposed to the use of laboratory performed better than those not exposed to the use of the laboratory. It was recommended that science teachers should ensure that students are exposed to hands-on activities in their schools

Keywords

• Teachers’ characteristics, Laboratory, Physics, Student performance

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