Effects of Improvised Materials on Students’ Achievement and Retention of the Concept of Radioactivity

Abstract

This paper is an empirical study aimed at finding out the effect of improvised
material on students’ academic achievement and retention on the concept of
radioactivity. The study adopted the pretest post test non-equivalent control
group design and was carried out in Calabar Education Zone, Cross River
State Nigeria. A total of two hundred and forty seven (247) Senior
Secondary School III Physics students took part in the study. The Analysis of
Covariance (ANCOVA), Multiple Analysis (MCA) and t-test were used to
analyze the data. The results of the study showed a significant difference in
academic achievement between the experimental and control groups in
favour of the experimental group, a significant difference in the mean
academic achievement between the male and the female students in favour of the male students and a significant difference in the retention between the
experimental and control groups in favour of the experimental group. The
study recommend among others the use of improvised material in the
teaching of physics where the accredited ones are lacking.