AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LEVEL OF ADEQUACY OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHING SECONDARY SCHOOL PHYSICS IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the level of adequacy of resources for teaching physics at the secondary schools in Enugu State, Nigeria. Such resources included physics teachers and equipment. Eighty eight physics teachers and eight hundred and eighty students drawn from state public secondary schools in Enugu State constituted the sample for the study. Relevant data for the study were collected using researchers’ made structured questionnaires, one for the availability of laboratory equipment and the second for the level of utilization of such equipment. The reliabilities of the instruments were computed using Kuder-Richardson (KR-21) and Cronbach () formular, showing coefficients of 0.81 and 0.85 for the availability and utilization of the equipment instruments respectively. Four research questions and three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The research questions were answered using means and standard deviations, while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance, using one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) respectively. The result of the study indicated that resources for teaching physics, that is, personnel and laboratory apparatus/equipment are inadequate in terms of availability. The result also indicated that even the available laboratory apparatus were grossly underutilized, irrespective of the teachers’ qualifications and experience. Some recommendations were made to mitigate these shortfalls.