Instructional Needs Assessment of Physics Teachers in the Teaching of Physics and Physics Practical in Ogun State Secondary Schools, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the perceived instructional needs of physics teachers in the teaching of physics in secondary schools in Ogun-state, Nigeria. The study was a descriptive survey type of research. The sample was made up of eighty (80) physics teachers randomly drawn from forty-three (43) public Senior Secondary Schools in Abeokuta North, Abeokuta South and Ado Odo Ota Local Government areas of Ogun State. Data were collected by means of an Instructional Needs Inventory which consisted of 20 items on a 4–point Likert scale to which the teachers were required to indicate the extent of their instructional needs in Physics: “No help needed”, “Little Help Needed”, “Moderate Help needed” and “Much Help Needed”. The inventory was pretested on a pilot sample of 30 Physics teachers in Ijebu North and Ijebu-Ode Local Government areas of Ogun State. The Cronbach coefficient alpha value was found to be 0.88. One research question was posed and three hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that teachers need more help in developing questions that demand higher-order thinking skills; harnessing students’ existing ideas and conceptions; encouraging students participation in classroom lessons; connecting science concepts to real life examples; conceptual understanding of physics concepts; adapting teaching methods to meet individual students’ needs; linking students’ ideas, values and beliefs to their classroom experiences; engaging students in problem-solving activities; creating innovative ideas that can foster learning; improvising instructional materials; helping students to ask questions and discuss their learning experiences; presenting science experiences as enjoyable, interesting and relevant; helping students to plan and carry out investigation in the laboratory; helping students to learn by discovery and teaching science process skills. However, the research revealed that teachers need little help in measuring students’ conceptual understanding, helping students to interact actively with learning materials, using technology to enhance classroom experiences, assisting students to formulate their own questions, evaluating students’ learning and helping students to connect practical with underlying theoretical concepts. The results also revealed that the instructional needs of physics teachers were not significantly sensitive to gender differences, experiences and professionalism of teachers.