Adequacy of Physics Contents Taught in Primary and Basic Science Curriculum for Understanding Secondary School Physics in Ukwuani Local Government Area, Delta State.

Abstract

One issue drawing attention from scholars is the persistently low academic performance of students in science classes, particularly in Physics, due to the potential threat this provides to the country's technological leadership. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the Physics content in primary and basic science curricula provide a sufficient basis for understanding secondary school Physics. The study design is a descriptive survey. Two research questions were put forward to aid the study. Two instruments were designed for the study which were titled: Physics Taught Contents Adequacy Questionnaire for JSS and, Physics Taught Content Adequacy Questionnaire for SSS. The reliability of the instruments was established at 0.61 and 0.69 respectively using Cronbach alpha. The findings of the study showed that concepts taught in primary science aided students in learning of Basic Science concepts at the junior secondary level and concepts taught at the junior secondary level also aided students in learning Physics at the senior secondary level. The result of the study showed majority of students agreed that concepts that were taught in Primary Science enhanced their study of similar concepts in Basic Science, while a significant percentage of students stated that they had prior knowledge in some concepts. Also, majority of the students (over 80%) agreed that Physics concepts taught in Basic Science enhanced their understanding of similar contents taught in Physics at the senior secondary schools. It was recommended among others that teachers should ask thought- provoking questions to enable them find out what the students already know (prior knowledge) about the concepts to be taught to effectively build on it.