Comparative Effects of Observation Instructional Strategy and Lecture Method on Physics Students’ Achievement in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State

This study investigated the comparative effect of observation in teaching physics in Delta State secondary schools. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided this study. Quasi-experimental pretest-posttest research design was adopted for this study. The study sample consisted of 280 secondary school Physics students drawn from a population of 39,904 using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using the Physics Achievement Test (PAT), which consisted of 20 items of multiple-choice questions from the Physics content taught. The PAT was duly validated, and the reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained using the Kuder-Richardson formula 21 (KR-21). Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t-test, at a significance threshold of 0.05, was used to test the hypotheses. The study found that students taught Physics using the observation instruction strategy performed significantly better than their counterparts taught using the lecture method, and there is no sex bias when the observation instructional strategy is adopted for the teaching of Physics. In the light of the findings, it was therefore, recommended among others, that all Physics teachers should be required to employ the observation teaching technique when instructing and learning the subject and that the Government at all levels should show commitment towards promoting innovative teaching in Physics and other science subjects by providing enabling environments and the required facilities in secondary schools to make students’ centred learning activities a reality.