Mastery-Of- Subject-Matter and Choice of Instructional Strategy as Correlates of Achievement in Physics among Secondary School Students in Taraba State, Nigeria

This study explored physics teachers’ mastery of subject matter and instructional strategies as correlate to students’ academic achievement in Taraba state, Nigeria. Two research questions were raised and two hypotheses formulated to guide the study. The study adopted correlational research design. The population of the study was 17,210 respondents comprised of 84 physics teachers and 17,126 SSIII physics students during the 2023/2024 academic session in Taraba state. A sample size of 460, made up of 69 physics teachers and 391 SSIII physics students of private and public senior secondary schools in Taraba state was were selected using purposive and simple random sampling techniques. The instruments used for data collection were Physics Teachers’ Knowledge of Subject Matter (Content) Test (PTKSMT), Physics Teachers’ Knowledge of Instructional Strategies Questionnaire (PTKISQ) and Physics Achievement Proforma (PAP), with reliability coefficients of 0.79 for (PTKSMT) computed using K-R20 and 0.77 for (PTKISQ) computed using Cronbach alpha. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while the hypotheses were tested using regression analysis at 0.05 significance level. The study generated the following findings: (i) among others revealed that there is a significant relationship between physics teachers' knowledge of the subject matter and students' academic achievement in Taraba state with [F(1, 68) = 164.544, P < 0.05)] and (ii) there is a significant relationship between physics teachers' knowledge of instructional strategies and senior secondary school students' academic achievement in Taraba state with [F (1, 390) = 179.994, p < 0.05)]. The study concludes that physics teachers' knowledge of the subject matter, physics teachers' knowledge of instructional strategies and students' academic achievement are positively related. The study recommended among others that Physics teachers content knowledge should be improved through teacher’s constant training and re-training on content knowledge. Keywords. Teachers Mastery, Subject Matter, Instructional Strategies, Academic achievement