Provision and Utilization of Laboratory Facilities and Students' Academic Achievement in Chemistry in Public Secondary Schools in Ogun State, Nigeria

Students' academic achievement in chemistry in external examinations has shown a downward trend over the years. The poor achievement in chemistry had not been limited to the provision of laboratory facilities alone, but also the utilization of such facilities. This study investigated the contribution of provision and utilization of laboratory facilities to students' academic achievement in chemistry in public secondary schools in Ogun State. Three research questions were raised and two hypotheses formulated and tested at the .05 level of significance. The study adopted a descriptive research design of survey type, involving 30 chemistry teachers and 300 chemistry students, selected through a multi-stage sampling technique from a population of 102 chemistry teachers and 5,923 SS 2 chemistry students in 79 public secondary schools in Ogun-Central Senatorial District, Ogun State, Nigeria. Laboratory Facilities Provision Rating Scale (LFPRS), Laboratory Facilities Utilization Rating Scale (LFURS) and Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) with reliability coefficients of .82, .78 and .85, respectively, were used to collect data. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentage, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics of Multiple Linear Regression. Findings revealed that the level of provision and utilization of laboratory facilities and students' academic achievement in chemistry were low. There was a significant joint contribution of provision and utilization of laboratory facilities to students' academic achievement in chemistry (F (2, 27) = 43.767, p < .05). There was a significant relative influence of provision (β = .398, t = 2.629, p = .014, p < .05) and utilization (β = .526, t = 3.471, p = .002, p < .05) of laboratory facilities on students' academic achievement in chemistry. Based on the findings, appropriate recommendations were made.