Effect of Hands-On Activities on Skills Acquisition of Senior Secondary Chemistry Students in Physical Chemistry

The study examined the effect of hands-on activities on skills acquisition of senior secondary chemistry students in physical chemistry. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design. A sample of 154 students from four purposively selected secondary schools out of a population of 1,643 SS II students from Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria was used for the study. The experimental group was taught physical chemistry using hands-on activities while the control group was taught using discussion method. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. A validated 25-item Physical Chemistry Skills Acquisition Test (PCSAT) was the instrument used to collect data. Reliability coefficients of 0.83 were established using Kuder-Richardson (KR-21). Mean and Standard Deviation scores were used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that students taught using hands-on activities had significantly higher mean skills acquisition scores than those taught using discussion method F=191.004, P(0.0001<0.05). Male and female student in hands-on activities did not differ significantly in mean skills acquisition scores F=138.172, P(0.071>0.05). It was recommended that teachers should be encouraged to adopt hands-on activities in teaching physical chemistry to enhance students’ skills acquisition in physical chemistry