Effect of Video-Taped Instruction and Gender on Senior Secondary Students’ Performance in Physics Practical in Port- Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of video-taped instruction and gender on Senior Secondary Students’ performance in practical physics. The design for the study is quasi-experimental, of the type, pretest-posttest control group design. The population of the study comprised of all SS3 physics students in Port Harcourt Local Government Area of Rivers State. One hundred and three (103) students in 2 co-educational schools made up the sample size. Two groups namely the experimental group and control group were used for the study. The experimental group was taught practical physics using video-taped instruction (VTI) while the control group was taught practical physics using the conventional (real handling of apparatus) teaching method (CM). Two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The instrument used for the study was Physics Practical Skills Rating Scale (PPSRS). The data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while t-test and two-way analysis of variance (2 x 2 – ANOVA) were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that use of video-taped instruction does not have any significant effect on gender. The following recommendations, among others were also made : that video-taped instruction as a method of teaching should be included in the physics curriculum because it raised students’ interest thereby improving performance irrespective of gender, use of ICT facilities and modern instructional materials should be encouraged in our schools, use of video taped instruction by teachers and students in the classrooms should be encouraged, teachers should be trained and retrained through in service programmes, workshops, conferences and seminars to keep them abreast with modern innovative teaching strategies. Implication of this study is that if VTI is fully implemented in our physics classes which improves performance irrespective of gender, there will be adequate manpower to provide for functional living in the society.