Relationship between Spatial Ability and Physics Achievement among Secondary School Students in Okene Metropolis, Kogi State.

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between secondary school students' spatial ability and physics achievement, as well as the role of gender. Correlational research design was employed in this study. A total number of 123 students, consisting of 67 male and 56 female students participated in this study. Two stage sampling was involved. First, three, schools were drawn randomly from the twelve senior secondary schools in Mow metropolis, and intact class of SSI students were chosen purposively in the second stage of the sampling. Two instruments were used in this study, which are Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test (ROT) adopted from Guay (1980), and Test of Understanding Kinematics (711G-K) adopted from Beichner (1994). The reliability of TUG-K as determined by Beichner (1994) using KR-20 was 0.83 while the reliability of ROT as determined by Guay (1980) using KR-20 was 0.85. Three hypotheses were generated to achieve the objectives of this study. The three hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Carrelation Coefficient, Findings from the study showed that there was a significant relationship between spatial ability and kinematics achievement among secondary, school students, there was a significant relationship between spatial ability and kinematics achievement among male secondary school students, and there was a significant relationship between spatial ability and kinematics achievement among female secondary school students. Rased on these findings, rt was concluded that there was a statistically significant relationship between spatial ability and physics achievement it's then recommended that physics teachers should try to establish a classroom environment that facilitates the use of images in teaching and learning of physics concepts. Student's participation and interest in physics may be aroused when they discover that the ability to compute mathematical formulas is not the