Effect of Polya’s Problem Solving Technique on the Academic Achievement of Senior Secondary School Student in Physics

Theresa Ugonwa Okafor

doi:10.20308/ejpe.v10i1.233

Theresa Ugonwa Okafor Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20308/ejpe.v10i1.233

Abstract

This study examined effects of the Polya’s problem solving Technique (POPSOT) as observed by Shaibu (1987) in Atadoga (2010) and conventional problem-solving Technique (CONPSOT) on cognitive achievement of physics students. A pre -test post – test quasi experimental design used adopted for the study. The sample comprised of 102 senior secondary two (ss11) physics students drawn from the 6(six) public owned secondary schools in Aguata Education zone, Anambra State, Nigeria. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. The instruments consisted of pre-test (PREPHY) and Post-test (POSTPHY) questionnaire comprising of 20 test items constructed by the searcher. There are two groups of Physics students. One group (experimental group) was taught using Polya’s problem solving Technique (POPSOT) while the other group (the control group) was taught using conventional problem-solving technique (CONPSOT) . The instrument was validated, and reliability tested using pears product moment correlation technique. The internal consistency was found to be 0.87. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypothesis was tested using t-test statistics. The t-test used for analysis was because pre-test adopted in this study established homogeneity. The result showed that student taught with Polya’s problem solving technique as in Atadoga (2010) performed better than those taught with conventional problem-solving technique. Based in the findings, the researcher recommended that physics students should be taught with Polya’s problem solving technique rather than conventional problem-solving technique to enhance their learning of physics.

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