Sporting Equipment and Students\' Academic Performance in the Concept of Projectile in Nigerian Senior Secondary School Physics

This study investigated the effect of sporting equipment on students academic performance in the concept of projectile in Nigerian senior secondary school Physics in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. A total of 183 senior secondary two (SS2) Physics students were involved in the study. The design adopted in the study was non randomized pretest – posttest control group design. The instrument used in gathering data for the study was Test On Projectile (TOP). The reliability coefficient of TOP was 0.79 using Kuder Richardson formula-21. The result showed that javelin was found to be the most effective in facilitating students' academic performance in the concept of projectile in secondary school Physics. This was followed by discus while shot-put was seen to be the least facilitative. The results also showed an insignificant gender difference in the academic performance of Physics students taught the concept of projectile using sporting equipment (javelin, discus and shotput). Also, the facilitating influence of sporting equipment on students' academic performance in the concept of projectile in Physics is about the same at all levels of gender. It is recommended that teachers should adopt the use of sporting equipment in the teaching of the concept of projectile in secondary school Physics. Keywords: Sporting Equipment, Students' Performance, Projectile, PhysicsAfrican Research Review Vol. 2 (1) 2008: pp. 1-1