Use of audio-visual aids and students’ performance in physics in selected secondary schools in Busia District, Eastern Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the use of audio-visual aids and students’ performance in physics in selected secondary schools in Busia district, Eastern Uganda. Physics teachers in Busia district particularly have not embraced the use of audio-visual aids for teaching and learning physics in secondary schools and have shown greater reliance on utilizing mainly visual aids such as textbooks, charts, chalk and blackboards during classroom instruction which has continued to dwindle students’ academic performance. The target population was senior two students, teachers, and head teachers of selected secondary schools in the Busia district. The study used samples of 14 teachers, 2 head teachers who were purposively selected and 573 students were selected using census sampling Technique. Quantitative data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire (SAQ) and Self-made physics achievement tests (SMPAT) for students while qualitative data was collected using interview guide and observation checklist from teachers and head teachers. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS to generate descriptive statistics while qualitative data was thematically analyzed and presented in form of verbatim. Pretest and posttest achievement scores were used to determine the students’ performance in physics. The study findings revealed that the available audio-visual aids were; educational videos, computers, projectors, interactive whiteboards, audiobooks, phones and televisions. The findings further revealed that there exist hindrances to the use of audio-visual aids by teachers teaching physics in Busia district. These hindrances were; inadequate resources for audio-visual aids, malfunctioning of the equipment, inadequate training among the teachers, limited time to prepare audio-visual aids, and low student engagement. The findings about pretest and post-test means scores in both the control and experimental groups indicated that lower grades were attained in the control group while post-test mean scores in the experimental group indicated improved performance. Both male and female students taught with audio-visual aids performed better than those taught with only visual aids conforming to cognitive theory of multimedia learning which posits that students learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words only. The unique finding of this study is that, the use of audio-visual aids in teaching improves the performance of male students better than female students. The study concluded that the use of audio-visual aids in physics instruction improves the performance of boys better than girls. The study recommended that secondary schools in the Busia district should put more emphasis on the use of audio-visual aids in the teaching and learning of physics and frequently check for updated audio-visual aids when teaching physics.