ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effects of instructional materials on academic achievement in the concept of heat transfer in physics among senior secondary school students in the Fagge Educational Zone, Kano State, Nigeria. The population consisted of Senior Secondary School II (SSII) students from ten public schools. Of these, 87 students were randomly selected from which 24 males and 22 females formed the experimental group, with 41 students as the control group. A quasi-experiential design with a pretest and post-test for both groups was adopted. Two research questions and null hypotheses guided the conduct of the study. The experimental group was exposed to teaching using instructional materials, while the control group was taught using the normal lecture mode. The Heat Transfer Achievement Test (HTAT) was used for data collection. This instrument has been validated by experts in the science education field. A Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to determine the reliability coefficient, which was found to be r = 0.83. The research questions were answered using descriptive statistics while the hypotheses were tested at a p ≤ 0.05 level of significance using a t-test. The results obtained from the data analysis showed that students in the experimental group performed significantly better than those in the control group and that there was no significant difference in the academic performance between male and female students in the experimental group. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that physics teachers should receive regular training on the importance of using instructional materials whether ready-made or improved in their teaching.
