This study investigated the “Impact of Interactive Simulations on Secondary School
Chemistry Students’ Achievement and Interest in Abuja Municipal Area Council”. The
sample of the study comprised Two hundred and sixty-four (264; M= 168, F=96) students
selected from four co-educational senior secondary schools in Abuja Municipal Area
Council. There were one experimental group and a control group. One treatment instrument
namely, PhET interactive simulations instructional package was adopted to examine its
impact on students’ achievement and interest. The research design was a quasi-experimental,
pretest posttest control design. The experimental group was taught using PhET interactive
simulations package and the control group was taught using lecture method. The Chemistry
Achievement Test (CAT) of 20 items was validated by experts for data collection. The
reliability of the items instrument was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha formula and a
coefficient of 0.826 was obtained. Four (4) hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05
alpha levels. The data were analyzed using mean, Standard Deviation and ANCOVA
Statistic. The findings of the study revealed that students in experimental group achieved
significantly better than their counterpart in the control group. There was statistically no
significant difference in the achievement of Male and Female students of experimental group.
Also, there was significant mean interest score of experimental group with interest inventory
test, the mean difference of strongly agreed and agreed for the PhET interactive simulations
out measured the other Likert scale. In addition, there was no significant difference in the
mean interest score of male and female students in the group. Based on the findings, it was
recommended among others that the use of PhET downloaded interactive simulations for
teaching and learning should be encouraged in Nigerian schools.
This study investigated the “Impact of Interactive Simulations on Secondary School
Chemistry Students’ Achievement and Interest in Abuja Municipal Area Council”. The
sample of the study comprised Two hundred and sixty-four (264; M= 168, F=96) students
selected from four co-educational senior secondary schools in Abuja Municipal Area
Council. There were one experimental group and a control group. One treatment instrument
namely, PhET interactive simulations instructional package was adopted to examine its
impact on students’ achievement and interest. The research design was a quasi-experimental,
pretest posttest control design. The experimental group was taught using PhET interactive
simulations package and the control group was taught using lecture method. The Chemistry
Achievement Test (CAT) of 20 items was validated by experts for data collection. The
reliability of the items instrument was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha formula and a
coefficient of 0.826 was obtained. Four (4) hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05
alpha levels. The data were analyzed using mean, Standard Deviation and ANCOVA
Statistic. The findings of the study revealed that students in experimental group achieved
significantly better than their counterpart in the control group. There was statistically no
significant difference in the achievement of Male and Female students of experimental group.
Also, there was significant mean interest score of experimental group with interest inventory
test, the mean difference of strongly agreed and agreed for the PhET interactive simulations
out measured the other Likert scale. In addition, there was no significant difference in the
mean interest score of male and female students in the group. Based on the findings, it was
recommended among others that the use of PhET downloaded interactive simulations for
teaching and learning should be encouraged in Nigerian schools.