Modeling Physical Chemistry Achievement using Concept Difficulty, Numerical Ability, and Interest

Abstract

Physical Chemistry concept is a major areas students found difficult. The study adopted correlational design. Twenty Public Senior Secondary schools from four local government areas in Education District III of Lagos state were randomly selected with Five hundred and seven students (507) samples. Physical Chemistry concept difficulty scale (r = 0.76), student Chemistry interest questionnaire (r = -0.87), Numerical ability test (r = 0.79) and Physical Chemistry Achievement Test (r = 0.83) were used. They were validated using face and content validity, while Ordinal alpha, and Kr-20 were used for reliability. Frequency, Percentage, PPMC and multiple regression at p ˂ 0.05 was used. The results revealed that 61% of the students find the physical concepts difficult. Results also showed a low positive relationship between concept difficulty and achievement in Physical Chemistry and no significant relationship between numerical ability and students. There is a relative significant contribution of concept difficulty () on Physical Chemistry achievement while students’ numerical ability () and students’ interest () are not significant in the study. It could be concluded that concept difficulty is a potent predictor of students’ Physical Chemistry achievement. Therefore, Chemistry teachers should improve in their method of teaching concept difficult topics in Chemistry.