EXPLORING THE EFFICACY OF COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION ON STUDENT’S INTEREST, LEARNING RETENTION AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION

Abstract

The study investigated the efficacy of computer assisted instructions on the interest, learning retention and academic performance of junior school students in Physical and Health Education. The study was a quasi-experimental study conducted on 50 male and female students of Imoye Junior High School, mile 2 Amuwo-Odofin Lagos. The sample was divided into control and experimental groups on the basis of pre-test. One group (Control) was taught the course contents of Physical and Health Education with the traditional lecture method and the other group (experimental) was taught with the computer assisted instructions. After six weeks of instruction both groups were exposed to post test. To check the retention a delayed post-test (retention test) was administered three weeks after the post-test, interest was measured using interest inventory and achievement test was used for academic performance. The results show that in the computer assisted instructions the students showed more interest, had better academic performance and they retained the concepts for a long period of time as compared to the conventional method. The study concludes that adoption of CAI will improve students’ academic performance, promote students’ interest and improve learning retention of Physical and Health Education concepts.