Enhancing and Assessing the Conceptual Understanding of Nigerian Senior Secondary School Physics Students in Waves Using Concept Mapping Technique

The study investigated the use of concept mapping technique for enhancing and assessing conceptual understanding of secondary physics students in waves in Yola metropolis, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Design involved a pretest, posttest control group, quasi-experiment which used both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyze data. A sample of 130 SS2 subjects in intact classes (N=68, experimental group and N=63, control group) from two purposively selected public schools participated in the study.  Two major questions guided the study while two valid and reliable instruments namely: Achievement Test in Waves (ATW) and Concept Map Scoring Rubric were used for data collection. The results indicated that concept mapping technique enhanced conceptual understanding of subjects. There was a high positive significant relationship between multiple choice test scores and concept map scores of subjects such that up to 50% prediction of one can be made from the other. Based on the findings, it was concluded that concept mapping has potency to improve achievement and enhance conceptual understanding of the difficult concept of waves in physics when employed both as instructional technique and assessment tool at the secondary school level.