Effect of Chemistry Practicals on Students? Performance in Chemistry in Public Secondary Schools of Machakos and Nairobi Counties in Kenya

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of chemistry practicals on students performance in chemistry in public secondary schools of Machakos and Nairobi counties in Kenya. The students performance in chemistry was determined from scores obtained by students in Students Achievement Tests (SATs) done just before and immediately after exposure to the topic under investigation. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as the mean and independent t-test were used to discuss the research findings. The study found that there is a positive relationship between the use of chemistry practicals and learners performance in chemistry. The results of the study indicate that the students had comparable performance in chemistry before treatment, that the performance of the students taught using chemistry practicals improved after the treatment, and that there was a significant difference in performance in the post test between the experimental and control groups. The study recommends that students should be taught using practicals so as to improve in performance in chemistry.