School Type, Location and Gender as Predictors of Secondary School Students’ Attitude Toward Physics in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Students’ attitudes toward physics play a crucial role in shaping their engagement, interest, and disposition toward learning the subject at the secondary school level. Despite the importance of physics to scientific and technological development, negative attitudes toward the subject persist among many students. This study examined the extent to which school type, school location, and gender predict secondary school students’ attitudes toward physics in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The study adopted an ex-post facto descriptive survey design. A multistage sampling technique was used to select a sample of senior secondary school students offering physics. Data were collected using a validated Students’ Attitude Toward Physics Questionnaire (SATPQ), which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.82 using Cronbach’s Alpha method. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that school type and school location significantly influenced students’ attitudes toward physics, while gender had no significant influence. There was no significant interaction effect among school type, school location, and gender on students’ attitudes toward physics. The study concluded that school-related factors are more critical than gender in shaping students’ attitudes toward physics. It was recommended that efforts be made to improve physics learning environments, particularly in public and rural schools.