Speaker
Description
Bunkure, Y. I.
Federal University of Education, Zaria
bunkure63@gmail.com
Track: AI, Emerging Technologies and Future Learning
Secondary schools in developing nations face severe structural constraints in delivering practical science education due to deficient laboratory infrastructure. While digital simulations offer a scalable alternative to physical experimentation, successful deployment remains heavily dependent on instructor acceptance. This study investigated physics teachers' attitudes toward integrating digital simulations within laboratory-deficient secondary schools in the Zaria Education Zone, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Specifically, it examined the effects of perceived usefulness on teacher attitudes, the predictive capacity of these attitudes on adoption willingness, and the impact of infrastructural deficits. Utilizing a descriptive census survey design, data were collected from the entire population of physics educators (N = 39) across regional secondary schools using the validated 20-item Digital Simulation Attitude and Adoption Questionnaire (DSAAQ). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and linear regression modeling. Educators exhibited highly favorable attitudes toward digital tools (M = 4.61, SD = 0.55). Linear regression confirmed that perceived usefulness significantly predicted positive attitudinal shifts (β = .528, p = .001), accounting for 27.9% of attitudinal variance (R2 = .279$). Concurrently, positive attitudes significantly predicted teachers’ willingness to adopt virtual modules (\beta = .453, p = .004, R2 = .205). However, a lack of technological infrastructure exerted a powerful negative effect on adoption willingness (β= -.641, p < .001), explaining 41.1% of the structural variance (R2 = .411). Although secondary school physics teachers are highly motivated and possess positive psychological orientations toward digital simulation integration, systemic infrastructure deficits act as a critical bottleneck to practical implementation.