EFFECT OF CLASS SIZE ON THE LEARNING OF MOTOR SKILL AMONG SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN IFE CENTRAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

The effect of class size on the learning of motor skill among selected secondary school students of Ife Central Local Government of Area of Osun state, Nigeria was examined. The study was experimental in nature and it involved pre-test and post-test using a novel skill (push pass in hockey). Three secondary schools where the game of hockey was neither taught nor played were purposively selected for the study. Participants were selected using stratified random sampling method with sex as the stratum. Participants for the study comprised 56 male and female students age 11-15 years that were not familiar with the skill. Three classes were drawn from the three schools. A small class size was drawn from School A with eight participants. In school B, a medium class size of 16 participants was drawn. The large class size of 32 participants was drawn from School C. Each of the classes had equal number of male and female participants. Push pass in hockey was measured at pre-test and post-test. Skill training took place after the pre-test measures. Mean and standard deviation were the descriptive analysis while t-test was the inferential statistic used for the data. The results of the analysis show that participants in medium class performed significantly better than participants in the large (t= 2.81: 46 p˂0.05) and small (t= 3.44: 22 p< 0.05) classes in the learning of motor skill. Females in medium class size also performed significantly better than those in large class size (t= 4.13: 22 p<0.05) and those in small class size (t= 4.15:10 p<0.05). Gender is a significant factor in such learning.