EFFECT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) BASED HEALTH EDUCATION AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN UYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF AKWA IBOM STATE

Despite the increasing advancement of technology in education, there is a significant gap in understanding how integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as virtual reality and chatbots into Health Education impacts students’ academic performance in secondary schools, particularly in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Therefore, this study examined the effect of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Health Education on students’ academic performance in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Quasi experimental research design was adopted for the study. The target population for the study comprised all the 4,209 junior secondary two student in all the public secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. A sample size of 100 students of 50 students for experimental group and 50 students for control group was selected for the study using purposive sampling technique of three intact classes. Researchers-developed instrument tagged “Students’ Achievement Test in Health Education (SATHE)” was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three educational experts. A reliability coefficient of 0.78 was obtained for the instrument using Kuder-Richardson 20 formula. Mean was used for answering the research questions while Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used for testing the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The finding of the study revealed that there is a significant difference in academic performance of students in Health Education when exposed to artificial intelligence based health education (virtual reality and chatbots) and those exposed to conventional instructional strategies. This finding was significance with the F-value of 276.92 and the corresponding probability level of significance of .01 alpha as less than the .05 level of significance. It was therefore concluded that integrating Artificial Intelligence in the teaching of Health Education could bring about high academic performance of students in public secondary. It was recommended among others that teachers should endeavours to integrate artificial intelligence such as virtual reality and chatbots in the teaching of Health Education for better academic achievement of students.