EFFECT OF STUDENTS ATTITUDE ON BIOLOGY ACHIEVEMENT

 

EFFECT OF STUDENTS ATTITUDE ON BIOLOGY ACHIEVEMENT IN UKWANI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF DELTA STATE

 

 Abstract

This study investigated the effect of attitude on students’ academic performance in biology in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta statee of Nigeria.  Correlational survey design was adopted and the population consists of all Senior Secondary 3 biology students in 10  Senior Secondary Schools in  Ukanni Local Government Area of  Delta State out of which 120 Biology Students selected by Random sampling technique constituted the sample. The instruments were Biology Students Attitude Scale (BSAS) and Biology Achievement Test. Mean, standard deviation, t-test,   were statistical tools used for data analysis. Results of the study showed that biology students have positive attitude towards biology. There was no significant difference between students’ attitude in terms of gender (male and female) and school type (private and public). A significant relationship was found between students’ study habits and academic performance in biology. It was recommended that biology teachers should motivate students to learn biology and encourage them to improve further on their positive attitude.

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the study

Attitude is a very complex and unique concept which has to do with the cognitive, affective and psychometric domains of learning. Different definitions have been offered by authors to the concept of attitude.  Oppenhein (2018) for instance, defined attitude as a state of readiness or predisposition to respond in a certain manner when confronted with stimuli. Ebuoh (2019) considered attitude as mental and neutrall state of readiness organized through experience, exerting a directive and dynamic influence upon the individuals’ response to all objects and situations which is related.  Bunkure (2020) affirmed that attitude of a learner is a learner’s state of mind which influence personal action of the individual. Generally, attitude refers to persons’ tendency to think, feelings or preferences about an object, based on their belief about the object. It can be regarded as positive or negative and is related to likes or dislikes.  On this note, attitude can be considered as a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, event, activities, ideas, or just about anything in the environment. An individuals’ attitude towards any object determines the his/her judgment as good or bad, harmful or beneficial, pleasant or unpleasant, important or unimportant (Oluwatelure and Oloruntegbe (2010).  Positive attitude activates the thinking, feeling and reacting components of an individual which helps to improve students’ performance while negative attitude on the other hand, which is caused by limiting beliefs and negative thinking contributes to lack of motivation in learners and hinders their academic performance. Oluwatelure, (2015) opined that negative attitude is self-defeating and will cause many problems in life. Consequently, Negative attitude toward biology hamper students’ understanding and academic performance causing them to lose interest in all the activities in the classroom and create room for   distractions (Owino, Osman and Yungungu (2014).

Several studies have focused on investigating attitude of students towards different subject. For instance, Hussaini, Foong & Karmamr (2015) examined the attitudes of secondary school students towards biology as a school subject in Birninkebbi Metropolis, Nigeria. The results showed that   majority of the students in Brninkebbi had positive attitude towards biology. Further finding revealed that there was no significant difference between the attitude of male and female students in biology while significant difference was found between the attitude of students in private and public secondary schools. Sofeme & Hena (2015) examined students’ attitude towards science subjects in senior secondary schools in Adamawa State.  Findings of the study showed that students in Adanmawa State have positive attitude towards science subjects. There was a significant gender effect on attitude as boys had more positive attitude towards science subjects than their girl’s counterparts. Sakariyu, Tiawo & Ajagbe (2016) investigated secondary school students’ attitude towards science in Ogun State and found that a higher proportion of the students displayed positive attitude towards science while there was no significant difference between the attitude of male and female students towards science. Further finding in the study showed that students in private schools had more positive attitude towards biology than their counterparts in public schools. In the same manner other studies focused on gender effect on students’ attitude. In this regards, Ebuoh (2019) investigated   the influence of gender on students’ attitude towards biology in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State using 414 senior secondary school students as sample and found no significant difference between the attitude of male and female students.  Oluwatelure, (2015) investigated gender difference in achievement and attitude of public secondary school students towards science in public secondary schools in Akoko, Ondo State. The findings of the study revealed a positive relationship between students’ attitude and performance in science. Furthermore, there was a significant between the performance of male and female student in science as well as the attitude of male and female students.

 

Apart from the determination of students’ attitude toward different subjects, the effect of these attitude on academic performance have also been widely studied. Owino, Yungungu, Ahmed & Ogolla (2014) for instance, examined the relationship between students’ attitude towards biology and performance in Kenya certificate of secondary education biology in selected secondary schools in Nyakach, Kenya. This result of the study indicated that there was a positive relationship between student’s attitude towards biology and their performance in Kenya Certificate Secondary Education Biology. Hinneh, (2017) assessed students’ attitude towards practical work and the extent to which attitude influence students ‘achievement in biology in Botswana. The results of the study showed that students’ attitude towards practical works influence their achievement in biology while their attitude concerning interest and difficulty of practical work did not significantly influence their achievement in biology. There was no significant difference on the three dimension (importance, interest and difficult) underlying attitudes towards practical works based on students’ gender and   age group. Ahmad & Asghar (2019) examined the relation between attitudes towards science in biology courses and students’ biology achievement and found that there was no statically significant difference between attitude towards biology and students’ biology achievements. Further evidence from the study showed that among five dimensions of attitude towards biology only “biology is fun for me” has meaningful relation with students’ achievements.

Statement of the Problem

Biology as a subject deal with the study of life having wide range of applications in the medical and other industrial processes that are beneficial to man. This informs the Federal Government of Nigeria’s decision to make it compulsory for all students at the secondary school level.  However, the compulsory pronouncement for the subject biology notwithstanding, the fact remains that learners have the final responsibility for their learning because they decide what attention they give to a learning task, construct their own interpretations of meaning for the task and evaluate those meanings (Driver & Bell, 1986).

Accordingly, individuals’ attitude towards an object determines his/her judgment as good or bad, harmful or beneficial, pleasant or unpleasant, important or unimportant. The learning process is influenced by so many factors of which attitude is one of them. On this premise, it can be suggested that students’ attitude influences their academic performance. However, evidence form the available studies revealed that most of the studies have identified several attitudes of students towards biology without relating them to their academic performance. This creates a gap in knowledge. This study is an attempt to fill this gap by investigating the “effect of attitude on students’ academic performance in biology in senior secondary schools in Delta State ”.

 

Purpose of the Study

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of students attitude on biology achievement in ukwani local government area of delta state

 The specific objective is

1.     Investigate the  attitude of students toward biology in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State ?

2.     To find out the difference in attitude towards biology between male and female students in Senior Secondary Schools in Ukanni local government area of Delta State ?

3.     investigate  the difference in attitude towards biology between private and public school students in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State

4.       find out the relationship between students’ attitude and academic performance in biology in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State

Research Questions

The following research questions were raised to guide the study

1.       What are attitude of students toward biology in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State ?

2.       What is the difference in attitude towards biology between male and female students in Senior Secondary Schools in Ukanni local government area of Delta State ?

3.       What is the difference in attitude towards biology between private and public school students in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State ?

4.       What is the relationship between students’ attitude and academic performance in biology in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State ?

 Research Hypothesis

HO₁. There is no significant difference in attitude towards biology between male and female students in Senior Secondary Schools in Ukanni local government area of Delta State .

HO₂. There is no significant difference in attitude towards biology between private and public school students in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State .

HO₃. There is no significant relationship between attitude and students’ academic performance in biology in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State .

Significance Of The Study

It is then hoped that the finding will enable the government, federal and state, make concrete decisions towards making science more interesting to the students. The study will not be small to measure, also encourage students as well as educate them about fear of the unknown that frightened them away from science. This is because most students tends to be frightened by the subject at the end of the study findings would enable parents to play some active role in terms of guidance and counselling for their children along certain areas of study. It will be great benefits of the government and educational administrator.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is aimed at investigating the effect of students attitude  on students academic achievement in biology. This study is limited to five selected secondary schools in Okwani  Local Government Area. 

Definition Of Terms

Attitude: Attitude is a way of thinking and general behaviour.

Science: This is the knowledge obtained by observation and testing of facts, it has a combination of subject like physics, chemistry and biology.

Interest: This can be regarded as a tool through which the distance between the person and the material is annihilated.

Performance: This is the aggregate input of students measured in terms of success or failure in any given test or examination.

Qualified Teacher: A qualified teacher is a person/specialist who studies on a particular aspect of education.