The influence of secondary school students’ variables on their performance in biology.

The influence of secondary school students’ variables on their performance in biology.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

Biology is a natural science subject consisting of contents from microscopic organisms to the biosphere general, encompassing the earth’s surface and all living things (Okwo and Tartiyus, 2004). Considering its characteristics and importance, Biology is a standard subject of instruction at all levels of our educational system, from primary to tertiary levels. It is one of the core subjects at Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) whose study is very relevant to man’s successful living (Akindele, 2009).

Araoyo (2009) opined that, exposure to Biology education offers the learners a wide range of relevance to all aspects of life. Most of the students in the senior secondary schools in Nigeria opt for Biology in their senior secondary schools. Biology is quite popular at all levels of Nigerian education. It also has a large student’s enrolment than any other science subjects, especially at the tertiary levels of the Nigerian education (Ofoegbu, 2003). In-spite of the importance of Biology, it is pertinent to note that most students still see and learn Biology as an abstract subject. In particular, reports on WAEC results (2008 – 2013) of Senior School Certificate Examination in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria over the years often revealed low performance of students in Biology.

Educated manpower is the emerging need of any nation as educated and skilled human resources is asset for any country. It becomes indispensible to develop human resource from the early stages of human life; children are to be set to develop realistic aspiration encompassing their lives, education and prospects of the future. To begin with, increasing student’s academic achievement has been considered to be one of the most important ways of increasing national competitiveness needed for national development. One of the most persistent puzzles confronting parents and teachers is uneven academic achievement among equally able students. Therefore, the way in which students can raise their academic achievement is one of the major concerns of students themselves, their parents and school teachers, and policy-makers. What factors cause some students to go above and beyond their personal and environmental constraints is the focal interest of current social-cognitive theories of motivation and action.

Secondary school students’ poor performance in science subjects especially in Biology calls for serious concern and this concern has been expressed by parents, teachers, employers of labour and the entire society. Several researchers have also pointed out different reasons for students’ poor performances, some of which are due to the abstractness of certain aspects of Biology, lack of understanding on the students’ part of certain biological concepts such as ecology (Nzelum, 2010) as cited by Owoeye (2016). As a result of failure experiences, some students begin to doubt their intellectual abilities and come to believe that their efforts to achieve are futile. Hence, there is a great need for students to be motivated to develop positive attitude which is crucial to performance in any subject most importantly Biology.

Attitude is a very crucial students’ variable which promotes academic performance. Positive attitude towards academic subjects results in higher achievements while negative attitude results in lower achievement (Ofiong, 2007). Attitude according to Ugodunwa (2001) is a socio-psychological concept which can be referred to as an individual’s positives or negative deposition to an object or subject. Attitude is generally regarded as a person’s depositions to something, idea, object, activity or discipline. These dispositions are dependent on other intervening variables. He observed that one’s attitude can affect the person’s behaviour and activity. Students’ attitude towards biology is therefore influenced by the perception and impression they received from the immediate environment. Apart from the attitude of the learners, other student variable such as gender also affects their academic performance.

Gender, according to Keller (2001) is a cultural construct that distinguished the roles, behaviour, mental and emotional characteristics between males, and females developed by society. Gender is the wide set of characteristics that are seen to distinguish male and female entities, extending from one’s biological sex to humans one’s social role or gender identity (Encyclopedia Britannica 2007). In educational institution, gender issue assumes a new dimension in academic performance and hence researchers focus more attention on sex differences. The perception that certain subject areas are dominated by female thus having a powerful effect on career choices while achievement differences between boys and girls are small and declining (Cole and Willing – Lam 2007). Nsa (2007) observed no statistically significant effect of gender on students’ performance when taught with different methods. Okebuka (2006) found out in a study that sex is not a significant factor in academic achievement in vocational education programme. Another variable that affect students’ performance is self-concept.

Self-concept plays a vital role in influencing one’s behaviour that makes significance in the field of psychology. Self concept is the knowledgeable information a person has from himself interpreted by the environment one belongs to. In general, it is composed of feelings, ideas, and attitudes that one refers to himself. A person’s self concept is a case-to-case basis that varies and depends on the situation or phases a present in himself or towards another. These concepts are primarily influenced by different factors like evaluating significant, reinforcements, and behaviour attributions. It adherers as reference points about himself: a set of characteristics, attributes, qualities and deficiencies, capacities and limits, values, and relationship, which he sees as information relating to his identity (Nalahi, 2014). According to Naghebzadeh (2014), there are significant differences among boys and girls not in academic motivation but academic self concept. Furthermore, the result of the multiple regression analysis illustrates that performance is strongly predicted by self – concept. The fourth students’ variable that will be considered in the course of this research work is age.

Educators and parents have been known to hold strong beliefs about academic practices that are unsupported by research. The benefit of such academic practices may have been proven false or there may be insufficient research or conflicting research in the field to substantiate them. One example is the belief that academic success is strongly and positively related to a student’s age at entrance to school or compared to the age of classmates (Grissom, 2004; Loren, 2001). Some parents “Wonder whether they should delay enrollment even when their child seems ready for kindergarten” (Oshima & Domaleski, 2006, p. 212), especially after reading newspaper articles or hearing stories heralding successes for young children whose parents delayed their entry into school (Graue & Diperna, 2008). Numerous studies regarding school entrance age and student success have been published, yet experts do not agree on the extent to which student age affects student success or if it produces a consistent effect at all (Ede, 2004).

Academic performance among students has become crucial and can be very beneficial in career pursuit after school as well as in repositioning the life of students. Over the years, there have been stories of Nigerian students who performed excellently in various disciplines. But the percentage of these excellent performing students is still far compared to the teeming population of students in our country. Hence, one could imagine if these excellent students are of different personality. Therefore, this study is aimed at examining the impact of students variables (attitude, gender, self – concept and age) on their performance in biology.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Biology is one of the core science subjects, which is supposed to be the most interesting to students in senior secondary schools. Biology as a subject in the school curriculum has received great recognition as an important aspects of general education process. Scientist believed that Biology provides experiences that enhance the development of life, knowledge, attitude and behaviours for the benefits of both the individual and society.

It has been discovered that the effective teaching of Biology has been very important, but the poor performance of students in Biology in both the West African Examination (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), as well as Local examinations call for great concern, hence, the purpose of this research.

The major concern or the aim of this study is to find out the influence of some secondary school students’ variables such as students’ attitude towards Biology, gender, academic self-concept and age on their performance in Biology in some selected secondary schools in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District in Essien Udim Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State with the view to finding out the possible and relevant solutions to such problems for improved performance.

1.3       Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of the study is to find out the influence of secondary school students’ variables on their performance in Biology.

1.4       Objectives of the Study

1. To determine how students’ performance in Biology differ based on their attitude.
2. To determine how students’ performance in Biology differ based on their gender.
3. To determine how students’ performance in Biology differ based on their self-concept.
4. To determine how students’ performance in Biology differ based on their age.

1.5       Research Questions

1. What is the difference in students’ performance in Biology based on their attitude?
2. What is the difference in students’ performance in Biology based on their gender?
3. What is the difference in students’ performance in Biology based on their self-concept?
4. What is the difference in students’ performance in Biology based on their age?

1.6       Hypotheses

The following hypotheses are formulated to guide the study:

1. There is no significant difference in performance of students in Biology based on their attitude.
2. There is no significant difference in performance of students in Biology based on their gender.
3. There is no significant difference in performance of students in Biology based on their self-concept.
4. There is no significant difference in performance of students in Biology based on their age.

• Significance of the Study

The performance of students at all levels of education in Nigeria has attracted much criticism from all and sundry from time immemorial. The study on secondary school students’ variables and their performance in Biology may be necessary because it is often asserted that besides school factors, teachers and parents factors, and some students’ factors such as cognitive abilities, approach to learning, attitudes to school, other students’ personal variables such as gender, students’ attitude toward the subject, academic self-concept and age may contribute positively or negatively to academic performance of the students at the senior secondary school level in Biology and  other science subjects. The study will be of benefit to the students, teachers, parents and the general public. The study will be beneficial to the students in that they would adjust their behaviour while in class to enable them to participate actively during lessons. The students would also indicate positive attitude to learn Biology which would help in achieving very high in the subject. The study sensitizes the student to show high self-concept and self-efficacy in Biology as one of the compulsory subjects in senior secondary schools. The teacher would be aware and apply different techniques of motivating the students and as such, their students would be well directed towards benefiting maximally in the class. The study would actually equip the teachers with the strategies to cope with individual differences of the students and how such problems can be handled. The study would help parents to maintain high commitment in providing necessary school materials, for optimal academic success because the number of children in the family and family birth order will help in interactions, supports and financial assistance.

1.8       Delimitation of the Study

The study was delimited to secondary school students’ variables (attitude, gender, self-concept and age) and their performance in Biology in Essien Udim Local Government Area, comprising of 20% of students in senior secondary schools in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District.

1.9       Operational Definition of Terms

Variables: A variable is the characteristics or attributes of an individual, group, educational system, or the environment that is of interest in a research study.

Attitude: Attitude is defined as the tendency to think, feelings, or preferences that a person has about an object, based on their belief about the object, which can be positive or negative.

Gender: Is the range of physical, biological, mental and behavioural characteristics pertaining to and differentiating between the feminine and masculine (female and male) population.

Academic Self-concept: It can be defined as a student’s self-perception regarding specific academic domains or abilities.

Age: Age is the number of years something has been alive or in existence. Age can also means to experience the passage of time or show signs of growing older.