Effects of Senior Secondary School Physics Students’ Attitude on Performance in Jos North L.G.A Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between Senior Secondary School Physics students’ attitude and academic performance in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated for the study. The instrument for data collection were students’ attitude questionnaire (SAQ) and Physics achievement test questions (PAT). A correlation research design was used for the study. The correlation coefficient of 0.98 provides an estimate of reliability of a full test where half- test correlation is 0.96. The targeted population of the study comprised of SS II physics students in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, numbering 350 students of these numbers 227 were male and 123 were female students respectively. The sample size used for this study was 200 students. A simple random sampling technique was employed to draw a representative sample for the study. The Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient ‘r’ was used to determine the relationship between attitude and students' academic performance. While the t- test for independence samples was used to examine the differences that existed between male and female attitude and their academic performance in physics. The finding was that there is positive relationship between Senior Secondary school students’ attitude on their performance in physics. The findings further revealed that the male and female students do not differ significantly in their academic performance in physics. The recommendations made among others were that necessary measures be put in place in our educational system to remove negative behaviour in our students and enhance the development of positive attitude of the students in their academic performance.