Thermal Discomfort in the School Workshop as a Stress Factor Affecting students’ Tasks Performance in Workshop Practice

Abstract

The study investigated students’ perception of thermal discomfort in the school workshop as a factor affecting their task performance in workshop practice. The participants were 183 NCE Technical Education students that comprised 73 and 112 students in 300 Level from Federal Colleges of Education (Technical), Asaba and Omoku, Nigeria respectively during the 2008/2009 academic session; there was no sample. The Thermal Discomfort Perception and Task Performance Questionnaire (TDPTPQ) were used to collect data. Reliability of the instrument was, (0.85); and the Arithmetic Mean, Standard Deviation; and the Z-test at P≤ 0.05 were used to analyze the data. The perceived thermal discomfort indicators were mental fatigue (lack of concentration), physical fatigue (tiredness), inattentiveness, non-vigilance and restlessness. The students perceived that these indicators affected their task performance in slow ‘use-output’; reduced cognitive and perceptual motor; and precision tasks; reaction time, and other tasks requiring greater attention. No significant difference existed in the mean response scores of students from the two colleges in their perception of thermal discomfort indicators as factors affecting their task performance in workshop practice. It was recommended that, the negative effects of thermal discomfort in school workshops be reduced to enable students effectively their task performance in workshop practice. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n4p465