STUDENTS INTEREST AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN BIOLOGY

STUDENTS INTEREST AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN BIOLOGY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background to the Study

1.2    Statement of the Problem

1.3    Purpose of the Study

1.4    Significance of the Study

1.5    Research Hypotheses

1.6    Limitation of the Study

1.7    Definition of Terms

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1    Area of the Study

3.2    Research Design

3.3    Population of the Study

3.4    Sample and Sampling Technique

3.5    Research Instrument

3.6    Validation of Instrument

3.7    Administration of the Instrument

3.8    Method of Data Analysis

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

4.1    Data Presentation

4.2    Discussion of Findings

CHAPTER FIVE:        SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND

CONCLUSION

5.1    Summary

5.2    Recommendations

5.3    Conclusion

References

Appendix

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

One of the objectives of secondary education in Nigeria is to equip student with a desire for performance of self realization at both school and in future (Nation Policy on Education 2014). Interest is, generally, student attention, greater concentration, pleasant feelings, and increased motivation to learn (Mazer, 2010).

Moreover, it is the psychological state of engaging or having the tendency to reengage in a particular content in the course of time (Hidi & Renninger, 2006). Thus, the contemporary theorists on interest carved two components of interest as individual interest and situational interest (Harackiewicz & Hulleman, 2010).

Indeed, individual interest is more enduring, and trait-like, and endures over time. Therefore, irrespective of circumstances, such students would want to take the interest with him or her to any place he or she goes.

According to Joshua (2015), interest refers to likes, dislikes, preference and aspirations that tend to distinguish individuals in their daily activities. According to him, students tend to pay more attention and become more dedicated to what interest them most. Interest spurs students to learn willingly with receptive minds that will lead to academic success. Interest can affect persons enjoyment derived from academic activities.

However, interest could be defined operationally as organistic condition that results in a desire for further stimulation from a particular type of object or experience. Interest starts early in life when the infants derive pleasure from sensory stimulation, an activity that is essentially biological. It could be displayed by the desire to embark on a particular response when faced with alternatives.

Evans (2015) state that interest relates with memory which is the feeling that one have when he or she wants to learn more about something. It is a sure way of determining success in academy performance in most schools. If the person does not have the interest and readiness to acquire proficiency in a field he or she is not likely to achieve any great success. This is because the person will not have the necessary drive required to train  himself or herself. According to Shufele (2011) interest is a content specific motivation of characteristics composed of intrinsic feeling-related and value-related initiatives with an organized force. Shufele has distinguished two conceptions of interest: individual and situations interest.

On the other hand, situational interest is more momentary and depends on the environment he or she finds him- or herself. This is the sort of interest that arouses when a person watches an entertaining video clip or engages in incisive conversation.

Furthermore, teacher’s ability to arouse student interest is essential for higher performance. Interest is therefore the motivation in a learner which results in the option of object and activity that is enjoyable, profitable, and will ultimately bring complete satisfaction in itself (Serdyukov, 2017).

Some empirical studies in Nigeria have shown that interest has a significant positive effect on academic performance in Biology (Awodun, Adekunle & Adeoye, 2013; Femi- Adeoye, & Adekunle, 2016); Chemistry (Ezike, 2018), and explains about 21.6% of the academic performance (Kpolovie, Joe, & Okoto, 2014).

Even a gender biased study from Godpower-Echie and Ihenko (2017) revealed that interest is gender driven but gender in itself does not significantly predict biology performance of students in secondary schools. This form the basis for this research undertaking, to investigate whether there is a relationship between students’ interest and academic performance of students in Biology.

STUDENTS INTEREST AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN BIOLOGY

1.2   Statement of the Problem

At present, the poor performance of students in biology in secondary school in Oruk Anam Local Government Area, during the last SSCE 2014 examination was not encouraging. The data shows that out of all the public secondary schools performed below average in biology. Therefore, based on this the researcher sought to find out the influence of students’ interest and their academic performance in biology.

1.3   Purpose of the Study:

Generally, the purpose of the study is to examine students interest and academic performance of students in biology. Specifically the study sought to find out.

1. The relationship between students’ interest and academic performance of student on biology.
2. To examine the relationship between female students’ interest and academic performance in Biology.
3. To examine the relationship between male students’ interest and academic performance in Biology.

1.4   Significance of the Study

This study will help the students in the following ways:

1. On completion of this study, it will contribute to the general knowledge about students attitude towards science subjects especially Biology.
2. Also, the findings will be useful and valuable to planners in counseling their students and directing their energies to area where they have demonstrated interest.
3. It is believed that the findings of this study could be pertinent for the wider-range of educational circumstance especially science educational programmes and researchers on the performance in science of its practical importance.

1.5   Research Hypotheses

(i)     There is no significant relationship between students’ interest and academic performance in Biology.

(ii)    There is no significant relationship between female students’ and male students’ interest and academic performance in Biology in Biology.

1.6   Limitation of the Study

Due to the size of Local Government in relation to the epileptic system, possess time constraint on the timely sub-mission of this research work.

Regardless, however, the research, taking into consideration financial restriction, vast geographical as well as other pressures both economically, socially and politically has been able to present a well represented study.

1.8   Definition of Terms

Interest: In brief, this refers to the desire to learn or know more about Biology.

Academic performance: In brief, this refers to students’ examination and test scores in schools.

Biology: In brief, this refers to the study of life.

CONCLUSION

Studies of interrelationship of different variables necessary for academic performance in Biology have been published yet most desirable if one is to develop a means of studying a little more or all the necessary variables.

This study has given support to the existence of interest of students and academic performance in Biology. It has been concluded that students who are not interested is performing poorly.

The findings of this are not in line with support the existing relative between sex and interest of students in Biology.

This implies that whether a student is a boy or girl does not determine his performance in Biology. This is because no student would want to fail in his or her subject capacity, self-confidence and spent much time on studying the subject in order to pass.

It is then educational truism that academic performance is not determined by the sex of the student but of function of some other factors like ability, aptitude and interest.

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