ATTITUDE AS CORRELATES OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN PHYSICS IN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated attitude as correlates of senior secondary school students’ performance in physics in Kogi State, Nigeria. The design was correlational research design. The target population for the study comprised all the senior secondary two (SS 2) physics students in all the public co-educational secondary schools in Kogi State, Nigeria. The sample size was 386 physics students selected using the Yamane formula and the multistage sampling technique to determine the students from 18 secondary schools in each of the senatorial districts. The instruments used for data collection were Physics Attitude Rating Scale (PARS) and Physics Performance Test (PPT). The reliability coefficient of PARS was 0.88 and PPT was 0.81. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The research questions were answered using Pearson product moment correlation while regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed a significant relationship between students’ attitude and academic performance, students’ attitude and academic performance based on gender in favour of the male students in physics. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that the school management and teachers should work towards the development of positive attitude, since students’ attitude correlates positively with their academic performance in physics.