RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS AND
SCIENCE SUBJECTS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
ABSTRACT
This study shows the relationship
between student’s academic performance in Mathematics and the science subjects
in senior secondary school in Ekiti. It also determined the extent at which
Mathematics relates with academic performance of other science in senior
secondary school.
The survey was adopted for the study,
the population consist of all senior secondary schools in Ekiti States, the
samples used for this research were one hundred students in four secondary
schools. The research instrument used is the result (WAEC 2014). To establish
the reliability of the instrument, the correlation method was adopted. The data
collected from the respondents analysed using frequency counts, Mean, Variance,
Standard Deviation. Pearson product moment correlation, and testing the
hypothesis level of significant at 0.05.
The findings revealed Mathematics as a
school subjects, nature and components of Mathematics, the science subjects in
secondary school curricular to show the relationship between Mathematics and
science subjects. According to WAEC 2014 result revealed that students
performance in Mathematics correlate with their performance in science.
Based on the findings, it is
recommended that every secondary school should have mathematics laboratory
headed by a competent, teacher and qualified teachers that will motivate the
student to do well in the study of Mathematics and science subjects. Also
parents and teachers should encourage their students or wards to face their
studies so as to become good leaders. School authority school encourage the
teachers to use teaching aids or instructional appropriately.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
The world of today is
being described as that science and technology. Therefore, literary in science
is very essential for both male and female. It is on this note that it was
stated by the Federal Government in “the National Policy on Education” (2004)
that an aim of education should “indicate in the child the spirit of enquiry
and creativity through the exploration of nature and the local environment”. It
further states that secondary school education should equip students to live
effectively in our modern age of science and technology.
When students are
seeking for admission into secondary schools, both students and their parents
normally neglect schools without science in its curriculum for those with
science in their curriculum. So also they seek for admission into schools with
adequate science teachers. The belief is that students of today who are also
leaders of tomorrow should have background and literary of modern science.
Thus, students must do science, they should not be told of science.
It is a known fact that
one cannot understand concept and phenomenon in science subjects without a set
of high powered mathematics tools (Adeoye, 1991). This was carried out and
clarified further by Adeoye when he pointed out that science is an only channel
on which the development and progress of both the individual and the nation
depends. It is like the legs by means of which we get about the materials
environment of life. This definition sees science as both concept and product.
The basic science
subjects include Physics, Chemistry and biology. These are regarded as hard
science. Other science subjects otherwise known as soft science include
Agricultural science, Health Science, etc. All subjects have been observed that
nearly more than half of the subjects that sit for the Senior Secondary
Certificate Examination every year performed woefully in them and most of the
students that fail these subjects also fail mathematics. In a paper presented
at 25th Annual Conference of Mathematics Association of Nigeria (MAN), the
Aqwan (2001) noted that research in recent years has stated the failure rate in
mathematics in the West African School Certificate Examination in Nigeria was
80%. He listed the following as problems responsible for the poor teaching of
mathematics.
Inadequacy of the
number of well-qualified and competent mathematics teachers in schools for
effective teaching of mathematics, inadequacy of the provision of instructional
materials for effective teaching of mathematics, teachers disposition and their
resultant effect in the teaching of mathematics, lack of opportunities for
professional growth and the acquisition of new skills and knowledge for
effective teaching of mathematics, lack of opportunities for professional
growth and the acquisition of new skills and knowledge for effective teaching
of mathematics. Many investigations have shown that students in secondary
school are not much interested in science oriented subject especially
mathematics and there are needs for carrying out investigations on the
relationship between students’ performance in mathematics and the science
subjects in senior secondary examination.
There are various
reasons for the poor performance in the subjects but the most frequently
mentioned factor is the negative attitudes of students towards the subject.
Hence, these have called for improvement in the present interest and standard
of students in mathematics and science subject which could be done by looking
into the problems facing the students. To make this possible, it is of a
necessity to inquire about the performance of students in these subjects in Senior
Secondary Certificate Examination.
Statement
of the Problem
Most of the
secondary school students have been having poor results in their final
examination particularly in mathematics and the science subjects (Aremo, 1997).
This situation has been existing since the past three decades (1985) and the
situation has not improved rather it is deteriorating. So, the basic problems
of the study is to measure the relationship between students’ performance in
mathematics and science subjects in SSCE (whether the relationship is positive
or negative) and also to show how strong or weak the relationship in senior
secondary schools in Ijero Local Government.
Also,
some students are observed to do well in some science courses while they found
wanting in others required for a good subject combination for further studies
in their careers. All these observed anomalies are caused by certain factors
which this study intend to reveal or solve at the end of this work.
Purpose
of the Study
The purpose of this
project is to identify the SSCE science subject performance in mathematics and
the science subjects in the senior secondary schools in Ijero Local Government.
Specifically the study will find out
·
If there is any significant relationship
between the students’ performance in mathematics and science subjects in senior
secondary school certificate examination
·
if there is any significant relationship
between the students’ performance in mathematics and physics
·
if there is any significant relationship
between the students’ performance un mathematics and chemistry
·
if there is any significant relationship
between the students’ performance in mathematics and biology.
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