ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AS DETERMINANT OF STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
- INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Intelligence is not the only determinant of academic achievement of a student. Lizzio, Wilson & Simons (2002) noted that academic achievement of a student is most often associated with a lot of components of learning environment. According to Bosque and Dore (1998), teaching and learning environment ought to implement six (6) functions: inform, communicate, collaborate, produce, scaffold and manage. They further added that “conceptually speaking, the learning environment refers to the whole range of components and activities within which learning happens”. Hence, learning environment takes into account several variables that have direct and indirect effect on students.
In another perspective, the issue of academic achievement in mathematics has become a focus of many educators. The alarming issue in mathematics could be discussed from the social aspect and each individual point of view (Murugan&Rajoo, 2013). The social aspect includes learning environment which seems to affirm the consistency of relationship between learning environment and students’ cognitive as well as effective outcomes (Ashby, et al, 2011).. Thus, learning environment could be an essential key determinant to the students’ achievement in mathematics. According to Bosque and Dore (1998), higher-achieving students are likely to have been exposed to curriculum content under an ideal learning environment. In fact, Frenzel, Pekrun& Goetz, (2007) attributed underachievement in academic as a result of poor learning condition. This also affirmed that most scholars are of the opinion that educational attainment/achievement is likely to be determined by the idealness of the learning environment.
Environmental influence before now have not been considered as one of the factors that affect academic performance in secondary schools hence it has little or no attention in educational discourse and consideration. But over the past decade remarkable studies have indicated a correlation between the environment and academic performance of students. Environment plays major role in the life of every individual whether a students, teachers, employer or employee. Though some people are yet to believe that environment brings about better performance. Udoh (1980) in his article “The Environmental Health Problems in Nigeria Schools”, Identified some unhealthy practices in our schools. These include sitting of schools, inadequate facilities, poor ventilation etc.