A STUDY OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PURE SCIENCE SUBJECTS IN WAEC (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
ABSTRACT
This study examined the correlation that exist between schools academic performance in pure science subjects in the West African Senior Certificate Examination (WASSCE) of Commonwealth Comprehensive College and St. Michael’s College Jos. Two objectives were formulated for the study. The population of the study comprised of all secondary schools in Plateau state. A sample of two schools was randomly selected with special interest in pure science subjects, the statistical techniques used for the data analysis were the Pearson Product Moment Correlation (r) and content analysis. The study revealed the following findings: There was a negative correlation in Mathematics and Chemistry of the two schools which was not significant; there was a moderate negative correlation in Biology of the two schools which was also not significant. There was a low positive correlation in Physics of the two schools which was not significant. Therefore the following recommendations were made: Government should reinforce the implementation of the National Policy on Education by both funding the schools and providing the required personnel and adequate teaching – learning materials. This will equally enhance Nigerian technological advancement in present and centuries come.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Every society, whether simple or complex has it’s own system of education of its youths, and education for the good of life has been one of the most persistent concerns of man throughout history. It is this concern that led to the proliferation of secondary institutions in Nigerian from the 1970’s to date.
The aim of secondary education in Nigeria as observed by 1969 curriculum conference was two fold. One is to serve as preparatory level for those wishing to study beyond secondary school level, and the other is to serve as a point of discontinuity and basis for job seeking for those who want to remain at that level. The W.A.S.S.C.E result which this study intends to analyze is the concluding part of secondary education. Therefore, this is a worthy exercise. The importance of this examination for a person undergoing secondary education is obvious because of the importance attached to it by tertiary institution, public organizations as well as private organizations and other employers of labour. The aim of this study is to unveil the degree of the relationship of WASSCE results in pure science subjects in the schools under study, so as to enable the researcher proffer same suggestions for the enhanced usage of both schools. The institutions involved in this study are commonwealth comprehensive college and St. Michael’s college Jos. The importance of the pure science subjects cannot be over emphasized, as they are considered the back bone of technological advancement and development of every nation in the world. The two schools under study offer equal number of pure science subjects which include mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology which are of interest to the researcher. Therefore the researcher is more willing to use available time and resources at her disposal to find out the co-relational performance of students in the selected institutions for the selected subjects and the period of time.
