THE STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN SCIENCE SUBJECTS, IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOL

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY  

Science as an organized body of knowledge which as systematized and produced by careful observation, measurement and experiment, which attempt to establish principles to describe any phenomenon under study.

Science is very important subject matter because, it concerned with the analysis of both living and non-living things, which when applied to our everyday activities, and it will sustain life. According to Webster’s new collegiate dictionary, science is “knowledge of the operation of general laws, as obtained and tested through scientific method and concerned with physical world. Also Omoegun (2005) refers to science as a system acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena. It is an organized body of knowledge people has gained using that system. Man from origin has always had an enquiry mind, thus the inception of the people who which lead to the introduction of the people who were specialist in science and master in teaching. They were able to make the study of nature science as a dynamic and unforgettable learning experience for students.

It is a pleasure to know that the role of sciences natural development is recognized by the education philosopher. John .O. Ehigie and Richard O.O. Amayo (2008) stated that “To actualize a land of bright and full opportunities for citizen” the learning process must be effective.

The behaviour of learners could be technologically modified in order to produce educated individual of whom specific behaviour is expected.

Provision must be made for the education of young and adults in order that they may understand the modern world in which they are living and take active interest in scientific discoveries and inventions of man and therefore, make their own contribution to economic advancement of the country.

The educational system should lay the foundation of economic freedom through provision of the manual skills and expertise needed for successful industrial and agricultural development which would service as a sine qua non great and dynamic economy.

To this end, the national policy on education (NPE) stressed the teaching of science technology and plans on system that shall emphasize science at all level and re-orient the entire society toward scientific reasoning in order to develop new technologies and adopt exist one to improve societal well-being and security for sustainable national development.

In this regard the government ordered that university admission in the science and liberal art discipline should be in the ratio 60:40% respectively. It is also asserted that if science attains its intellectual functions, the benefit disenable are not restricted to the sphere of scientific endeavor alone, since it has the tendency to improve mental performance in other unrelated disciplines and guide daily activities apart from providing background to function as an informed adult in the modern society.

At this juncture the philosophy of science and technology education is aimed at developing the people and students in science and creating a mass awareness of the people to embrace science and technology.

But despite the importance and the challenges of science to the national development, students are performing poorly in science subjects, which is very dangerous to national development.

Therefore these should be looked into with a lot of incentives both in teaching and on the side of students in all levels.

This is very important, since the extent of nation’s future, labour force leadership, political; stability and strength of technical know-how lies in the hand of the student. It is therefore hoped that this write up shall reviewed some factors responsible for poor performance of students in science and provide ways of improving them.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1)    To increase public awareness in science in science and technology.

2)    To motivate and increase output in science and technology as bases of the nation.

3)    To help students develop desirable behaviours toward appreciation and interest in science.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Studies intend to investigate whether there is any relation between teaching and learners in improving the performance of students in science classes in secondary school. The following questions are intended to narrow the parameters of the study.

a)     Do the schools have science equipment?

b)    How often are models used?

c)     How experienced is the teacher?

The study is of view to answer the above question which will help to identify the ways of improving science in our schools

Science as a course that study living and non-living things encountered the problem of low performance despite its roles in national development goal. Thus, there must be ways or strategies to improve the performance in the near by future especially in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State and Nigeria as a whole.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

This is aimed at studding the attitude of students and teachers towards the study and teaching of science. And also purposed to know the general view of the public toward the cause of student’s poor level of performance in science subjects in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State.

The main purpose of the study is:

1)    To make students become familiar with the key operations of scientist as a strategy that will improve performance.

2)    To help our students/children understand and interpret our environment.

3)    To know whether the learning concept and conceptual schemes will increase the performance of students in science.

4)    To promote the translation of science and technology results into goods named services.

5)    To help students grow according to their own ability and develop intellectually.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Therefore findings this study will:

1)    Aims at signifying the importance of experience or demonstrations.

a)     Arousing the interest of pupils in studying science.

b)    Raising question or problems that can be solved in class.

c)     Applying that which has been learnt to new situation which will serve as evaluation techniques.

d)    Bring challenges to slow and fast learners through oral and written test.

ii) Show more light into the importance of using model to illustrate science lesson.

iii) Private sectors to work together to provide enough instrument for teaching science.

iv) Make parents and guardians to understand the importance of science. And thus create scientific interest in their children.

v) It helps the teacher to remove obstruction in their teaching, also gear students toward reading science materials available for them. Since its will help them to:

a) Think and learn fast.

b) Create good attitude toward reading and research.

c) Understand science terminologies.

RESEARCH QUESTION

1)    Will the use of laboratory help to improve student’s performance in science?

2)    Can the attitude of teachers help to improve the performance of students in science subject?

3)    Does the qualification of science teachers affect student’s performance?

4)    Will the use of instructional materials helps to improve student’s performance in science subjects?

5)    Will conducive learning environment improve student’s performance in science subjects?

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study will help to examine the strategies to improve the performance of students in science in Egor Local Government Area Edo State and reasonable recommended on how to improve student’s performance in science.

This project work is restricted to selected secondary schools in Egor Local Government Area in Edo State, due to financial limitation and time factors.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Scholars differ greatly in their definition of management and other related concepts.

For the purpose of this research study, the researcher will try to operationally the definition of concept that is commonly used in this study.

Teaching: for the purpose of this study, teaching is the act of impacting knowledge, skills, attitude etc. on other person that is the learner.

Learning: Is the relative permanent change in behaviour resulting from practice or experience. According to shorter oxford English Dictionary, learning is acquisition of knowledge of or skills in by study, experience or instruction.

Experience teacher: They are those set of people or teacher that have taught or have been teaching for many years with their knowledge, skills o0ver a period of time through seeing and doing things rather than through study.

Qualified teacher: These are set of teacher that are well trained in instruction, that has certificate as professional trained teacher e.g. B.ED, N.C.E etc.

Laboratory: It is a place where apparatus are kept for the purpose of carrying out practical work. It can also be seen as a science room or building used for scientific experiment, testing etc.

Science: Is refer to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomenon.

Equipment: For the purpose of this study, equipment refer to all the special tools, machines, materials etc. that you need for a particular activity.

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