Influence of Physical Environment on Academic Performance of Junior Secondary School Students in Ogba/egbema/ndoni Lga Rivers State.
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The objective of the study is the find out the influence of physical environment on academic performance of junior secondary school students in Ogba /Egbema/Ndoni LGA Rivers State
- Investigate the extent the quality of the physical school environment with regard to school buildings affect the academic performance of students of junior secondary school in Ogba /Egbema/Ndoni LGA Rivers State
- Determine the extent the library services affects academic performance of students of junior secondary schools in Ogba /Egbema/Ndoni LGA Rivers State
- Find out the extent school location affect student’s academic performance of junior secondary schools in Ogba /Egbema/Ndoni LGA Rivers State
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Theoretical framework
Skinnerian environmental theory
This section is based on the fact that environment is vital for the achievement of educational goal. This becomes necessary since the study is on the influence of school environment on the student achievement of public secondary schools in Enugu State. The origin of environmental theories can be traced to a known psychologist named John Locke (1917). He is the father of the learning tradition. He postulated that experience and learning are basic and very essential to understanding of human behaviour. The environmental approaches conceive human behaviour as something that is acquired through the process of interaction with the environment, rather than inherited. According to this model, behavioral development is controlled by and is a function of the physical and psycho-social environment, labara in Ngwoke (1997). Children’s development is believed to be shaped by the pattern of reinforcement it receives from the environment. Skinner (1948) contributed in shaping the views expressed by environmental approach. It includes the work of such people as 35 Thorndike Toleman, Guthrie and Hull. These writers have these basic assumptions about the process of learning. These are: Learning is manifested by a change in behaviour, and the environment shapes behaviour. Therefore learning is the acquisition of new behaviour through conditioning. It has been observed that sometimes children develop new behaviour by observing other people’s behaviour and by observing the reinforcing or punishing experience of others. Albert Bandura’s social learning theory emphasizes the importance of observational learning which occurs when the behaviour is influenced by watching the behaviour of a model. It is the consequences of the mode’s behaviour that determines the behaviour of the observer. The common objects in our environment which children usually adopt as models include stars in the class, school teacher. Bandura listed four processes involved in observational learning, intentional, retention, production and motivational processes. He emphasized that social learning is interactional in nature. He stressed that human learning involves the interaction of the person, the person’s behaviour and the environment. It is note worthy that a child’s progress in the school is influenced by the attitude he develops towards not only the subjects he is to learn but also the school and the school milieu, hence his attitude will depend on the sort of experience he has had. Based on the underlining principles and assumptions guiding 36 the above discussed theories, the current study is therefore, being anchored on the Bandura’s social learning theory.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter presents the procedure to be used in this study under following the sub-headings: research design, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, instrument for data collection, validation of the instrument, reliability of the instrument, method of data collection and method of data analysis.
Research design
The design for this study is descriptive survey. It is to provide the opinion of the respondents on influence of Physical Environment on Academic Performance of Junior Secondary School Students in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA Rivers State. Nworgu (2006) defines descriptive survey design as those studies that aim at collecting data and describing them in a systematic way, the features of a given population. The design is considered appropriate because it will enable the researcher to identify the characteristic of the population objectively.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
This chapter presents the analysis and results of data collected. The presentation is based on the four research questions and two null hypotheses postulated to guide the study.
CHAPTER FIVE
Discussion of Results
This chapter presents the results of the study based on the data analysis made in chapter four. The results are examined, interpreted and inferences made. The discussion focused on the research questions and the hypotheses postulated to guide the study. Other areas covered in the discussion include findings, conclusion, and implications of the study, recommendation and suggestions.
Extent school buildings affect academic performance of students
The result of this research question revealed that the respondents agreed that offices for the teachers, enough reading rooms for students, more classroom accommodations as well as staff common room are the major areas that affect students’ academic performance in the school with regard to buildings. The identified areas above ranked high in the opinion of the respondents.
The above views are in agreement with the view of Okafor (2003), Lew (2000), and Akpa et al (2005) that school buildings, classroom accommodation for teaching and learning, promote the academic achievement of students in the school. The result also indicated that adequate examination hall in the school affects the students academic performance.
The finding above underscores the importance of the provision of staff offices, adequate classroom accommodation as well as reading spaces in the school, so as to enhance students’ academic achievement. This will also promote effective teaching and leaning as teachers’ performance will also be enhanced.
Extent library services affect academic performance of students of junior secondary school.
The result of this research questions identified provision of seat for use in the library, enough current reading materials, as well as books for lending as the major areas of the library services that to a great extent affect the academic achievement of students. It was the opinion of the principals and teachers that the above areas be given adequate attention for increased students’ academic performances in the schools. The two groups also agreed that there is the need for the physical presence of trained library assistants in the school, to help guide and direct the students in the libraries. The issue of current books and provision of seats in the library ranked very high in the opinions of the respondents.
The above findings are in line with the opinion of Keith (2000), Aguolu (2002) and Mazi (2006) that the provision of enough reading materials in the school library with good seats and tables help to improve the quality of the academic achievement of students in the school. This is also in line with the library research service (2002) that a number of books in the library are nothing if the books are outdated or not current in the fields. The researcher is therefore of the opinion that such identified areas above be addressed by the relevant stakeholders to improve library services in the school.
Extent school location affects academic performance of junior secondary school students
The findings from this research question revealed that nearness to home, lack of facilities, and inadequate fund to procure books for the school to great extent affect academic performance of students in the schools. However, in the opinion of the respondents, limited access to reading materials, and teachers inability to have access to current material for teaching, as well as insufficient qualified teachers ranked very high as the major areas affecting academic performance of the students in schools. This agrees with the opinion of Okonkwo (1997) Akabogu (2001) and Bello (2008) that school location influences the academic performance of the students.
This however, differs with the findings of Okonkwo (1997) that school location has more effects on the academic performance of the students in the rural areas. The result also is in line with the view of Akabogu that school location has significant influence in the academic performance of the students. The researcher supports the view that students are to be made to attend schools that are located very close to their places of residence. Hence, there is the need to ensure that students are given access to admission to schools based on nearness to their places of residence. This will not only promote student participation in the school activities but reduce cost of transportation to parents.
The mean responses of the principals and teachers were individually identified and subjected to t-test analysis. The findings from the analysis revealed that respondents agreed on the extent school buildings affect the academic performance of the students of public secondary schools. The findings revealed that staff offices, classroom accommodations and library are the major areas affecting academic performance of the students.
Furthermore, the responses made by principals were separated from those made by the teachers. The two groups of data were subjected to t-test analysis. The result revealed that teachers shared common opinion on the extent facilities affect the academic performance of the students in junior secondary schools
Based on the above results, the two tested hypotheses for the study were accepted. The researcher draws the conclusion that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of respondents with regards to the extent both buildings and facilities affect the academic performance of student of junior secondary schools
Conclusion
From the result obtained and the investigation into the influence of school physical environment on academic performance of students of junior secondary schools in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni loca government of Rivers state, the researcher came up with the following conclusion:-
- Inadequate offices for staff, classroom accommodation for teaching students as well as common room for teachers to a great extent affect the academic achievement of students with regard to building in the schools.
- The findings also identified seats/desks, current reading material, current books for lending and the presence of library assistants in the schools as critical areas that to a great extent affect the academic performance of students of junior schools with regard to library services.
- The result indicated that limited access to both the students and teachers to reading material has great the affect academic performance of students.
- The findings also revealed that fencing of the school for security will to a great extent help to promote the academic performance of students.
- 5.It also revealed that teaching aids, provision of generators and school health services affect academic performance of the students.
Recommendation
- Adequate classroom buildings to be provided in the public schools to help promote effective teaching for students improved academic achievement.
- Government and communities to ensure that students have access to the schools nearest to their areas of residence.
- Efforts should be made by stakeholders to provide schools with functional libraries, well equipped with current reading reference materials.
- Qualified library assistants to be posted to schools to aid the students on the proper use of the library service
- Enough security to be provided through fencing of schools to ensure peaceful school academic environment
- As may be applicable, schools without power supply to be provided with generating sets to help promotes effective learning in the schools.
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