ABSTRACT: This study investigated Students’ Characteristics And Academic Performance Of Students In Physical And Health Education Among Secondary Schools Students in the study area. The population of this study was all JS2 students from ten (10) public secondary schools in Essien Udim Local Government Area. Four (4) public secondary schools were randomly selected out of the available secondary schools; a total of two hundred (200) respondents formed the sample size of the study. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The main instrument used in this study was the Physical and Health Education Performance Test (PHEPT). The independent t-test statistical method was adopted in analyzing the data collected. The result was tested at 0.05 levels of significance. The findings revealed that there is no significant difference in academic performance in Physical and Health Education among male and female secondary school students in Essien Udim local Government Area and there is a significant difference in academic performance in Physical and Health Education among secondary school students who adopt kinesthetic learning styles and those who adopt auditory learning styles in Essien Udim Local Government Area.
Students’ Characteristics And Academic Performance Of Students In Physical And Health Education Among Secondary Schools Students
Based on the findings the following recommendations were made; students should recognize the need for effective participation during Physical and Health Education classes and there is a need for educational practitioners; curriculum designers and policymakers to motivate teachers’ to create room for object manipulation during lesson delivery by providing enough materials in schools’ laboratory for practical demonstrations.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Physical education is education that involves the students physical competence and knowledge of movement and safety and their ability to use those to perform in a wide range of activities associated with the development of an active and healthy lifestyle. It also develops student’s confidence and generic skills especially those of collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking and aesthetic appreciation. These, together with the nurturing of positive values and attitudes in physical education, provide a good foundation for student’s lifelong and life-wide learning (Idung 2013).
In the contemporary Nigerian society, greater emphasis is being placed on industrial and technological development. As a result, students are being encouraged to take up science related subjects. One of such subjects that cut across all the areas is physical education. Today, physical education parades physically every field of human endeavors and plays a country.
In our march towards scientific and technological advancement, we need nothing short of schooling (Inyang, 2009). Students are performing academically poor in this subject. Moreover, individual characteristics such as gender, learning styles, cognitive styles, study habit, intelligence, and personality play an important role in learning. Other research findings have shown that individual student’s characteristics variables such as motivational orientation, self esteem and learning approaches are important factors influencing academic performance in science.
In effort to improve students’ cognitive and effective out comes in science and school learning, educational psychologist and science educators have continued to search for variables that could be manipulated in favour of academic gains of all the personal and psychological variables that have attracted researchers in this area of educational achievement, motivational orientation seems to be giving more popularity and leading other variables. As Nigeria struggled to tame the psychological beast known as corruption, they have particularly beamed the search light on the behaviour of public officials, contractors, business associate and their families.
However, one sector of society that has escaped the penetrating search light is as corrupt as the public and private sectors. It appears that there is a symbiotic relationship between the educational culture and the psychological and socio-political culture of the society at large affected the educational sector and what happens in the educational sector affected the society at large. Those in the educational sector learn and adopt predominant values generational sector. Therefore, the present study investigated the student’s characteristics and academic performance in physical and health education among secondary schools students in Essien Udim Local Government Area.
Students’ Characteristics And Academic Performance Of Students In Physical And Health Education Among Secondary Schools Students
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Quite a number of seminars and conference paper have been presented on the factors associated with mass failure of students on science, (Physical and Health Education inclusive) in junior secondary school certificate examinations. Moreover, the goal of the National Examination Council (NECO) is to be a world- class examination body. It is also aimed at maintaining internationally accepted procedures for examination by providing qualitative and reliable educational assessment. Despite the efforts by National Examination Council officials and other bodies, there has been a noticeable declined in the performance of students in science and other areas.
Okoye (2009), Observed that the high rate of failure noticed yearly in public examinations are only a symptom of a pervasive national failure syndrome. Furthermore, Shitu (2013) observed that the high rate of failure noticed yearly in science in public examinations among the junior secondary school students is as a result of non-availability of teaching and learning materials, environment being too noisy and not convenient for learning, family variables, teachers variables as well as school variables.
However, there is no known research that has been carried out in Essien Udim Local Government Area on student’s variables as it affects the academic performance of students in science. This triggers the researcher to investigate whether students’ characteristics such as gender difference and learning styles affect the academic performance in physical and health education among secondary school students.
