RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL FACTORS AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS BIOLOGY AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ZARIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating the Relationship between Social Factors and Students’ Attitude towards Biology among Senior Secondary School Students in Zaria Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The research design was a descriptive survey design.  Population of the study was the 17 public senior secondary schools in Zaria local government area, from which 120 SSII Biology students from 3 senior secondary school in the study area was selected as sample, using purposive sampling method. The instrument for data collection in this study is Influence of Selected Social Factors on Students Performance Questionnaire (ISSFSPQ). The data gathered was analyzed using means, standard deviation and t-test for the research questions, while the null hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. From the analysis, findings revealed that there is a positive correlation between teacher characteristics and students’ attitudes towards Biology. In addition, there is no correlation between the students’ career interest and the students’ attitude towards Biology. It was recommended that the Ministry of Education in conjunction with schools should make deliberate efforts to offer seminars/workshops to teacher counselors, career masters, directors of studies and head teachers. Also, the Ministry of Education should develop in – service programmes and refresher courses for teachers that emphasize the need to adopt creative and motivating methods of teaching and the importance of being available to the students.