Students' perception of mathematics as correlate of achievement in Secondary School Physics

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Date
2017-08
Authors
Babajide, V.F.T.
Akinoso, S.O.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Education, Kampala International University, Dar Es Salam, Tanzania
Abstract
This study investigated the perception of students in knowledge of Mathematics as correlate to academic achievement in Physics. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. Four hundred and eighty (480) Physics students were randomly selected from ten secondary schools across two local governments (five schools from Ibadan North and five schools from Ibadan South West Local Government) out of eleven local governments in Ibadan. Four research questions guided the study. A structured questionnaire (r = 0.72) and Physics achievement test (r = 0.77) were instruments used in data collection. Descriptive statistics, Pearson Moment Correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The results showed that students were of the opinion that Mathematics is needed for good performance in Physics. Also, a positive correlation was obtained between the opinion of students and achievement in Physics; all the variables of students' opinion contributed to the total variance and the overall contribution was 0.8%. The influence of the knowledge of Mathematics on performance in Physics made significant contribution while study habit, extra lesson and availability of text books made no significant contribution to students' achievement in Physics. These accounted for the low percentage contribution. This implies that other factors which were not investigated in this study accounted for the remaining 99.2%. Therefore, students that wish to study Physics or other science subject must have adequate knowledge of Mathematics.
Description
Scholarly Articles
Keywords
Perception of Students to mathematics , Achievement in physics , Knowledge of mathematics , Study habits , Science , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::Education
Citation
Babajide, V.F.T. & Akinoso, S.O. (2017). Students' perception of mathematics as correlate of achievement in Secondary School Physics. KIU Journal of Education, 12(1),