SELF-CONCEPT AS CORRELATES OF BIOLOGY PERFORMANCE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MINNA NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study investigated self-concept as correlates of Biology performance among secondary school students in Minna, Niger state. The purpose was to determine the relationship self-concept and students Biology performance in Minna, metropolis of Niger state. The researcher adopted a correlational research design. The population of the study was made up of 17,998 SSII biology students across Bosso and Chanchaga local government area of Niger state. 375 male and female Biology students were randomly selected from 12 selected secondary schools on a proportion basis. Six (6) research questions and five (5) null hypotheses were formulated and guided the study. Questionnaire on Self-Concept (QSC) comprised of Academic Self-Concept (ASC), Social self-concept (SSC) and Physical Self-Concept (PSC) was used for data collection. The instruments were pilot tested using Cronbach Alpha and yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.72, 0.71 and 0.82 respectively for ASC, SSC and PSC. Mean, Standard Deviation and scatter plot was used to answer the research questions, while linear regression was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings shows that Biology students in Minna have high perception about self-concept; that there was a relationship between respondents’ academic self-concept and Biology performance. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that Biology teachers should use teaching method like discussion, grouping, interaction among students to help boost their social self-concept; Biology teachers in collaboration with school administrators could design various mechanism like games, sport, positive self-talk to improve physical, social and academic self-concept of students towards Biology performance.