SCHOOL PLANTS AS PREDICTORS OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study examined school plants as predictors of students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted correlational research design. The population of the study consists 21,272 SS2 students in 267 public secondary schools in the six education zones in Anambra State. The sample of 1,064 SS2 students was used for the study. Multistage sampling procedure comprising proportionate stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used for the study. The instrument ‘School Plant Questionnaire (SPQ)’ was used for data collection while Students’ Academic Performance Scores (SAPS) was used to measure students’ academic performance for this study. The instruments were subjected to face and construct validation. The face validation was done using three experts while construct validation was carried out by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with the help SPSS v.26. The reliability of the instrument was done using Cronbach Alpha technique and the average coefficient values of 0.80 for SPQ was obtained and considered highly reliable and suitable for the study. Simple linear regression statistical tool was used to answer the research questions and test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that instructional materials and ICT facilities positively and significantly predict students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Anambra State. The study concluded that school plants are positive and significant predictors of students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Anambra State because it motivates students to learn, increases study engagement, promotes collaborative learning and improves teaching strategies for students to understand. Based on the findings, the study recommended that teachers should put it at the back of their mind that a sound learning is always attributed to the utilization of effective instructional materials and resources in teaching and learning social studies, they should therefore keep on improvising the appropriate instructional materials needed for effective teaching