Entry Qualification as Correlates of Students’ Performance in Chemistry in College of Education, Zaria

Muhammad Ibrahim Aliyu, Iliya Jeremiah Makarau, Madumelu Mark

Abstract


This research work was aimed at identifying the factor responsible for students’ academic performance in NCE chemistry program in their first year; the relationship between entry qualification and academic performance of NCE I chemistry students among others and was guided by three research questions and two research hypotheses. Correlation research design was employed in this study. The study population comprises of all the 384 NCE I Chemistry students in Federal College of Education Zaria in 2019/2020 academic Session. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of one hundred (100) NCE I chemistry students. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire, students O-level results and their NCE I second semester result. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The finding of the study revealed that poor background in chemistry at ordinary level, poor reading habit, students’ low interest, poor methods of teaching and poor practical orientation were the major factors responsible for poor academic performance of chemistry students; the finding also revealed that no significant relationship between entry qualification and NCE one chemistry students’ academic performance (r=0.06, p=0.57), it was further revealed that significant difference exists in the mean academic performance of male and female NCE I chemistry students that is in favour of female students (t=-2.35, p=0.02). It was therefore recommended that government should ensure that dedicated and qualified chemistry teachers with good teaching methodology should be employed to teach chemistry in secondary schools level to lay a good chemistry foundation; entry qualification should not be used to gauge students subsequent performance though the parameter should not be ignored in admission exercises; male and female chemistry students should be subjected to equal methods of teaching, use of learning materials and well-motivated to study chemistry.


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