OPINION OF STUDENTS ON FACTORS INFLUENCING THEIR PERFORM NCES IN SOCIAL STUDIES IN NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

The purpose of this was to find out the Opinion of students on
factors influencing their performances in Social Studies in North Central
Nigeria. The population included all JSS3 students, while the sample of
the study consisted of wo hundred and fifty (250) Social Studies students
made up of 105 male nd 145 female. Descriptive survey method was used
for the study. T. e instrument used to collect data was
questionnaire.(OFIPO OSSQ).A standard reference mean of 2.5 for a
modified 4-point rating scale was adopted for the purpose of decision
making. Data collected were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) which include percentage, mean, standard deviation, ttest
and ANOVA. Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
Reliability of the instrument was established using test - re test and the
reliability index was 0 94, alpha coefficient was used for the
internal consistency o obtain 0.84 which was considered adequate.
Principal Component exploratory analysis was also used to analyze the
factors in order to check the factors structures. Findings revealed that
school location, school type and gender have significant influence on
student performance i social studies. Whereas teacher related factor and
-7 school facilities do no influence student performance in social studies.
Also, conducive environment, urban location and closeness to school are
the highest rated facto s influencing students performance Therefore, the
study recommends that Government should attempt to improve student's
academics by providing facilities such as buildings, furniture's, etc so that
learning environment will become more conducive and learning
experiences will become more meaningful.