STUDENTS AND TEACHERS ATTITUDES TOWARD SCIENCE: IMPLICATION FOR STUDENTS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN BASIC SCIENCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

The study investigated the influence of teachers’ attitude and that of the students on the academic achievement of student in basic science in secondary schools in Rivers State. The study adopted a survey research design to investigate whether the synergy of parents and students attitudes toward science subjects play a significant role in the achievement of the students in basic sciences. The population of the study comprised of all the students in all the secondary schools in the state. Two Hundred 200 students were selected as the active participants through the stratified random sampling techniques. Three research questions guided the study while three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 levels of significance. The study used self- structured instrument titled, Teachers/Students Science Attitude and Academic Achievement Questionnaires (TSAAAQ) for collection of data. The instrument was validated and the reliability of the instrument was tested using the Cronbach alpha coefficient. The result revealed that the major factors affecting students’ attitude towards science are categorized; positive and negative. The positive include interest; relevance; and the entrepreneurial skills while the negative included boredom and difficulties in the calculation involved. Furthermore, the study showed that teacher’s attitude plays significant roles in the students’ attitude towards basic science. The study also showed that there is a significant relationship between teacher’s attitudes and student attitude towards science and a significant relationship between teachers attitude and students academic achievement.