INFLUENCE OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN MATHEMATICS IN CHANCHAGA LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NIGER STATE

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of learning environment on the academic performance of students in mathematics in Chanchaga local government, Niger state, Nigeria. Three objectives which include, to find out if the learning environment influences students’ performance in mathematics, to identify the some components of learning environment that affect the students’ performance in mathematics, to determine the level to which learning environment affects the academic performance of students at secondary schools in mathematics set the basis for the study. The design of the study is cross sectional survey of the descriptive type. The population of the study comprised all the four thousand, four hundred and eighty (4,480) senior secondary one (SS1) students of the nine public secondary schools of Chanchaga local government. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select three of the schools. And from a class from each school, a sample size of 300 was selected. A multiple data collection method including use of documented materials, observation, and distribution of questionnaire were employed. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and the index was 0.79. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data obtained from the questionnaires. The findings of the study revealed that factors of the learning environment which include temperature, seats and sitting arrangements, classroom population and clarity of the board influence students’ academic performance in mathematics, with class population, seats and seating arrangement having the highest mean. Based on the findings of the research, the researcher concludes that for a student to perform better in mathematics, factors including classroom temperature, population, seats and sitting arrangement, as well as board clarity should be in ideal state. At the end, recommendations were made which includes; the authorities should come up with modalities to ensure that the aforementioned facilities were provided and maintained. Also, more schools should be built to accommodate the increasing population of the area.