The Influence of Reinforcement Skill on Academic Performance of Secondary School Physics Students in Obio-Akpor Lga, Rivers State Nigeria
N. N. S. Mandah
Department of Curriculum Studies and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
O. L. Gbarato *
Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural and Applied Science, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study is aimed at assessing the influence of reinforcement skill on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Physics students in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, using three research questions and one hypothesis. The study which adopts the descriptive and quasi-experimental research design employed a sample size of sixty teachers and one hundred and twenty students of senior secondary One (SSI) in the sample Area. The questionnaire titled “Teachers Reinforcement Skill Questionnaire” (TRSQ) was part of the instrument and fundamentals of Measurement in Physics. The statistical mean was used to analyse the data for the research questions while standard deviation and Z-test were used to analyze the data to obtain the validity of the hypothesis. The findings revealed that some factors such as insincere reinforcement, adoption of only one form of reinforcement, among others, hinder proper application of reinforcement skill. It was also found that the use of reinforcement influences the academic performance of Physics students. Based on this, it was recommended that teachers should always apply reinforcement skill, be sincere in the application and attend training programmes on teaching skills.
Keywords: Reinforcement, academic performance, physics, secondary school students, Obio-Akpor