GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

The purpose of this study is to determine self-efficacy as correlates of upper basic school student academic achievement and attitude in basic science and technology in Akwa Ibom state. In other to carry out the study two research questions and hypothesis were formulated. The correlation survey design was used in this study. The area that was covered in this study is Akwa Ibom State. The population of this study comprised of 20,655 Upper Basic 3 Basic Science students in 237 public secondary schools in the 31 local government area of Akwa Ibom State in 2022/2023 academic session. The sample size for this study was 1800 Upper Basic 3 Basic Science and Technology students from 45 public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. Three types of sampling methods   namely - purposive, proportionate and simple random samplings were used. Purposive sampling was used to select nine Local Government Areas from the state. Proportionate random sampling was used to draw 5 schools from each Local Government Area giving 45 schools from the state.  This is because the populations of schools in the selected areas were not similar. Simple random sampling technique of 40 students per school was further used to select the students who participated in the Study. Two instruments were used to collect data for this Study. They are Self-Efficacy Scale Questionnaire (SESQ) and Students’ Attitude Scale Questionnaire (SASQ). The self-efficacy questionnaire as well as the attitude scale questionnaire consisted of 25 statements each which sort information on student’s self-efficacy and attitude. A four-point rating Scale of SA - strongly agree, A – agree, D - disagree, SD - strongly disagree was used in designing the questionnaire. To ensure the validity, the instruments were given to three experts and two professional teachers. The three experts were from faculty of Education. While the two professional teachers were Basic Science and Technology teachers not below the Rank of Principal II in the Area of the study. To determine the reliability of the instruments, SESQ and SASQ were administered once to eighty Upper Basic three school students who were not part of the study. The scores obtained were subjected to reliability computation using Cronbach’s Alpha Technique. SESQ has a reliability coefficient of .78, and reliability of SASQ was established at .77, thus the instruments were adjudged to be suitable for the study. The instruments were administered on the students by the researcher with the help of Nine (9) research assistants who were briefed by the researcher to facilitate easy administration of the instruments. These nine research assistants were used to cover the entire local government areas that formed the sample. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient as well as regression statistics was used to analyze the data generated from the study. All research questions were answered using P- value and / or significant value while regression statistics was used to answer the hypotheses generated in the study. The result reveals that, there is a low negative significant relationship between self-efficacy and upper basic students’ academic achievement and attitude in basic science and technology in Akwa Ibom State. Based on the finding of this study it is recommended among others that greater classroom activities that encourages students interaction with peers and teachers should be enshrine in the school timetable to improved their self-efficacy.