Effect of Class Size on Students Academic Performance in Biology at Ssce

ABSTRACT This study was carried out to examine the effect of class size on students academic performance in biology at SSCE using some selected secondary schools in Badagry, Lagos State. Specifically the study is set to ascertain whether class size influences students concentration during the teaching and learning of biology, ascertain whether class size influences students’ learning outcome in biology, determine whether over crowed class room affect students’ academic readiness for SSCE, and ascertain whether class size influences students’ academic performance in SSCE. The survey design was adopted and the simple random sampling techniques were employed in this study. The population size comprises of biology teacher of some senior selected secondary schools in Badagry, Lagos State. In determining the sample size, the researcher conveniently selected 39 respondents and 35 were validated. Self-constructed and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected and validated questionnaires were analyzed using frequency tables. While the hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation statistical tool, SPSS v23. The result of the findings reveals that class size influence students concentration during the teaching and learning of biology in secondary school. Furthermore, the study also revealed that over crowded class room affect students’ academic readiness for SSCE. Therefore, it is recommended that educational planners should ensure that with an increase in student’ population, arrangements should be made for commensurate increase in infrastructure and qualified teachers. This will reduce class size, enable adequate teachers’ workload and encourage student-centered learning. This will go a long way to improve the quality of teaching, learning and performance. To mention but few.