INFLUENCE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN BOSSO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated whether or not students' motivation towards Geography can influence their academic achievement in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State, two research question and one hypothesis were raised and tested at 0.05 levels of significance. The study adopted correlational research design. The population of the study consisted of one thousand five hundred and sixty (1,560) SSII Geography students from which a total of three hundred and six (306) students were sampled using simple random sampling technique. A 10 items “Geography Students Motivation Questionnaire” (GSMQ) were used for data collection. The GSMQ was validated by specialist in science education. The reliability GSMQ was established using Cronbach 'Alpha and yielded reliability index of 0.83. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS Version 26 using Mean S.D., Scattered Plot and Kendal’s Tau-B statistical tool. The findings of the study revealed that students' level of motivation was negative and that, motivation of the students had significant positive relationship with their academic achievement in Geography. The researcher therefore concluded that motivation can lead to high students ’ academic achievement in Geography and therefore recommended that Geography teachers should use instructional strategies that will motivate and bring positive attitude during the teaching/ learning of Geography to enhance students ’ achievement.