Self-Concept and Secondary School Students’ Academic Achievement in Physics

The purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of self concept on physics students’ academic achievement in secondary schools. The study was conducted in Uyo LGA of Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria. A sample size of five hundred (500) senior secondary two physics students took part in the investigation. Two researcher made instruments, Self-concept Questionnaire (SQ) and Physics Achievement Test (PAT) were used in generating the data for the study. The reliability of the instruments determined using Cronbach Alpha were 0.77 for SQ and 0.72 for PAT. Two hypotheses were proposed to guide the investigation and the data that accrued from the study were analysed using independent t-test. The major findings of the study showed that students with high self-concept achieved academically higher than those with low self-concept. Gender showed no significant difference in academic achievement of physics students with high self-concept. It was therefore recommended that curriculum designers and implementation agents should consider self-concept as a variable that enhances secondary students’ academic achievement.