EFFECT OF MATHEMATICS PHOBIA ON ATTITUDE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION STUDENTS IN SA’ADU ZUNGUR UNIVERSITY BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

The study investigated the impact of mathematics phobia on attitude and academic performance of science education students in Sa’adu Zungur University Bauchi State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design, the population of the study was the entire 350 year III students from Department of Science Education, Sa’adu Zungur University. The sample size of the study was 186 students drawn from the population using, the samples were selected using simple random sampling technique. Three objectives, research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Instrument used for data collection was a self-develop structured questionnaire titled “Mathematics Phobia on Science Education Students Performance and Attitude Questionnaire (MPSESPAQ)”. The reliability of the MPSESPAQ was obtained using internal consistency and reliability coefficient lies between 0 to 1. The data collected was analyzed using frequency count and mean to answer the research questions and Pearson Product Moment Correlation to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that; there was prevalence of mathematics phobia among science education students, there was strong and significant inverse relationship between mathematics phobia and science education students’ academic performance, and there was significant relationship between mathematics phobia and science education students’ attitude towards science subjects. Based on the findings it was recommended that mathematics teachers should identify the level of mathematics phobia in students, counsel the students and thereafter employ learners’ friendly instructional strategies that would help to minimises the phobia.