Blanco Sr., Abraham A. <br/><br/>
Attitude and mental ability as correlates in the academic perforamannce of students in physics 1 in Nueva Vizcaya State University/ 
Abraham A. Blanco Sr. 
 - Bayombong:  Nueva Vizcaya State University,  2005 
 - xv, 68 leaves :  illustrations ;  28 cm. 
<br/><br/> The purpose of this study was to find the correlation of attitude towards Physics and mental ability in the academic performance of students in Physics in Nueva Vizcaya State University. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:<br/><br/>1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of<br/><br/>1.1 Age?<br/><br/>1.2 degree course?<br/><br/>1.3 gender?<br/><br/>1.4 type of school graduated from?<br/><br/>1.5 socio-economic status of parents?<br/><br/>2. What is the level of the respondents'<br/><br/>2.1 Attitude and<br/><br/>2.2 Mental ability towards Physics 1?<br/><br/>3. What is the level of the academic performance of the respondents in Physics 1?<br/><br/>	One hundred second year students coming from different courses who finished Physics 1 were the sample in this study, 80 or 80% of which were female and 20 or 20% were male. The instruments used to gather the students' data in this study were: Attitude Test, Achievement Test and Mental Ability Test.<br/><br/>	The data gathered through the different instruments were treated statistically as follows:<br/><br/>1. To describe the respondents in terms of the specified demographic variables, frequency and percentage distribution, means and standard deviations were computed.<br/><br/>2. To describe the Physics attitude and performance in Physics of the respondents, means and standard deviations were computed.<br/><br/>3. To test whether there is significant correlation between the respondents' academic performance in Physics and (a) demographic variables, (b) attitude in Physics, and mental ability, Chi-Square and Pearson were used. Test of significance was set at 0.05.<br/><br/>The results and findings were as follows:<br/><br/>1. The mean age of the respondents is 18.78 years, a little bit higher than the normal age (18 years)<br/><br/>2. The course enrolled in by the respondent is not a determinant of his level of performance in Physics.<br/><br/>3. There are no significant correlations between gender and level of performance and between age and performance as shown in Table 14. This also follows a local study done by Aguinaldo, that academic performance in Physics was independent of students' age and socio-economic status but dependent on their 1.Q. and mathematical ability.<br/><br/>4. Other variables like "type of high school graduated from" and "socio-economic status of parents" are not factors of academic performance in Physics as were proven in Tables 15 and 16. Aguinaldo disclosed this also that academic performance in Physics was independent of students' age and socio-economic status but dependent on their I.Q. and mathematical ability.<br/><br/>5. There is a significant correlation between academic performance in Physics and attitude towards Physics. It implies that the more positive the attitude the student is in physics, the higher will be his performance in Physics. Or the more negative the attitude of the student in Physics, the lower will be his/her academic performance in Physics as shown in Table 17. This supports the study of Ayson (1991) concluded that study habits and study attitudes significantly affect academic performance in college.<br/><br/>6. Mental ability is significantly correlated to academic performance in Physics as shown in the computed r of 0.23 which yielded a probability of 0.02 that is less than 0.05. It means that the academic performance of a student in Physics is explainable by his/her mental ability. For a particular student, the higher his/her mental ability is, the better will be his/her performance in Physics. Thus, the mental ability is a positive determinant of academic performance in Physics as shown in Table 10.<br/><br/>	On the basis of the findings and conclusions, it is recommended that:<br/><br/>1. Students should develop a positive attitude in Physics always through the guidance of teachers and also parents.<br/><br/>2. Teachers / instructors/ professors who are teaching physics should make adjustments in their method of teaching by giving simplified problems and exercises to students with below average mental ability and challenging problems to students with higher mental ability.  Thesis (Master of Education in Science Education - General Science) 
<br/><br/>Includes appendices and bibliographical references