Exploring the Relationship between Class Participation and Student Performance in Science

Abstract

This study is a cross-sectional study and finds out class participation as an essential indicator in elevating the performance of the students. It explored the factors affecting the degree of class participation and its effect on science performance. Students of grade IX were selected as the sample for the study. In addition to a structured, self-administered questionnaire, the mid-term exam result was taken as an academic performance of the students. Appropriate inferential statistical tests, like the t-test and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation, were computed to find the gender differences in-class participation and academic performances of the students and their relationships respectively. Further, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed to explore factors affecting class participation. The inferential statistics results indicated that while there is no statistically significant difference between class participation and academic performance in science by gender, there does exist a positive association between class participation and academic performance. The EFA results revealed three principal factors responsible for varying degrees of class participation, namely the students’ affective traits, students’ cognitive traits and teachers’ traits.