Asian Basic and Applied Research Journal

The study investigated the effects of mathematical ability on students’ attitude towards physics among senior secondary school in katsina metropolis, Nigeria. An ex-post-factor survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for this study covered all Senior Secondary III (SS III) Physics students among twelve public senior secondary schools in Katsina metropolis of Katsina State, Nigeria, with a total number of 4,414. A simple random sampling technique was used to select five (5) schools from the total population of the twelve (12) senior secondary schools in Katsina metropolis. Two hundred and fifty-six (comprised of 112 male and 144 female) physics students were sampled across the five schools selected for the study. Three instruments were used for the study, namely; Physics mock scores, Mathematics mock scores and Attitudes of Students towards the Study of Physics Questionnaire (ASTSPQ). The (ASTSPQ) instrument was pilot-tested  and the reliability coefficient  was 0.74 while both the Physics and Mathematics mock scores of the students were collected from each school involved in selected samples. Four research hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The hypotheses raised were tested using t-test statistical analysis. Findings revealed that there was significant difference between students performance in physics based on discrepancy in mathematical ability among senior secondary schools in Katsina metropolis. This finding also showed that there was significant difference in physics academic performance of the male and female physics students with high mathematical ability. The finding further revealed that there was no significant difference between students attitude towards physics based on gender with high mathematical ability among senior secondary schools in Katsina metropolis. Based on these findings, it was recommended that physics students should be taught the fundamental mathematical concept related to physics concept as a prerequisite by physics tutors before proceeding to the teaching of physics concepts.