Impact of Students’ Geographical Learning Interest on Academic Performance at Secondary Schools

Interest is a powerful sparking factor in students’ academic success. It is a motivational state which encourages curiosity towards a particular subject, activity, or specific situation or environment. When students are interested in knowledge acquisition, they display more willing to put in effort and persist through challenges, leading to greater achievement. Various research reveals that interest is a strong determinant of academic performance. Geography is a compulsory subject at secondary level. It provides the knowledge of natural & cultural environment & its relationship throughout the world. The present study examined influence of interest on students’ academic success in learning Geography at the secondary level of education. The study’s population was delineated and comprising all secondary students in class IX from 24 Parganas (N), West Bengal. A random sampling procedure was employed to select a sample of 200 students. The methodological framework of the research is directed by Analytical Survey research design. Validated ‘Interest Inventory Scale’ and ‘Academic Achievement test’ were drawn to investigate the study. Statistical methods including Frequency Analysis, t-tests, correlation analyses were employed to examine the data. t-tests were used to verify H₀₁ & H₀₂ at 0.05 significant level & correlation was used to verify H₀₃. The result of the research exhibit that majority of the learners have moderate level of interest towards learning Geography and no remarkable difference was detected in interest level between girls and boys towards learning Geography. It is marked that boys were better scorer than girls in academic performance. The remarkable finding reveals from the investigation that a remarkable correlation exists between students’ geographical interest and their academic success at secondary level. It is highly recommended that by implementing attractive pedagogical approach, teacher educator should generate interest in Geography within secondary school students.