Abstract

This study determined the connections between students' self-esteem, quantitative ability and their achievement in stoichiometry in chemistry in selected senior secondary schools in Egbeda, Oyo State. The study adopted the survey research design of the correlation type. Using simple random sampling technique, a total of 300 students were selected from a population of SSS II chemistry students in ten (10) government-owned secondary schools in Egbeda local government area, Oyo State. Three validated research instruments were used to collect data. They include Students' Self-esteem Questionnaire (r =0.85), Quantitative Ability Test (r=0.79) and Stoichiometry Achievement Test(r =0.76). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study indicate that the level of students' self-esteem was high (x =2.63) at 2.50 threshold. The students' quantitative ability is low (32%). The relationship between self-esteem and students' achievement in chemistry (r = 0.05) was not significant, but a positive significant relationship was found between quantitative ability and students' achievement in stoichiometry (r=0.45). The two independent variables jointly significantly contributed to students' achievement in stoichiometry (F =19.01; adj.R2=0.20), accounting for 20.0% of the variance. Quantitative ability (â=0.45) (2,146) is the only independent variable that made significant relative contribution to students' achievement in stoichiometry in chemistry. Based on these findings, it was recommended that students' quantitative ability should improved upon for maximum performance in stoichiometry and chemistry.