Noisy School Environments in Port Harcourt Metropolis: Implications for the Performance and Health of Physics Teachers and Students.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of noise pollution on teaching and learning of physics and also on the health of physics teachers and students in secondary schools in Port Harcourt metropolis of Rivers state. The descriptive survey method was used to achieve this. Purposive random sampling method was used to draw a sample of two hundred and eighty (280) physics students and twenty-two (22) teachers from 28 schools in Port Harcourt metropolis for the study.  Three research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. A validated questionnaire titled 'Effect of Noise Pollution Questionnaire' (ENPQ) with a reliability coefficient of 0.70 was used to collect data for the study. The data were analyzed using percentages, standard deviation, and Chi-square. The research findings showed that noise pollution affects the teaching and learning of physics greatly. Besides the interference in the communication process between the teacher and students during physics lessons, and the negative health implications on the teachers and students, noise pollution was also found to negatively affects the job performance of the teachers, as well as  the concentration and performance of students. It is therefore recommended that the government, school proprietors and intending school proprietors ensure that schools are cited away from noise prone areas.

Keywords: Noise pollution, School environments, Teaching and learning of physics, Health implications.