Reasoning is the main factor, helping mankind move forward. To be. rational means to be able to reason. We, humans, reason almost every moment in

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1 CHAPTER - I INTRODUCTION 1.1. INTRODUCTION Reasoning is the main factor, helping mankind move forward. To be rational means to be able to reason. We, humans, reason almost every moment in our life. We are trying to guess the consequences of our actions, deduce as much as we can from our perception, and logic in our life. Reasoning helps us to survive, especially in the present world which is more dynamic, faster and with more information to process at a time as ever before. It is a process by which we attain a belief which we regard as a result of our previous knowledge. It is the cognitive process of looking for reasons, beliefs, conclusions, actions or feelings (Michal Vince, 2011). Reasoning is closely allied with other domains of inquiry in Psychology. Reasoning, locus of Control and academic achievement represent different but overlapping aspects of human intelligence. The ability to reason systematically and carefully develops when students are encouraged to make conjectures, are given time to search for evidence to prove or disprove them, and are expected to explain and justify their ideas. Reasoning is the use of logical thinking to make sense of a situation or idea. Young children use reasoning when they play games, classify items, solve problems, observe their surroundings, and listen to others. Therefore the aim of this study is reasoning with zoological concepts and its similar pattern in relation to the locus of control. Children begin to reason about zoological ideas, and they refine or expand their ideas with the use of logical thinking. By making conjectures guesses made on the basis of experience or 1

2 information and testing those conjectures, students make sense of the Zoological concept they are learning. Reasoning is a thinking activity that is of crucial importance throughout our lives. Whenever we think about the causes of events and actions, when we pursue discourse, when we evaluate assumptions and expectations based on our prior knowledge, and when we develop ideas and plans, the ability to reason is pivotal. Justifying and supporting concepts and ideas is as important as convincing others through good reasons. Another important notion in this study is Locus of control. The concept of Locus of Control was developed by Julian Rotter in the 1960 s. He originally named this concept as Locus of control of reinforcement. Rotter actually bridged the gap between behavioral and cognitive psychology. He believed that behavior was greatly guided by the use of reinforcement and the punishments and rewards are in turn shaped the way people interpreted the results of their own actions. Locus of control is the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Locus of control means the persons believe that they control their life internally or externally controls them, they believe that their environment and ability (Rotter, J.B. 1954). Many studies proved that the internal locus control is more related with the academic achievement of the school students. 1.2 NATURE AND CATEGORIES OF REASONING ABILITY Thirty years ago psychologists believed that human reasoning depends on formal rules of inference similar to those of the logic. This hypothesis ran into difficulties, which led to creating more categories of reasoning. Psychologists are 2

3 trying to describe human reasoning with all pros and cons and to simulate reasoning of human mind. Some of the categories of reasoning abilities which are required at the school students level are alone taken up for this study by the investigator. These are termed by means of operational definitions of this study. 1.3 REASONING IN EVERY DAY LIFE Reasoning in analogy and thinking lies at the core of human creativity. It has been argued that the very act of forming an analogy requires a kind of mental leap, as it necessitates seeing one thing as if it were another (Holyoak & Thagard, 1995). Famous analogies in science frequently reveal their inventor s ability to make these mental leaps. Being an important cognitive mechanism in creative thinking, analogy is the basis of much of our everyday problem solving mental map. Analogy pervades all our thinking, our everyday speech and our trivial conclusions as well as artistic ways of expression and the highest scientific achievements (Polya, 1957) IMPORTANCE OF ZOOLOGY IN THE STUDY Many of us take eggs and meat of different animals and almost all of us use the milk of cows and buffaloes. The Zoology helps us to increase the number and improve the quality of animals that give us eggs, meat and milk. From animals, we get many things for daily use like, leather, horn, shells, honey, wax, pearls and so on. Many industries are based on these products and the study of Zoology helps in their useful utilization. Zoology helps us to understand properly the life of many insects that harm our crops and enables us to control them to a large extent. An agriculturist is thus benefitted. Many diseases are due to animals which cause and transmit them. The drugs are tested on animals before using them on human 3

4 beings. Similarly, much of our knowledge of human physiology and surgery has come from experiments and dissections of other animals. It is very helpful to a medical professional in curing the diseases and performing life saving surgical operations. Zoology helps to clear several such misconceptions about toxic and non-toxic animals. Therefore, by keeping all the above said facts, the investigator focuses on the students studying Zoology as one of their elective subjects at the higher secondary level for this study to analyse and to conclude the concept of reasoning ability in relation to locus of control and academic achievement in Zoology subject STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM There is no doubt that the role of science in modern society is changing one. It is very different from that of the previous generation. Increasingly the challenges one faces are many- internal and external problems, at the global level such as; dealing with intellectual ability and enhancing our internal and external activities through science and innovation. Science and innovation can be enlightened to every citizen and as it is the most valuable asset of our democratic society. In school and in higher education, Zoology is a subject which helps the students to solve the everyday life-oriented problems in connection with reasoning, knowledge, understanding, application and skills aspects of study of animals in relation to the locus of control of the school students. It provides activities relating to the use of our resources, and protection of environment with the learned potentials with reference to animals and its nature. A higher secondary student belongs to the adolescent stage of development. Adolescence is a period of connected growth when they think in 4

5 abstract terms, follow the logical propositions and form hypothesis. An individual can also isolate the elements of a problem and systematically explore all possible solutions to those problems. Considering the complexities while solving subjectorientated problems; the reasoning ability enhances itself to solve the issues and it is considered to be the major part of the intellectual action, it improves our prediction skills and guides in talking necessary internal and external efforts and proper reasoning abilities in the students. Hence, the problem entitled Reasoning ability, Locus of Control and Academic achievement in Zoology of Higher Secondary Students VARIABLES OF THE STUDY The study principally consists of three variables namely; a) Reasoning Ability in Zoology, b) Locus of Control and c)academic Achievement in Zoology. The variable Reasoning Ability has four conceptions namely, analogical, classification, eclectic and deductive. The Locus of Control is perceived by internal and external. The blooms Taxonomical approach is a pertinent one in Academic Achievement of this study. Primarily the independent variables are Reasoning Ability in Zoology and Locus of Control. The dependent variable is Academic Achievement in Zoology. But these two variables are interchanged in the regression model part. The demographic variables such as gender, type of residence and so on are considered as intervening variables of this study. The relevant details are given in the succeeding Methodology Chapter. 5

6 1.7. OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS A) REASONING ABILITY IN ZOOLOGY Reasoning is an invaluable skill for anyone who wants to thrive in the social arena. It is concerned with being able to defend one s beliefs and ideas, as well as being able to analyze other people s thoughts, actions, and beliefs. This study focuses the reasoning ability of Zoology and its concepts at school level. The reasoning ability of this study refers to analogy, classification, eclectic and deductive reasoning of the higher secondary students. a) Analogical Reasoning In analogical reasoning, an analogy for a given thing or situation is found, where the analogy is like the given thing in some ways. In the every-day life we face analogy when we are compared to someone else, or if we compare something to another thing like relations to one subject to another subject. (Statler, C. D. Jacobs, and J. Roos, 2008). Analogical reasoning is a method of processing information that compares the similarities between new and understood concepts, and then uses those similarities to gain understanding of the new concept. It is a form of inductive reasoning because it strives to provide understanding of what is likely to be true, rather than deductively proving something as fact. Analogical reasoning can be used by both children and adults as a way to learn new information or as part of a persuasive argument. Analogical reasoning is based on the brain s ability to form patterns by association. The brain may be able to understand new concepts more easily if they are perceived as being part of a pattern. If a new concept is compared to something the brain already knows, it may be more likely that the brain will store the new information more readily. 6

7 Analogical reasoning is suggested as a useful new mechanism for the manipulation and derivation of some kinds of deep knowledge. The starting-point for the suggestion is the observation that the experts often express parts of their non-shallow knowledge in the terms of cases and reason by trying to identify relevant similarities between past cases and the current problem (Campbell and Wolstencroft, 1990). b) Classification as Reasoning The verbal classification questions involve identifying and understanding the relationship between the words in a given group and choosing the one which does not belong to the group. These questions will be useful to help the students preparing for any competitive examinations and placement tests related to their concerned subject and general knowledge. c) Eclectic Reasoning Eclectic reasoning is the mental process through which the best is selected among the given preferences. In other words; Eclectic means choosing from various sources. Choosing what is best or preferred from a variety of sources or styles. d) Deductive Reasoning Deductive reasoning, also called deductive logic or, informally, top-down logic, is the process of reasoning from one or more general statements (premises) to reach logically at certain conclusion. Deductive reasoning links premises with conclusions. If all premises are true, the terms are clear, and the rules of deductive logic are followed, then the conclusion reached is true. 7

8 1.8. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF LOCUS OF CONTROL A person s locus of control is the perception of the extent to which he or she is in control of the outcome of the events in life. Outcomes can be seen as internally controllable by personal efforts or skills or as externally controlled by chance or outside forces. The extent to which a person believes that he can control what happens to him is referred to as a belief in internal control of reinforcement. A belief that one is controlled by luck, fate or powerful others, is referred to as a belief in external control of reinforcement. The two categories of internal and External and overall Locus of control of the school students were measured as per the above said definition of Locus of Control OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ZOOLOGY The present study deals with the Academic achievement in Zoology subject of the higher secondary students. Here, the academic achievement refers to the, achievement in a particular subject in their study, Zoology. It tests the achieved status or marks of the students from the specific portions of the Zoology subject at higher secondary level NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The practical reasoning is an element of the 21 st century mind that we must cultivate. It is the willingness to abandon supernatural explanations for naturally occurring events. Human misfortunes have often been attributed to angry gods, fate, and fantastic cosmologies that externalize our locus of control, making us perpetual victims who must please the gods or fate to survive. 8

9 The schools today are different from those reported five or ten years ago. Various problems involving secondary schools students include truancy, skipping class, smoking, gangsterism, vandalism, running away from home, drug addiction, stealing, gambling, black mailing and fighting either individually or in groups (How Lee Chan, 2007), with most of the issues being related to triad activities (Mohd. Sharani and Zainal, 2005). Disciplinary problems often in most of the school students need to be given due attention particularly in view of several studies which showed indiscipline among students throughout the country on the rise (Shoba, 2007). Although the offense is committed by teenagers or children who are underage, they still must be held responsible for the offenses they had committed. Thus the issue of considering what is good and what is bad, is not a trivial matter. Past studies have found locus of control to be relevant with individuals involved with immoral behaviour (Corey, 2009). Therefore, every individual should be aware of and know the strengths and weaknesses of himself/herself as well as which locus of control dominates him/her so that he/she has a clearer perception of himself/herself. On the other hand, the creation of reasoning ability that develop the students abilities from evidence and participation in scientific argumentation is considered a major priority in science education reform (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993; National Research Council (NRC, 2007). Therefore considering all the reasons, an updated and innovative future direction and achievement is essential and necessary in the present situation. Therefore the present study is the need of the hour. 9

10 1.11. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1) To Study the Overall Reasoning Ability in Zoology of the higher secondary students and its dimensions such as a) Analogical b) Classification c) Eclectic and d) Deductive 2) To study the Overall Locus of Control of the higher secondary students and its category such as Internal and External locus of control. 3) To study the Academic Achievement in Zoology and its components of the higher Secondary Students such as a) Knowledge b) Understanding c) application and d) Skill 4) To study the mean difference in Overall Reasoning Ability in Zoology and its dimensions among the higher secondary students with respect to the demographic variables such as: a) Gender e) Type of Management b) Residence f) Type of School c) Private Tuition g) Parental Education and d) Locality of School h) Parental income 10

11 5) To study the mean difference in Overall Locus of Control and its category of the higher secondary students with respect to the demographic variables such as: a) b) c) d) Gender Residence Private Tuition Locality of School e) Type of Management f) Type of School g) Parental Education and h) Parental income 6) To study the mean difference in Overall Academic Achievement in Zoology and its components among the higher secondary students with respect to the demographic variables such as: a) Gender e) Type of Management b) Residence f) Type of School e) Private Tuition g) Parental Education and c) Locality of School h) Parental income 7) To find out the relationship between a) Reasoning Ability in Zoology and Locus of Control of Higher Secondary Students. b) Reasoning Ability and Academic Achievement in Zoology of the Higher Secondary Students and c) Locus of Control and Academic achievement in Zoology of the Higher Secondary Students 8) To fit the regression model on Academic Achievement in Zoology and the dimensions of reasoning ability in Zoology of higher secondary students. 9) To fit the regression model on Academic Achievement in Zoology and the 11

12 components of Achievement in Zoology of higher secondary students 10) To fit the regression model on Locus of Control and the dimensions of reasoning ability in Zoology of higher secondary students HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY 1) There is a difference in Overall Reasoning Ability in Zoology and its dimensions of the higher secondary students with respect to the demographic variables such as: a) Gender e) Type of Management b) Residence f) Type of School c) Private Tuition g) Parental Education and d) Locality of School h) Parental income 02) There is a difference in Overall Locus of Control and its category of the higher secondary students with respect to the demographic variables such as: a) b) Gender Residence e) Type of Management f) Type of School c) Private Tuition g) Parental Education and d) Locality of School h) Parental income 03) There is a difference in Over all Academic Achievement in Zoology and its components of the higher secondary students with respect to the demographic variables such as: a) Gender e) Type of Management b) Residence f) Type of School c) Private Tuition g) Parental Education and 12

13 d) Locality of School h) Parental income 04) There is a high relationship between the variables a) Academic Achievement and Reasoning Ability in Zoology of the Higher Secondary Students b) Reasoning Ability in Zoology and Locus of Control of Higher Secondary Students. c) Academic achievement in Zoology and Locus of Control of the Higher Secondary Students DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Due to the available resources and the nature of this research work, this study is delimited in the following manner a) The study was carried out in Salem Educational district which is one of the two Educational districts of Salem revenue district of the state of Tamilnadu.. b) The samples are drawn from the students studying in higher secondary first year course and have Zoology as one of the electives. The mean age of the sample is about sixteen plus. c) The Reasoning Ability is subject to test the reasoning abilities in Zoology with respect to a) Analogical b) Classification c) Eclectic and d) Deductive. The Inductive reasoning ability items were ignored by the subjects/ samples after conducting the pilot study. d) The results revealed in this study are based on the output of the data collected by the investigator or output of statistical analysis (SPSS). 13

14 e) The instruments namely, Academic Achievement in Zoology and Reasoning Ability in Zoology are specifically constructed and developed for this study. The modified version of Locus of Control scale was used for this study BRIEF VIEW OF THE SUCCEEDING CHAPTERS The present study has been divided into six chapters. The first chapter is Introduction. The second chapter deals with the Conceptual Frame Work of the present study. The third chapter is the Review of Related Literature. It deals with the related studies conducted abroad and in India. For this study the major factors of Reasoning ability, Locus of Control and Academic Achievement in Zoology have been discussed. The hypothesis and results of the cited literature helps the investigator in framing the research. The fourth chapter Methodology deals with the procedure for the construction of the research tools. The fourth chapter also helps in administrating the tool which is described in detail. In the fifth chapter, the analysis, interpretation of data, findings and discussions has been presented. Also, the raw scores, with the help of suitable statistical techniques and the findings are discussed. In the sixth chapter a summary of the research has been given and the conclusions of the research have been discussed. This chapter has also been devoted to making suggestions and recommendations for further study bringing out the implications of the findings. Relevant bibliographical details and appendices have also been added to this investigation to facilitate the readers to understand the present study. 14