INFLUENCE OF READING HABITS ON NON-SCIENCE PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS' INTEREST AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCES IN GENERAL SCIENCE EDUCATION IN FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION ABEOKUTA

This study has the objective of determining the influence of reading habits of students studying arts and social science education at the federal college of education Abeokuta on their interest and academic performance in general science education courses. To that end, data of questionnaires applied to a total of 247 students have been analysed along with their scores in a general science education course at the school, and the results showed a weak statistically significant weak correlation between interest in science materials and reading habit of reading science materials and frequency of reading generally at p-value .0001 and .021 (p<.05) respectively while there was no significant correlation between academic performance in general science education courses and all parameter of reading habit. Also, there is no statistically difference in the interest of both male and female respondents interest in general science education reading materials and classes, neither was there a significant difference in the general science readings and interest in general science materials and classes among male and female non-science major pre-service teachers. Majority of the students have not read any type of material in the academic session at hand, thus their academic performance in general science education course did not correlate with their reading habit. It was recommended that there should be courses that will mandate students in the higher institution especially in the colleges of education to read wide range of materials within and outside their area of specialization to gain knowledge and also improve their reading ability.