CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES AND LITERATURE

This

chapter

presents

further

information

and

adds

empirical evidence about the importance of activity period and the factors affecting students on how to spend their time during the particular period. This chapter also presents different

findings that are related to the conducted study done by the researchers.

2.1 RELATED LITERATURE In reality, free time has become more important than ever. Since subjects are typically offered for one to two hours, or more or less eight hours a day, free time has in fact become the main outlet for student to participate in other activities

during the course of an average day. (Timothy Meyer and Sarah Banks) With this, what should happen during this time is for students to have a chance to participate in their groups or clubs that is conducive to learning. In reality however,

students are left with this thought of free time, which means that they are to engage in unorganized activities where they are often unclear about the purpose of their club and often become frustrated by the lack of organization. Or they are left with chatting with their friends, or browse the net to eat their
11

leisure time. In reality, activity period is much more than free time. It should instead be viewed for students to not only

engage in their social involvements, but also to learn about and build their character, develop cooperation skills and practice interaction. Therefore, activity period is an equally important part of the instructional day. target.com viewed extra-curricular activities as a term that already defines itself. Educational institutes should strategize on how to reinforce these activities while students, on the other hand, should not just limit themselves to academics. There should be a break of repetitive schemes specially with regards to their studies. Moreover, even if these activities are really extra in nature and not part of the normal School Curriculum, students should be engaged to it and the Institutions should also support it by giving an allotted time for the students to participate. In relation, this study shows that having a

scheduled activity period in an Academic Institution like Ateneo De Naga University, helps students to have a life of diversity. Besides, there is more to learn than ABC or 123.

2.2 RELATED STUDIES Students attend college to realize their various hopes and dreams. Oakley (1990) assures us despite abundant criticism of Americas national educational system, undergraduate education
12

in our country can lay persuasive claim to being a success (p.32). Yet, Larsen (1990) cautions us that college may be more stressful than real world (p.5). The complex world of a college or university community creates untold social, political, and economic challenges contributing to the ultimate success or

failure of a college student. The ubiquity of such challenge suggests that college students may in fact be unaware of these distractions. As a result, various researches can help in

understanding this problem.

Totaroet al (2008) aimed to document the difference between the actual times spent on the activities selected, and the preconceived estimate of time spent on these activities. According to the outcome of their study, students need

improvement on their time management skills, since it indicates that the subjects (students) are unaware of such difference, and if they can be made aware of them, this would probably lead to students enhanced personal and academic performance. The result of their study gives the researchers the idea that students in the university and may study be sacrificing time, due some mostly aspects to of their

academics

contemporary

technological distractions, plus the fact that there is a gap between the perception of students as to the time allocation of each activity to the actual time they actually consume. Hence,
13

it has factor of affecting the usefulness of the activity period in the university.

However, in a novel study done by Trueman& Hartley (1996), which focused on time-management skills and their relationship to a students age, it is among being : stated that there are

significant

differences

traditional-entry

students

(under 21 years of age); borderline mature students (between 21 and 25 years of age); and older mature students (greater than 25 years of age). The result of their study indicates that the difference of time management each student has is not limited on the external factors that distract students, it is also subject to the

characteristics of the student which includes their very age. Thus, the researchers will try to consider this factor in this study in analyzing the use of the activity period and

considering the decision of utilizing it as a class period or leaving it as activity period.

series

of

studies

that

attempted

to

assess

the

relationship between the quantity (i.e.,amount) of studying by students and their resultant grades was done by Schuman et al. (1985). Their results showed a virtually non-existent

14

relationship

between

hours

of

study

and

earnedgrades.

This,

according to Schuman was both unexpected and surprising. Their study implies that neither the time spent studying nor the time spent doing other concern seemed to have a direct effect on academic performance. This result could be used on assessing the competitiveness of student, wherein the

researchers can consider the students productiveness during the activity period, since academically strong students possess an innate work ethic, which is manifested in their academic studies, thereby leading to positive academic performance, and not on how they spend the given activity period by the university.

Fujita,

K.

(2005)

defined

and

related

extra-curricular that

activities with academic performances. Philosophies show

these extra activities should grow out of curricular activities and return to curricular activities to enrich them. Before, educators believed that schools should just focus on defined academic outcomes and these non-academic activities are

detrimental to academic achievement but later on took a turn and viewed it in a more positive perspective. She pointed out that extra-curricular activities are associated with improved grade point average, higher educational aspiration, increased college attendance and reduced absenteeism. Furthermore, engaging in

those aforementioned activities promotes social awareness and

15

interaction.

Also,

there

are

three

important

questions

to

consider as to considering and prioritizing activities: what, where and when. The study of Fujita, K. (2005) explained the importance of the when factor. In Ateneo De Naga University's situation, there is an allotted time to perform non-academic activities aside from the vacant time in between classes and the problem that this study aims is to know the side of students and how they perceive this arrangement.

A similar result occurred from the study of Rubin, R.S., et al (2002). It showed there that extra-curricular activities have a long intuitive appeal as a menu for a balanced college life. There is a chance for development of greater corporate interest and interpersonal skill that are with mostly established in nonthat

classroom

settings.

Exploring

different

activities

suits the students interest provides the biggest bang for the buck or the most beneficial in terms of skill practice and improvement. Above all, a creation of a tool that allows a

systematic categorization and valuing of these extra-curricular and contextual activities will offer the best results. And at this point enters the need for the universities to provide a platform for these, thus, a need for a designated time, probably an activity period to cater the students needs.
16

A research finding from the study conducted by Brown, K., et al (2011) for employees indicated that after a long hour

engagement to work should be combined with a time of leisure with friends and families. Furthermore, the finding supported the importance of personal time given by the employers to

illustrate the role of synchronous leisure in achieving a high working performance. Apparently, this is also applicable to

college students in a university. The students also need an allotted time for his/her personal matters. The role of having the activity period in Ateneo De Naga University seems to be an effective strategy for students to have a higher school

performance in parallel with what the employees.

In another study, Nonis et al (2006) employs a clustering procedure that classifies students based upon how they spend their time. or The two clusters include: and (1) (2) campus-centered life-centered

students,

traditional

students;

students,whose focus also includes life outside of campus. The results proposed that academic performance may be the result of combinations of variables, suchas time spent on the computer, watching television, and other forms of entertainment study timeoutside of normal class meetings, and part- or fulltime employment. The result suggests that students who are
17

engaged on positive academic organization (inside the campus) are highly motivated and are more satisfied compared to those who have another life aside from school, which could be their work, or probably their own family.

Based on Will J. Jordan and Saundra MurrayNettles (1999), student participation in structured activities and religious

activities and time spent interacting with their co-members in their organization have positive and significant effects on

various educational outcomes. Conversely, time spent hanging out with peers was consistently negatively associated with

educational outcomes in the study, with few exceptions. While the effects of time spent working for pay and time spent alone were somewhat inconsistent throughout the analysis. The result of of their study inside has implications which on the the

performance

students

school

helps

researchers to measure the importance of activity period in the university. performance On is their study, by it their is revealed that in student own two those of

influenced Their study

involvement that on there first the

their be

organization. categories groups for

implies

would is

university focus of their a

organization activities thus

for

which

enhancement their

personal

skills

student

improving

classroom

performance and second is for those groups that actually waste

18

time for meetings and ending up conversing with other members. Their study adds empirical evidence to conventional wisdom about the importance ofstudents social involvement by demonstrating that adolescents who involvethemselves in positive, structured activities and experiences are more likely to make

personalinvestments in their schooling than their counterparts who are less often exposed toconstructive activities. This, in turn, leads to greater such benefits as school for students and onvarious academic

educational

outcomes

engagement

achievement. The findings consistently suggest positive effects of participation in structuredactivities, religious activities, and time spent with adults on school engagement andachievement and, conversely, significant negative effects of time spent

hanging out withtheir co members (in the same organization). Their research also partly discussed the students who are

working for pay, which has inconsistent relationship on student performance. This goes true with those students who spent time alone. Thus the hypothesis that student investments on other structured groups and clubs have an impact on certaineducational outcomes is empirically supported by this study.

Based on the ASU researchers - Hudson et al (2005), there are four variables load, and achievement status
19

striving, which

self-efficacy, affect student

academic

employment

profiles. With these variables they were able to classify two types of students - one of higher-achieving students, and the other of lower-achieving students. Their tended to study have reveals high that the to higher-achieving get good grades, category greater

motivation

confidence in their academic skills, a heavier class load, and a lighter work schedule than members of the lower-achieving

profile. In addition, students in the higher achieving group studied 15.8 hours a weekless than 25-hour-a-week standard, but greater than the 9.12 hours a week the lower achievers studied. However, there was no difference in the time they spent watching TV (or sleeping, for that matter). time and The study also found no

correlation

between

study

demographic

factors

(like

gender, age, or race) or between study time. They suggest that personal and situational variables, but not ability variables, explain differences in time use by students. It also shows

theimportance of motivation and confidenceon student success.

On the study conducted by Wendy Sjosten-Bell (2005), the influence of time-of-day on the performance of students in their classes especially on hard subjects (such as their majors) is examined. The result is that those hard subjects need to be taught in the morning when students are more alert.

20

On

her

study,

it

is

shown

that

most

students

will

be

absorbing more the lesson during daytime since it is the part of the day when they felt more concentrated. Based on the study conducted, students activeness tends to decrease (from morning, followed by the mid-morning, then the afternoon). Thus, the

result of her study adds further information on the effects time-of-day has on students performance. However, the study

also mentioned that other factors could affect ones performance. Amongthem are: ones feeling (if one is feeling alert, not

hungry, etc.), another is the classroom setting. This only shows that the researchers should consider a variety of reasons as to why the students thought they were concentrating the best at a particular time of day.

21

END NOTES: The importance of recess.K-12 Teaching and Learning.From the UNC School of Education. Retrieved February 02, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/688

Maples, Glenn M., Geoffrey Stewart, John R. Tanner and Michael W. Totaro (2008).How Business Students Spend Their TimeDo They

Really Know?.Unpublished thesis. University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Northwestern Louisiana University.

Trueman, M., &

Hartley, J. (1996). A comparison between the

time-management skills and academic performance of mature and traditional-entry university students, Higher Education, 32(2), 199-215. Schuman, Effort H., Walsh, reward: E., The Olson, C., & Etheridge, college B. (1985). are

and

Assumption

that

grades

22

affected by quantity of study, Social Forces, Vol. 63(4), 945966.

Nonis, S. & Hudson, G. (2006). Academic performance of college students: Influence of time spent studying and working, Journal

of Education for Business, 81(3), 151-159.

Jordan, Will J. and Saundra Murray Nettles (January 1999). How Students invest their time out of the Center of school-Effects Life for on School and on the

Engagement,

Perceptions by

Chances, Research

Achievement.Published

Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR), supported as a national research and development center by funds from the

Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education (R-117-D400005). Johns Hopkins University and

University of Maryland.

Hudson, Gail, SarathNonis and MelodiePhilhours( June 2005). Why Dont Students Study More?. Magna Corporations, Inc. pp. 3-4

Sjosten-Bell, Wendy (December 2005). Influence of Time-of-Day on Student Performance on Mathematical Algorithms.Unpublished

thesis. Dominican University of California San Rafael, CA

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Role

of

extra-curricular

activities

in

students

life

(2009,

September). Retrieved January 03, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://targetstudy.com/articles/role-of-extracurricularactivities-in-a-students-life.html

Fujita, Kimiko. (2005) The Effects of Extracurricular Activities on Performance of Junior the High Students. A Master's Academic Research.

California, USA. Brown, Kerry., Bradley, Lisa., Lingard, Helen., Townsend, Keith., Ling, Sharine (2011). Labouring for Leisure? Achieving work-life Balance through compressed working weeks. Annals of Leisure

Research, vol.24, issue no.1,2011 Baechle, T. (1994). Essentials of Strength Training and

Conditioning.NCCA and Human Kinetics.

Gruber,

J.J.

(1986).

Physical

activity

and

self-esteem

development in children: A meta-analysis. In G.A. Stull and H.E. Eckert (eds.), AmericaAcademy of Physical Education Papers No. 19. (pp. 30-48). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

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Hinson, C. (1997). Games Kids Should Play at Recess: Solutions for a Trouble Free Playground. Wilmington, DE: PE Resources.

Rubin, Robert S., Bommer, William H., and Baldwin, Timothy T. (2002).Using Interpersonal Extracurricular Skill. Activity in the as an indicator Society of for

Presented

Annual

Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference. San Diego, California, USA.

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