Factors Affecting Students

Academic Performance

By Pat & Tyler

 Thesis
■ Smoking, Alcohol, time spent
sleeping and stress all have a
great effect students’ academic
performance.
 Our Survey
■ Grade & Gender?
■ How many hours a week do you engage in physical activity?
■ How many cigarettes do you smoke in a week?
■ How many alcoholic beverages do you consume in a week?
■ How many hours of sleep do you get per night?
■ How do feel when you wake up on a school day?
■ How often do you feel stressed?
■ What is your overall average?
■ Do you enjoy school?
 Grade & Gender
Bar Chart
35
30
25
Count

20
15
10 Bar Chart
5 80
70
9 10 11 12 OAC 60
Grade 50
Count
c ount ( ) 40
30
20
10

Female Male
Gender
c ount ( )
 How many hours a week do
you engage in physical
activity?
•When we compared students Collection 1 Bar Chart
physical activity to their academic 70
performance, we found that 60
students who had 3 - 5 hours of 50

Count
40
physical activity per week were
30
almost all between 60 and 90%. 20
•We also found that students 10
generally had the best academic

Less than 50

90 to 100
50 to 60

60 to 70

70 to 80

80 to 90
averages when they got between 5
and 7 hours of physical activity per
week.
•These results however were not AcademicAverage
forming obvious patterns, which PhysActweek
1 to 3 10+
brings us to the conclusion that
3 to 5 5 to 7
physical activity does not have a 7 to 10 less than 1
great impact on one's academic c ount ( )
performance.
 How many cigarettes do you
smoke in a week?
•There are many obvious patterns
when comparing the number of Collection 1 Bar Chart
cigarettes a student smokes in a 70
week and their academic 60
performance. 50

•About half the students who smoke 40

Count
30
over 45 cigarettes a week have an 20
average between 50 and 60. 10
•However it should also be noted
that the other half seems to have an

60 to 70

70 to 80

80 to 90
50 to 60
average between 70 and 80, or

90 to 100
Less than 50
between 80 and 90.
•The academic margin of 90 to 100 AcademicAverage
had the largest ratio of non- Cigarettesweek
0 0 to 15
smokers.
15 to 30 30 to 45
•Generally, the more cigarettes 45+
smoked, the lower the overall c ount ( )
average.
 How many alcoholic
beverages do you consume
in a week?
•This was one of the most Collection 1 Bar Chart

surprising results of our survey. 70

60
•It was discovered that students 50

Count
with averages between 50 and 40
60, and students with averages 30
20
between 90 and 100 drink 10
roughly the same amount.
Less than 50

90 to 100
50 to 60

80 to 90
60 to 70

70 to 80
•And students with averages
between 60 and 80 seem to drink
the most of anybody.
AcademicAverage
•It was also surprising that Drinksweek
students with averages below 50 0 0 to 3
10+ 3 to 5
drank less than the average. 5 to 10
c ount ( )
 How many hours of sleep do
you get per night?
•Almost all high school Collection 1 Bar Chart

students seem to get between 70

60
5 and 7, or 7 and 10 hours of 50
sleep per night.

Count
40
30
•Very few students who get 20
less than 5 hours of sleep per 10
night have an average of over

50 to 60

60 to 70

70 to 80

80 to 90

90 to 100
60%. Less than 50
•It should also be noted that
almost all students who got AcademicAverage
between 7 and 10 hours of Sleeppernight
1 to 2 10+
sleep per night had an 2 to 5 5 to 7
7 to 10
academic average between 70c ount ( )
and 100.
 How often do you feel
stressed?
•Much to our surprise, we Collection 1 Bar Chart

found that not one student 70

with an average between 90 60

and 100 considered 50

Count
themselves ”always stressed". 40
•For the most part, the stress 30
20
levels are similar in each
10
division. As the population
grows so does the amount of Less than 50 50 to 60 60 to 70 70 to 80 80 to 90 90 to 100
AcademicAverage
stress. Stressed
•A large portion of those with Alw ays
Often
Never
Seldom
an average between 60 and Sometimes
c ount ( )
100 claimed they were
"sometimes stressed".
 Do you enjoy school?
Collection 1 Bar Chart
•It was no surprise 70
that students who 60
enjoy school tend to 50
40
perform well Count
30
academically 20
speaking. 10
•Most students with
averages below 60 do
50 to 60

60 to 70

80 to 90
70 to 80

90 to 100
not enjoy school.
Less than 50

•And roughly 75% of

AcademicAverage
students with an EnjoySchool
Kind of No
average over 90 claim Yes
the enjoy school . c ount ( )
 Statistics Canada
■ The following data is taken from
The National Longitudinal Survey
of Children and Youth: transition
into adolescence (NLSCY)
 Male & Female
Achievement
Ontario Youths Bar Chart
•When comparing the 450
academic performance 400
of males and females 350
we found that they 300
were very similar and Count 250
there were no distinct 200
patterns. 150

100
50

Very poorly Poorly Average Well Very w ell

How _w ell_are_you_doing_in_school
Sex
F M
c ount ( )
Importance of Doing Well
in School
Ontario Youths Bar Chart
450
400
350
300
250
Count

200
150
100
50

Very poorly
Poorly Average Well Very w ell
How _w ell_are_you_doing_in_school
How_important__to_do_well_in_school
Important Not important at all
Not very important Somew hat important
Very important
c ount ( )
Importance of Doing Well
■
in School
After observing this data, it is very clear that those who consider school
to be very important do much better than those who do not consider
school to be important.
■ This was not surprising because of the common sense involved.
■ We found it interesting that a very small fraction of the students
surveyed didn't consider school to be important.
■ It has been proven many times, by Stats Canada on this particular
occasion, those who feel it important to do well in school, end up with the
best academic performance.
■ They are more likely to consider school a large part of their life and
something that should be taken seriously.
 Get Along with Other Kids
Ontario Youths Bar Chart

•Generally, everyone 450

400
surveyed got along well
350
with their peers at school. 300
•The students in the very
Count
250
poorly category had 200
trouble getting along with 150

other kids. This could be 100

50
connected to why they do
not like school. We Very poorlyPoorly Average Well Very w ell
demonstrated earlier that How _w ell_are_you_doing_in_school
I_get_along_with_kids_easily
those who do not like 1. false 2. Mostly false
3. Sometimes false/Sometimes ... 4. Mostly true
school generally do not 5. true
c ount ( )
do well.
 Feeling
•Just as we had
Left Out?
suspected, those who Ontario Youths Bar Chart
450
do well and very well
400
in school are “never” 350
left out. 300
•Responses seem to be Count
250
almost equally 200

dispersed in the poorly 150

and very poorly 100

50
categories.
•As well, it should be Very poorly Poorly Average Well Very w ell
How _w ell_are_you_doing_in_school
noted that those who Feel_left_out_at_school
All the time Most of the time
had average marks Never Rarely
were rarely left out Some of the time
c ount ( )
“most of the time”.
•It came as a surprise
to us that the
majority of those
who did well and
Bullying
very well in school Ontario Youths Bar Chart
claimed they are 450

“never” bullied. 400

350
•We were under the
300
false impression that 250
Count

bullies always picked 200

on the “smart kids”. 150
•We also thought it 100
50
was odd that almost
all kids those who Very poorly Poorly Average Well Very w ell
How _w ell_are_you_doing_in_school
were bullied “most Bullied_in_School
of the time” did All the time
Never
Most of the time
Rarely
poorly or very poorly Some of the time
c ount ( )
in school.
How Far Students Will Go?
Ontario Youths Bar Chart
200
180
160
140
120
Count

100
80
60
40
20

Very poorly
Poorly Average Well Very w ell
How _w ell_are_you_doing_in_school
How_far_do_you_hope_to_go_in_school
COMPLETE A UNIVERSITY DEG... COMPLETE MIDDLE SCHOOL/J...
I DON-T KNOW I WILL COMPLETE COLLEGE
I WILL COMPLETE HIGH SCHOOL OTHER
c ount ( )
How Far Students Will Go?
■ The results of this graph were easily predictable.
■ The majority of students who do well and very
well in school hope to complete a University
degree.
■ And those who were unsure of their post-
secondary school future were doing poorly or very
poorly in school.
■ We also found it interesting that the majority of
those who hoped to complete High School and or
College did average in school.
 Students Appreciation for
•A large majority of
students either like
English
english a bit or like it a
Ontario Youths Bar Chart
lot.
•And obviously those who 200
180
"like it alot" tend to get
160
the best marks. This can 140
be linked to the idea that
Count

120
enjoying school (or a 100
subject in this case) will 80
result in higher marks. 60
•We also found it very 40
peculiar that almost all 20
students who hate english
Very poorly Poorly Average Well Very w ell
have average marks.
How _w ell_are_you_doing_in_school
•The very odd thing about Like_English
these results was that all I DON-T LIKE IT VERY MUCH I HATE IT
I LIKE IT A BIT I LIKE IT A LOT
students who were doing
c ount ( )
very poorly "like english
 Appreciation of Math
•This question Ontario Youths Bar Chart
200
came up with
180
very similar 160
results to the 140
english question. 120
Count

100
•Just as in the
80
previous 60
question, the very 40
20
odd thing about
these results was Very poorly Poorly Average Well Very w ell
that all students Like_Math
How _w ell_are_you_doing_in_school

who were doing I DON-T LIKE IT VERY MUCH I HATE IT

I LIKE IT A BIT I LIKE IT A LOT
very poorly "like c ount ( )
The End