PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITY, STUDY HABITS AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE OF TRIBAL AND NON TRIBAL STUDENTS

: All the academic pursuits are modelled towards the attainment of eminence in academic sphere. Although many factors influence academic achievement in science of secondary school students but problem solving ability and study habits are found to b e more influential. The present study focuses on the academic achievement, problem solving ability and study habits of adolescents. Survey method was employed by the researcher for the present study. The sample of study consisted of 400 tribal and non-tribal students selected randomly from higher secondary schools of Koraput district. Data were collected by administering the standardised tools, i.e., Problem Solving Ability Test and Study Habits Inventory (SHI) developed by the researcher. Collected data were analysed and interpreted by applying descriptive statistics and analysis of variance. The findings of the study disclose that problem solving ability and study habits of non-tribal students are better than the tribal students. Also the results of the study reveal that problem solving ability and study habits largely contribute for better academic achievement in science of secondary level students. Students having high problem solving ability and good study habits exhibit better academic achievement than the students having low problem solving ability and poor study habits.