In the Nigeria tertiary institution today, lecturers and teachers always look out for ways to improve the academic performance of students. There have been so many considerations on the factors or causes of the variation in academic performance of students. Over the years the bone of contention has been centered on teachers’ quality, instructional materials, learning environment and seminar to be ways of improving students’ performance. But when it comes to final year projects the opposite is always the case.
Writing a project is always very technical compared to day to day departmental activities. That is why when an undergraduate student gets to 300level, the lecturers starts engaging them on courses that has to do with project writing and research methodology. Recently I have handled few students the technicalities involved in research methodology.
From my experience what I have noticed during the seminar I had with some students on research methodology is that individual difference is really playing out so well amongst the students. Some of the students can repeat perfectly the exact words you said but cannot put them in their own words while some may not say the exact word you speak but can put it in their own way; at the end of the day they will mean the same thing. That is what when students are writing their projects.
Secondly, some students are naturally multi-tasking by nature; they can attend to lectures and handle their undergraduate project at the same time without being stressed up while some may not be able to do it.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE

Individual variation is a universal phenomenon. It is said that no two individuals are exactly alike they differ from each other in some way or the other. Such a similarity or difference between persons reveals individual differences in the early 1800s. The science of psychology studies people at three levels of focus captured by the well known quote: “Every man is in certain respects.
The study of individual differences helps to understand not only what makes humans similar to one another, but also what makes them different. By considering the variations that can occur from one person to another, one can best understand the full range of human behavior Children develop at different rates. This, in turn, creates variations among individuals. Again, these differences can be either qualitative or quantitative. For children in any preschool classroom setting, the differences in temperament, personality, intelligence, achievement, and physical factors such as height and weight, are noteworthy and reflect a wide range of normal variation. Some children grow rapidly and others grow more slowly. There also are racial and gender developmental variations.
It is important to understand that the concept of individual differences is the basis upon which one child is compared to another. An understanding of individual differences provides the foundation for recognizing normal variations as well as extreme differences among children and, thus, for identifying those who may have special needs. In general, understanding of the various developmental levels is enhanced by familiarity with the concept of individual differences.
Each student is a unique individual, different in cognitive and affective development, social maturity, ability, motivation, aspiration, learning styles, needs, interests and potential. Apart from this, there are other factors underlying student differences. These include innate differences in intelligence, differences in social and economic background, variations in past learning experiences, and perhaps variations in the level of congruence between the learner and the curriculum. In view of these factors, catering for individual differences is intended neither to narrow the gap between individuals nor to even out their abilities and performance. It should aim for understanding why students are able or unable to learn well and finding appropriate ways to help them learn better.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Academic achievement has to do with what an individual or student is able to accomplish by execution of class work in the school. Academic achievement is something a learner do or achieve at school, college or university, in class, in a laboratory or field work. Academic achievement can also be seen as an achievement of individuals’ objective to various types of knowledge and skills. According to the author the objective are established based on the age, prior learning and capacity of individuals with regards to education, socialization and qualification.
The purposes of academic achievement measurement are to determine the relative effectiveness of a programme in terms of students’ behavioural outputs; to identify students growth or lack of growth in acquiring desirable knowledge skills, attitudes and social values; to help teachers determine the effectiveness of their teaching technique and learning material; to help motivate students to learn as they discover their progress or lack of progress in given task; to encourage students to develop a sense of discipline and systematic study habits; to acquaint parents or guardians with their children performance; to predict the general trend in the development of teaching learning process; to make reliable decision about education planning and to provide educational administrators with adequate information about teachers effectiveness and school need.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE AND STUDENTS PERFORMANCE

Individual difference is prominent in the academic performance of students in Nigeria. At the end of every semester there is always variation in CGPA of students. There are so many things that make up individual difference. Some of the causes of individual difference are hereditary, environment, parent or guidance, mode of nutrition, age, gender, maturity etc. Among all these factors, age and hereditary are the major factors influencing students’ performance.
The advantage of older students over younger students is not, however, consistently reported, with some studies reporting younger students outperforming more mature students. Such contradictory findings have been related to the discipline of study, with younger students performing better than mature students in science and engineering/technology-related final year project topics, and the pattern of age-related variation in performance differing across subject areas. Suggested explanations relate to the advantages of mature students, in terms of increased motivation and superior study skills, being less relevant in certain disciplines, where core knowledge and continuity of study provide younger students with the advantage. Differing lifestyle commitments of mature students, including family responsibilities and integrating life experiences with academic learning have also been suggested as potential limiting factors, making it difficult for mature students to meet the increased expectations of science-based courses high in content and contact hours.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion individual difference affects the students’ achievement in their final year projects. it is reasonable to state that students whose profile includes strong beliefs in their academic capabilities and who adopt more meaningful approaches to learning (i.e. have positive academic self-efficacy beliefs and adopt a deep and/or strategic approach to learning), who have a record of relevant prior academic achievement and are more mature are likely to achieve greater success within final year projects. Although the higher education learning experience already appears to foster the development of such ‘academic belief systems’, that students do not appear to perceive their learning environment as potentially controllable is concerning and an issue which should be addressed by academic institutions. It may be that the increasing transparency of all academic processes, along with increasing student consultation, is already, at least in part, ameliorating the issue by promoting a sense of control in students.

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