Workplace Ergonomic Principles and University Students Psycho-Production Skills in Welding Craft Practice in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This study was designed to determine the influence of work place ergonomic on psycho-production skills of university students in welding craft practice. The study adopted a pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental research design which involved students in their intact classes assigned to both experimental and control groups. The population for the study was all thirty-five (35) 300 Level Technical education (mechanical option) students in two universities in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Two research questions and two null hypotheses, tested at.05 level of significance guided the study. The instruments used for data collection was the Arc Welding skills (AWPT) and the Arc Welding Interest Inventory (AWII).The AWPT and AWII instrument were subjected to face and content validation by three experts. The trial test for determining the coefficient of concordance of the AWPT instrument was determined by kendall coefficient of concordance. The value was found to be 0.78. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the AWII items. The reliability coefficient computed for the AWII was 0.75. Mean was used to answer the research questions, while ANCOVA was used to test the hypotheses. It was observed from the study that work place Ergonomic was effective in improving University students’ acquisition of psycho-productive skills in welding craft practice. It was also observed that ergonomic principle instructional technique was more effective in stimulating students’ interest than the conventional technique in Arc Welding work, it was thereafter recommended that seminars and workshop be organized for university lecturers teaching welding process to inculcate same into their practical classes among other recommendations.