An Examination of the Extent to which School Outdoor Activities could Enhance Senior Secondary Two Students’ Achievement in Ecology

This study examined the extent to which school outdoor activities could enhance senior secondary (SS) two students' achievement in ecology. Non randomized pre test post test control group Quasi-experimental design was adopted. A sample of 160 SS II students from 4 co- educational schools in Jalingo metropolis, Taraba State Nigeria was used. A 40 item instrument called Ecology Achievement Test (EAT) developed by the researchers with reliability co-efficient of 0.95 using Kunder- Richardson formula 21 was used for data collection. The schools were grouped into 2; the experimental group was taught using school outdoor activities while the control group was taught using lecture method. Intact classes were used in all the schools. Students were pre tested, treated for 6 weeks and Post tested. Data collected were analysed using mean, standard deviation to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result shows that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught using outdoor activities and those taught using lecture method. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean achievement scores of boys and girls exposed to school outdoor activities. Similarly, there was no statistically significant interaction effect of method of teaching and students gender on their achievement in ecology. . It was recommended among others that teachers should use school outdoor activities strategy in teaching ecological concepts in biology and seminars, workshop, conferences, in-service trainings, annual teachers vacation courses and refresher courses should be organized to train them

Problem-Solving Skills as Correlates of Attention Span and Working Memory of Low Ability Level Students in Senior Secondary Schools

The study sought to determine the relationship between problem-solving skills and measure of working memory and attention span of science students of low ability level. The study adopted correlational survey research design. The population for the study comprised all Secondary School I (SSI) that offered physics, chemistry and biology as school subjects in all the public senior secondary schools in the study area for 2017/2018 academic session while the sample was 450 science students from 24 Senior Secondary Schools in the study area. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) backward digit span task and Attention Lapses Clicker (ALC) were used for data collection. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyse data used to answer the research questions and test null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that low percentage variation in students’ problem-solving skills in science can be attributed to measure of working memory and attention span. There exist no significant relationship between measure of working memory, attention span and the combination of working memory and attention span of students. It was recommended among others that science teachers should vary concentration spans of science students by inherently mimicking the same kind of cognitive gear shift in the activities that require creative problem-solving skills and thinking, Also interventions and accommodation need be designed by school administrators to help science teachers differentiate instruction with explanations on how techniques or strategies can address students with working memory difficulty and attention deficits in the classroom

Classroom Interaction Practices and Students’ Learning Outcomes in Physics: Implication for Teaching-Skill Development for Physics Teachers

In the last decade, evidence in the science education literature seems to suggest that student-centered classroom interaction appears to have effect over and above teacher-centered interaction in enhancing learning outcomes in various science subjects especially in Physics. Based on this premise, this paper examined the effects of teacher-centered and student-centered interaction practices on students’ achievement and attitude in dynamics, an aspect of Physics considered abstract at the secondary school level. This study employed both the quasi-experimental and observational survey designs. From a sample of four comparable schools in Kogi East Local Government Areas of Kogi State, Nigeria, 139 physics students from intact classes and seven teachers (4 who did the teaching and 3 others who observed in all classes) were involved in the study. Three instruments developed were used for data collection. These are Teacher-Student Classroom Observation Schedule (TSCOS), Students’ Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ), and Physics Achievement Test (PAT) with reliability indices of 0.68, 0.86 and 0.79 respectively. The data generated from the use of the instruments were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while the ANCOVA statistic was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 α-level. Results revealed that the difference between the mean performances and mean attitude of students exposed to the two types of interactions were statistically significant. Gender differences in mean performance and attitude scores were not significant. It was recommended that student-centered classroom interaction strategy should be advocated for use. Implications were drawn for teacher skills acquisition

30 * Some Nigeria Students' Performance in Practical and Theoretical Chemistry Tests as Predictors of their Performance in MOCK-SSCE Chemistry Examinations

Abstract: This study adopted the expost facto design in which the results of some Nigeria students" practical knowledge of Chemistry and their tests of theoretical knowledge of Chemistry were used to predict their performance in MOCK-SSCE Chemistry. The Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) is a terminal examination while the internal or State qualifying examination set after the pattern of SSCE is called MOCK-SSCE

An Examination of the Extent to which School Outdoor Activities could Enhance Senior Secondary Two Students’ Achievement in Ecology

This study examined the extent to which school outdoor activities could enhance senior secondary (SS) two students' achievement in ecology. Non randomized pre test post test control group Quasi-experimental design was adopted. A sample of 160 SS II students from 4 co- educational schools in Jalingo metropolis, Taraba State Nigeria was used. A 40 item instrument called Ecology Achievement Test (EAT) developed by the researchers with reliability co-efficient of 0.95 using Kunder- Richardson formula 21 was used for data collection. The schools were grouped into 2; the experimental group was taught using school outdoor activities while the control group was taught using lecture method. Intact classes were used in all the schools. Students were pre tested, treated for 6 weeks and Post tested. Data collected were analysed using mean, standard deviation to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result shows that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught using outdoor activities and those taught using lecture method. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean achievement scores of boys and girls exposed to school outdoor activities. Similarly, there was no statistically significant interaction effect of method of teaching and students gender on their achievement in ecology. . It was recommended among others that teachers should use school outdoor activities strategy in teaching ecological concepts in biology and seminars, workshop, conferences, in-service trainings, annual teachers vacation courses and refresher courses should be organized to train them

Towards Enhancement of Students Achievement in Physics Using Concept Mapping Strategy and Guided Discovery Method

This study investigated the relative effectiveness of Concept Mapping Strategy (CMS) and Guided Discovery Method (GDM) in enhancing students achievement in Physics. Gender influence on students achievement was also examined. A total of one hundred and fifteen (115) secondary school Physics students were involved in the study; the research work was carried out in the Wukari Education Zone of Taraba State. This research work adapted a quasi-experimental research design involving pre-test and post-test. Three research questions and three hypotheses were raised. Physics Achievement Test (PAT) was used for data collection. The items of PAT were subjected to item analysis. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was obtained using Kuder-Richardson 20 formula is .8. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance was used to test the hypotheses formulated at .05 significance level. From the analysis, it is revealed that a statistically significant difference exists in the mean academic achievement scores of students taught physics using CMS and those taught using GDM in favor of CMS. Gender differences are not statistically significant in the mean academic achievement scores for both CMS and GDM groups. It is evident from the findings of this study that the use of CMS could provide a good way for students to learn Physics. It is recommended, based on the findings of the study, that Physics teachers should be encouraged to use a CMS while teaching Physics concepts to actively involve the students in identifying relationships in concepts. Government should utilize the services of various professional bodies like the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) in collaboration with the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Centre (NERDC) to organize seminars, workshops, conferences, in-service training and symposia to inform and train physics teachers on the use of innovative teaching method especially concept-mapping

Fostering students’ academic performance in physics using cognitive conflict instructional strategy and conceptual change pedagogy

This study investigated how to foster students' academic performance using cognitive conflict instructional strategy and conceptual change pedagogy on Senior Secondary (SS2) two in thermal physics in Kogi East Education Zone of Kogi State. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design, specifically, pretest-posttest non-equivalent-control group type. The study population was all the 7380 senior school two physics students in 153 co-educational secondary schools during the 2018/2019 academic session. The sample consisted of 294 SS two physics students (187 males and 107 females) drawn from six secondary schools using a multi-stage sampling technique. Thermal Physics Performance Test (TPPT) with reliability coefficients of 0.79 was used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and bar graphs to answer the eight research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of confidence. The study's findings revealed that there was a significant difference in mean academic performance among students taught thermal physics using cognitive conflict instructional strategy, conceptual change pedagogy, and traditional instructional strategy. The result equally revealed that cognitive conflict instructional strategy enhances students' academic performance more than conceptual change pedagogy. In addition, male and female students taught using cognitive conflict instructional strategy differ significantly in academic performance scores F (1, 99) = 24.409; p = 0.000 0.05. Likewise the male and female students taught using conceptual change pedagogy differ significantly in academic performance scores at F(1,95) = 33.974, p = 0.000 0.05. Furthermore the finding revealed that there is significant interaction effect of strategy and gender on students’ mean academic performance scores F (2, 293) = 6.307; p = 0.002 0.05. It was also found that both cognitive conflict instructional strategy and conceptual change pedagogy foster students' academic performance in Physics more than traditional instructional strategy. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Physics teachers be encouraged to use both cognitive conflict instructional strategy and conceptual change pedagogy to teach Physics in secondary schools to enhance students' academic performance

Perceived Impact of Personality Traits on the Academic Performance of Students in Biology

The study examined the perceived impact of personality traits on the academic performance of biology students in Makurdi, a local government area of Benue State, Nigeria. Three research questions were raised and two hypotheses were also formulated and tested. The research design adopted for this study was a descriptive survey design. The study sample comprises 384 students who were randomly selected from the total population of 9,748 students of the 20 government secondary schools in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. The instruments used for data collection in this study were the Five-Factor Inventory Questionnaire (FFIQ) for personality traits and “The Biology Performance Test (BPT)” for academic performance. The data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while ANOVA statistics and t-tests were used to test the hypotheses at a .05 significance level. The findings revealed that there was no significant mean difference in the five personality traits of students and the personality traits of Biology students had no significant relationship with their performance in the subject. Also, there was no significant difference in the mean performance of students in each of the five personality traits based on gender. The findings further revealed no significant difference in students’ personality traits according to gender and no significant difference in the performance of students who were offered biology according to gender. This study recommends that Special attention be paid to improving the performance of students in Biology in Makurdi to strike an association between the traits. Also, male and female students should be given equal opportunities in biology since there is no gender difference in their personality traits and academic performance