The Influence of Gender on Junior Secondary School Students Attitude towards Mathematics in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State

This paper is on the influence of gender on junior secondary school student’s attitude towards mathematics in Ovia North East local government area of Edo state. The descriptive survey design was employed for the study. The population of the study comprised of all the JSS3 students, a total of Three Thousand Six Hundred and Ninety (3690) students in the 12 public junior secondary schools in in Ovia North East local government area of Edo State. Three schools selected from the 11 wards in the local government constituted the sample of the study. The simple random technique was used to select one hundred and fifty students (fifty from each of the three schools) in the Local Government Area. The instrument that was used for this study was the Secondary Student Mathematics Questionnaire (SSMQ). Mean score, t-test and analysis of variance was used to analyze the responses from the respondents. It was revealed that the attitude of the student towards mathematics was positive. The study also revealed that there is a difference between the attitude of male and female students in mathematics.Key words: Mathematics, gender, attitude, and performanc

Public Secondary School Teachers’ Knowledge and Application of Formative Assessment in the Teaching of Mathematics in Benin Metropolis.

Teaching and learning is incomplete without assessment. Mathematics, as a subject is indispensable because it forms the bedrock of the development of any nation, hence, it is made a core subject. For the teaching and learning of Mathematics to be effective and meaningful, the teachers must learn the art of formative assessment, which is ‘assessment as you go’. This study therefore, examined the knowledge and application of formative assessment in the teaching of Mathematics in public secondary schools in Benin Metropolis. To achieve it, three research questions were raised. The study adopted the survey research design, and the population of the study consisted of Mathematics teachers in Benin Metropolis, while the sample size was 188. A structured questionnaire was used for the data collection. It was validated by experts in Measurement and Evaluation, with a reliability index of 0.89. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation and Chi-square statistics.  A normative mean of 32.50 and 37.50 was used to ascertain teachers’ knowledge and application of formative assessment. The findings revealed that the Mathematics teachers were knowledgeable in the art of formative assessment, but their application of it in teaching Mathematics was low. Also, only years of experience influenced the knowledge and application of formative assessment. It was recommended that the teachers should be trained on how to apply formative assessment in the teaching of Mathematics

Attitude of Undergraduates towards Early Childhood Education as a Course of Study: A Case Study of the University of Benin

This study investigated the attitude of undergraduates towards Early Childhood Education as a course. The population and sample of the study were the two hundred and eighty-eight Early Childhood Education Students at the Institute of Education, Ekehuan Campus, University of Benin, Benin City. The instrument for this study was a questionnaire. The data were analysed using mean, standard deviation, the independent sample t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings from the analysis of the data showed that undergraduate students’ attitude towards Early Childhood Education as a course was positive; there was a significant difference in the attitude of male and female undergraduates towards Early Childhood Education; and there is a significant difference in the attitude of undergraduates towards Early Childhood Education based on the students’ level. The study therefore, recommended that government and stakeholders should put more efforts into developing and implementing proper curriculum and programmes for Early Childhood Education in Nigeri

Management of Disciplinary Problems in Primary and Secondary Schools in Nigeria

The school as an agent of socialization is among other functions which model the behaviour of people who pass through it. But a cursory look at the school today shows that there is a downward trend with respect to the way its products acts, most especially the misbehaviour of primary and secondary school students. The mis-behaviour stems from the management of disciplinary problems in public primary and secondary schools in Nigeria. As society changes, educators are  faced with the task of coping with  various forms of indiscipline including  truancy, fighting, damaging school property, disrespect for teachers , extortion, cultism and sexual harassment  This paper therefore, identified the various forms of indiscipline and factors responsible for it, the effects and the various management styles and their effectiveness. &nbsp

Computer Science Teachers' Knowledge And Application Of Formative Assessment In Secondary Schools In Benin City

This study examined the knowledge and application of formative assessment in teaching Computer Science in Secondary Schools in Benin City. To achieve this, three research questions were raised. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of Computer Science teachers in public and private Secondary Schools in Benin City. The sample size for the study was 300 Computer Science teachers in some selected public and private Secondary Schools in Benin City.  The research instrument used for the collection of data was a questionnaire titled "Secondary School Teachers' Knowledge and Applications of Formative Assessment in Computer Science Questionnaire (SSTKAFACSQ)". The validity of the instrument was determined by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation, and two others from Computer Science Education, University of Benin, Nigeria.  The reliability of the research instrument was ascertained using the Cronbach alpha reliability statistics and yielded alpha values of 0.89 and 0.90. The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and Chi-square statistics.  The findings showed that the teachers had a high knowledge of formative assessment and its application in the teaching of Computer Science, and the teachers in public schools had a better level of the applications than their counterparts in private schools. The study also revealed that qualification and school ownership of teachers were determining factors in Computer Science teachers' application of formative assessment. However, the application of formative assessment was not dependent on the sex and years of experience of teachers. It was therefore recommended that public and private Secondary School teachers should be trained on the use of formative assessment in Computer Science, as well as how to use the various tools and techniques. Government at the State and Federal levels should ensure that teachers without the prerequisite teaching qualification should desist from teaching

SCHOOL CULTURE, PRACTICES AND STRUCTURE AS PREDICTORS OF PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA

Quality in education can be seen as fitness for purpose and one indicator of this is the quality of the learning environment within the school system. At play in this environment are factors of school culture, practice and structure and one measure of the quality of schools is students’ performance. The relationship between each of these factors and performance has been variously investigated but their combined predictive ability of performance does not seem to have been examined in the literature. This is the focus of the study. The survey design was utilized in the study. The population consists of all the 1700 teachers in Edo State, Nigeria who teach in the three hundred and nine public senior secondary schools. Out of the schools, 62 schools representing 20% of the schools were selected. From the schools selected, five teachers each of whom teach English Language, Mathematics, Economics, Biology and Christian Religious Studies were selected to provide the information. On the whole, 285 teachers returned usable questionnaires. The draft questionnaire adapted from those constructed earlier by Gruenert and Valentine (1998) was composed of four sections, namely personal information of the teachers, School structure, school practices and school culture. The questionnaire was given to five experts knowledgeable in assessment, educational management and experienced senior secondary school principals. These experts were expected to examine the items on the questionnaire to ensure that they were adequate in content, comprehension and readability. Based on their comments, the items were modified and the resulting instrument was administered to 30 teachers outside the sample used in the study for purposes of determining the reliability using Cronbach alpha. The reliability coefficients that emerged were .78, .83 and .75 for school culture, school structure and school practice respectively. Cooperation of Principals of the schools selected for the study was solicited for the administration of the questionnaire and making available records of WASSCE results for their schools for the year 2018. The performance of the school was calculated by finding a weighted mean for the grades obtained by the students who sat for the WASSCE in each of the subjects and cumulated across the school subjects for each school. Multiple regression was used in the analysis at 5% level of significance. School culture was related to performance while school practice and structure were not. In addition, the three factors were useful in jointly predicting performance in schools. It was therefore recommended that schools should examine these factors properly if they intend to shore up their performance.  Article visualizations