Investigating child sexual violence among secondary school learners in Wakiso District, Uganda

Child Sexual Violence (CSV) is a global challenge, and its prevalence is not well studied in Ugandan schools. This study used a cross-sectional design to investigate CSV prevalence and its relationship with parental care and learners' characteristics among secondary school learners in the Wakiso District. The sample comprised 274 learners from five schools: rural, peri-urban, and urban. A 4-Likert questionnaire comprising parental care, learners' characteristics, and CSV was used to collect data. Data were analysed using means, standard deviation, Chi-square, and Analysis of Variance–ANOVA. The results show high CSV prevalence among learners with low parental care and low personal characteristics, where sexual harassment, defilement, and rape accounted for 60.10%, 55.11%, and 51.10%, respectively. There were no significant differences in CSV prevalence among rural, peri-urban and urban schools (ANOVA, p = .25). Implications for schools to minimise CSV in schools are discusse

The effect of guided discovery instructional strategy on grade nine learners’ performance in chemical reactions in Mankweng Circuit, South Africa

Teaching strategies play a vital role in improving learners’ performance. This study investigated the effect of Guided Discovery Instructional Strategy (GDIS) on Grade nine learners’ performance in chemical reactions and determined the effect of GDIS on gender. A quasi-experimental design with a sample comprising 75 grade nine learners was purposively selected from two schools in Mankweng Circuit based on Grade 12 performance. Learners were randomly assigned to the Experimental Group (EG) (N = 40) and Control Group (CG) (N = 35) taught for two weeks using GDIS for EG and Talk and Chalk Method (TCM) for CG. The results show that there were statistically significant differences in post-test of EG (M = 67.60, SD = 18.70) and CG (M = 37.86, SD = 18.01) (T-test: t(73) = 6.99; p < 0.05) and a Cohen d = 0.6. EG taught using GDIS outperformed CG taught using TCM (ANCOVA: F = 15.93, p < 0.05). GDIS favoured both males and females (Mann Whitney U-test: U = 153.00, p = 0.22, suggesting that GDIS improved all learners’ performance in chemistry, but not TCM. The findings provide teachers and stakeholders with empirical evidence on a strategy that improved learners’ performance. Also, GDIS did not discriminate against gender, suggesting that the strategy encourages girls to study science, contributing to narrowing the existing gender gap between males and females in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjectsPeer Reviewe

Exploring the effects of YouTube on technology education students’ cognitive achievement in a mechanical system module

Understanding the effects of various multimedia technologies on students’ cognitive achievement is essential in this technological era. This study explored students’ cognitive achievement in a technology mechanical system module using YouTube videos compared to Microsoft PowerPoint (MPP). The study employed a quasi-experimental research design, using a pre-test-post-test. The sample consisted of 53 (29 males and 24 female) students. Twenty-eight (28) students were randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG) and 24 to the control group (CG). Students’ cognitive achievement was measured by administering the Geometric Optics Conceptual Understanding Test to each group of students before and after teaching. A t-test shows that there were significant differences between the EG of the pre-test (M = 60.50, SD = 7.2) and the post-test (M = 65.70, SD = 9.60) t (53) = -2.17, p = 0.03 with a gain of 5.20 and the Cohen d was 0.60. The EG students performed better in mechanical technology practice and retention tests than those in the CG. In the EG, female students performed better (M = 69.00, SD = 9.20) than the male students (M = 61.40, SD = 8.60). These results have some theoretical, instructional and institutional implications on the use of YouTube as an effective tool to enhance students’ achievement in mechanical technology.

Pre-service Teachers’ Use and Usefulness of Blackboard Learning Management Systems for Self-Regulated Learning

Although BLB has many applications students use, it is not clear which applications are used most and perceived most useful for Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). The objective of this research is to establish applications pre-service teachers use most and perceive as most useful for SRL. The study used a cross-sectional survey design with 120 technology education undergraduate pre-service teachers. A questionnaire was distributed during the Technology Education period and collected after 45 minutes. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) determined the most BLB applications and their perceived usefulness, while a t-test examined male and female differences in the use and usefulness of BLB applications for SRL. Both tests were done using SPSS version 22. The major result shows half of all BLB applications perceived as useful were the ones used most and had positive associations. Three out of eight accounted for 95.69% of the use, while four applications accounted for 73.33% variances in usefulness. Component loadings 1-3 for BLB use variance were: subject content 80.9%, assessment 11.2%, and 3.55%, while usefulness components 1-4 variance were: subject content 26.7%, assessment 17.9%, class task 16.1%, and grade centre 12.6%. There were differences between gender in the use and usefulness of BLB applications, with males taking the lead in both. Thus, this study extends the debate on the gender gap in technology use in higher education