Comparison of environmental attitudes of science and non-science undergraduate students of Sokoto State University, Nigeria

Introduction: The relationship between man and his surrounding is as old as his origin. All his basic needs of living are from his environment. Recently, the science and technological advancement of Man is resulting to several damages to environment which in turn affect the quality of air, water and climatic factors of the environment. Therefore, there is the need for more individuals with positive environmental attitudes.  Purpose: This study aimed to compare the environmental attitudes of science and non-science undergraduate students in Sokoto State, Nigeria. Three research questions and two hypotheses were answered and tested, respectively. Methodology: Descriptive survey design was employed involving 322 science and non-science students. The instrument used for data collection is Environmental Attitude Inventory. Items of the instrument were adopted from Uzun, Gilbertson, Keles & Ratinen, (2019) and Milfont and Dukit (2010). The modified items were validated by experts and a reliability index of 0.66 was obtained after the pilot study. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The findings of the study show that the majority of undergraduate students in Sokoto State University have a moderate environmental attitude and undergraduate science students demonstrated a higher environmental attitude than non-science students. Recommendations: The study recommended that more training and workshops be organised for undergraduate students to improve their environmental attitude

A preliminary study for designing and developing augmented reality-based module for teaching chemical bonding in Nigerian secondary schools

The conventional strategies for teaching chemical bonding in Nigerian secondary schools, mostly utilizes two-dimensional images and structures either on paper sketches or boards drawing. As a result of these adverse situations, chemistry students in Nigeria have no background knowledge and skills in 3D chemical structures and could influence their visualization skills in learning abstract concepts. In this regard, it is considered imperative to adopt digital technologies such as augmented reality to convert the two dimensional structure to three-dimensional. This study investigated the chemistry teacher’s opinion on the need for designing and developing an augmented reality module for teaching and learning chemical bonding Nigerian secondary school. It involved a survey research design with a questionnaire validated by three experts in chemistry and technology education with a reliability of 0.74 using Cronbach Alpha. Thirty (30) chemistry teachers served as respondents selected using a purposive sampling technique. Their responses on the instrument (i.e. questionnaire) were analysed using descriptive statistics. Most of the respondents indicated low spatial visualization skills, spatial reasoning skills and achievement among the students due to low clarity of dimensions of images utilize. They further agreed that it is suitable to incorporate three dimensional and digital graphics into the real-world learning environment for chemical bonding and use of a mobile phone to present the chemical bonding mechanisms, shapes and structures even though 90% of them are not aware of the augmented reality and its principle guidelines in teachin