IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSRJRME), 2014
This study was a quest aimed at evaluating competency enhancement needs of lecturers for quality ... more This study was a quest aimed at evaluating competency enhancement needs of lecturers for quality teaching and learning in SouthEast universities of Nigeria. Reviewed literatures revealed that there is a steady decline in the quality of university graduates; as such the researchers sought to find out possible inputs that could enhance and guarantee quality instructional delivery in our universities in particular and other tertiary institutions in general. The study adopted the survey research design and randomly sampled 372 respondents from six universities (3 federal and 3 states) who are academic staff. The results of data analysis using simple percentages and contingency Chi-square statistical analysis technique at 95% confidence interval revealed that above 90% of male and female lecturers opined that teaching staff are in dare need of competency enhancement inputs such as regular training workshops and conferences (local and international), functional ICT units for staff and students, inter and intra collaborative teaching experience amongst institutions within and outside the country for cross fertilization of ideologies and skills, and regular upgrading of teaching and learning facilities. The need for proactive funding of tertiary education was recommended. More so, the administrative echelons of higher institutions in Nigeria were encouraged to devise mechanisms of ensuring an updated pool of academic staff for qualitative pedagogical delivery.
The study examined the differences between enrolment and completion of students admitted into sci... more The study examined the differences between enrolment and completion of students admitted into science, technology, engineering and technology based undergraduate courses in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The population consists of all students admitted into
“Education for All” and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals have placed pressure o... more “Education for All” and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals have placed pressure on carrying capacity of Nigeria’s educational system, resulting in significant increase in the number of children in her educational system. This led to very large class sizes and the inherent challenge of ensuring that the learning goals and quality of education are sustained. Provision of fair assessment with timely feedback for students is a difficult task with science laboratory classes, hence, the use of subjective assessment. This study sought to develop and use multiple choice items as new instrument for science performance measure for large classes with a view of automating the process if the results are worthwhile. Biology (a natural science) and Physics (an applied science) were used for this study. First year students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike offering 100 level courses in Biology and Physics Laboratory courses of the University’s College of Natural and Applied Science are the population while the sample consists of the 100 level students of College of Agricultural and Science Education offering the required laboratory courses. The practical work for the identified courses will be simultaneously assessed by the College subjective mode of assessment while the researchers will also assess the same courses using the developed multiple choice items targeting goals of the subjective assessment measure. The content validity of the test items were determined with test blue prints while the reliability of 0.81 was established using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. SPSS 21 was used to carry out the data analysis. Pearson product moment correlation was used to determine the coefficient of correlation between the laboratory subjective examination scores and the multiple choice scores and paired t-test was used to test mean differences. Results showed a significant coefficient of correlation and a significant different between the means as revealed by the t-test result. Since there was a significant correlation coefficient the process involved will be proffered for adoption and implementation to the university and other institutions challenged by the assessment of practical work of large classes.]
International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, May 9, 2014
The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of collaborative learning on developing effe... more The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of collaborative learning on developing effective communication skills for enhancing peace culture among science students in Nigerian schools. Specifically, the study sought to determine the effect of collaborative learning on achievement of pro-social behaviours and communication skills for peace culture among science learners in Nigerian schools. A protest, posttest, non-equivalent control group design was adopted. Eighty four (84) senior secondary two (SS 2) science students in 8 intact classes randomly selected from 4 secondary schools in Nsukka town of Enugu state of Nigeria constituted the sample. An attitude to peace education questionnaire developed by the researchers was used for data collection. It was validated by experts in Educational Measurement and Evaluation and one expert in language Education. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined using Cronbach Alpha statistic and it yielded an index of 0.78. Mean, standard deviation and t-test were used in data analysis. Results showed that collaborative learning method was significantly (P<0.05) better than competitive method in achieving effective pro-social behaviours and communication skills for peaceful culture among science students. Also some barriers to achievement of effective communication skills for peaceful culture through collaborative learning identified by study included; use of emotional language (86%); interruption (62%) ; dominating in discussion (56%) and teasing (47%). It was recommended that peaceful culture should be promoted among the secondary school science students through appropriate communication skills taught in collaborative classrooms. Also, a programme to educate students on peaceful culture should be mounted in school curricula.
IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSRJRME), 2014
This study was a quest aimed at evaluating competency enhancement needs of lecturers for quality ... more This study was a quest aimed at evaluating competency enhancement needs of lecturers for quality teaching and learning in SouthEast universities of Nigeria. Reviewed literatures revealed that there is a steady decline in the quality of university graduates; as such the researchers sought to find out possible inputs that could enhance and guarantee quality instructional delivery in our universities in particular and other tertiary institutions in general. The study adopted the survey research design and randomly sampled 372 respondents from six universities (3 federal and 3 states) who are academic staff. The results of data analysis using simple percentages and contingency Chi-square statistical analysis technique at 95% confidence interval revealed that above 90% of male and female lecturers opined that teaching staff are in dare need of competency enhancement inputs such as regular training workshops and conferences (local and international), functional ICT units for staff and students, inter and intra collaborative teaching experience amongst institutions within and outside the country for cross fertilization of ideologies and skills, and regular upgrading of teaching and learning facilities. The need for proactive funding of tertiary education was recommended. More so, the administrative echelons of higher institutions in Nigeria were encouraged to devise mechanisms of ensuring an updated pool of academic staff for qualitative pedagogical delivery.
The study examined the differences between enrolment and completion of students admitted into sci... more The study examined the differences between enrolment and completion of students admitted into science, technology, engineering and technology based undergraduate courses in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The population consists of all students admitted into
“Education for All” and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals have placed pressure o... more “Education for All” and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals have placed pressure on carrying capacity of Nigeria’s educational system, resulting in significant increase in the number of children in her educational system. This led to very large class sizes and the inherent challenge of ensuring that the learning goals and quality of education are sustained. Provision of fair assessment with timely feedback for students is a difficult task with science laboratory classes, hence, the use of subjective assessment. This study sought to develop and use multiple choice items as new instrument for science performance measure for large classes with a view of automating the process if the results are worthwhile. Biology (a natural science) and Physics (an applied science) were used for this study. First year students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike offering 100 level courses in Biology and Physics Laboratory courses of the University’s College of Natural and Applied Science are the population while the sample consists of the 100 level students of College of Agricultural and Science Education offering the required laboratory courses. The practical work for the identified courses will be simultaneously assessed by the College subjective mode of assessment while the researchers will also assess the same courses using the developed multiple choice items targeting goals of the subjective assessment measure. The content validity of the test items were determined with test blue prints while the reliability of 0.81 was established using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. SPSS 21 was used to carry out the data analysis. Pearson product moment correlation was used to determine the coefficient of correlation between the laboratory subjective examination scores and the multiple choice scores and paired t-test was used to test mean differences. Results showed a significant coefficient of correlation and a significant different between the means as revealed by the t-test result. Since there was a significant correlation coefficient the process involved will be proffered for adoption and implementation to the university and other institutions challenged by the assessment of practical work of large classes.]
International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, May 9, 2014
The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of collaborative learning on developing effe... more The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of collaborative learning on developing effective communication skills for enhancing peace culture among science students in Nigerian schools. Specifically, the study sought to determine the effect of collaborative learning on achievement of pro-social behaviours and communication skills for peace culture among science learners in Nigerian schools. A protest, posttest, non-equivalent control group design was adopted. Eighty four (84) senior secondary two (SS 2) science students in 8 intact classes randomly selected from 4 secondary schools in Nsukka town of Enugu state of Nigeria constituted the sample. An attitude to peace education questionnaire developed by the researchers was used for data collection. It was validated by experts in Educational Measurement and Evaluation and one expert in language Education. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined using Cronbach Alpha statistic and it yielded an index of 0.78. Mean, standard deviation and t-test were used in data analysis. Results showed that collaborative learning method was significantly (P<0.05) better than competitive method in achieving effective pro-social behaviours and communication skills for peaceful culture among science students. Also some barriers to achievement of effective communication skills for peaceful culture through collaborative learning identified by study included; use of emotional language (86%); interruption (62%) ; dominating in discussion (56%) and teasing (47%). It was recommended that peaceful culture should be promoted among the secondary school science students through appropriate communication skills taught in collaborative classrooms. Also, a programme to educate students on peaceful culture should be mounted in school curricula.
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