Students' ranking of and opinions about the standards of learning in Nigerian Science Education Program

The purpose of this study was to investigate how postsecondary school science education students rank some identified science education program standards, as well as to seek their opinions regarding their perception of the desirability and achievement of the standards in Nigeria. A total of 265 final-year science education students in 10 colleges of education selected through stratified random sampling participated in the study. The Science Education Program Assessment Model containing 13 identified program standards of science education was used for data gathering. The instrument developed for use in Virginia State science education and adapted for the Nigerian situation was found to be highly reliable using the internal consistency and test-retest procedures. The results indicated that encouraging students to become self-directed learners and emphasizing the utilization of scientific values were prioritized as first and last, respectively. Paired t-test comparing opinions of the students about the desirability and achievement of standards indicated significant differences at p < .01. No significant gender differences were found in the study sample's perception of the desirability and achievement of the science education program standards in Nigeria. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An evaluation of the Nigerian Integrated Science Project (NISP) after a decade of use in the classroom

The following article is an evaluation study of the Nigerian Integrated Science Project (NISP) which focussed on discovering how successful the project had been, a decade after its initial implementation. A number of instruments, including Teachers' Questionnaire, Assessment, Attitude, and Readability Tests, were employed for collecting data from the teachers involved (N=482) and from a cross-section of the students (N=1,894) using the books throughout the country. The results suggest that the teachers of Integrated Science are not favourably disposed towards parts of the project because of their lack of appropriate training; the cognitive objectives achieved are below expectations but the majority of the students have developed positive attitudes towards science through NISP. Areas that particularly need to be examined when revising the Project, and which could be of concern to developers of similar projects in other parts of the world, have been identified.

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Zusammenfassung Der folgende Artikel ist eine Auswertung des nigerianischen Projekts für Integrierte Naturwissenschaft (NISP), welches sich darauf konzentriert, herauszufinden, wie erfolgreich das Projekt ein Jahrzehnt nach seiner Durchführung ist. Eine Anzahl von Mittel, einschließlich des Lehrerfragebogens, Tests zur Materialbeurteilung, zur Einstellung zum Lehrmaterial und zur Lesbarkeit wurden angewandt, um Daten von den betroffenen Lehrern (N=482) und von einem Querrschnitt der Schüler (N=1894) zu gewinnen, die die Bücher im ganzen Land benutzen. Die Resultate zeigen, daß die Lehrer der Integrierten Naturwissenschaft Teilen des Projekts auf Grund mangelnder geeigneter Ausbildung nicht besonders geneigt sind; die kognitiven Ziele, die erreicht wurden, sind unter der Erwartung, aber die Mehrzahl der Schüler haben eine positive Einstellung gegenüber der Naturwissenschaft durch das NISP gewonnen. Die Bereiche, die ganz besonders berücksichtigt werden müssen, wenn das Projekt überarbeitet wird, und die im Interesse von denjenigen, die ähnliche Projekte in anderen Ländern entwickeln, sind identifiziert worden.

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Résumé Cet article est une étude d'évaluation des résultats du Projet Nigérian de Sciences Intégrées (NISP) après dix ans d'expérience pratique. Un grand nombre de moyens, y compris un Questionnaire des Enseignants, leur Appréciation, des Tests sur les Degrés de Difficulté des Textes et sur l'Attitude, ont été utilisés afin de recueillir toutes les données possibles auprès des enseignants concernés (N=482) et aussi d'un échantillonnage d'étudiants (N=1,894) utilisant ces livres dans l'ensemble du pays. Les résultats montrent que les enseignants de Sciences Intégrées ne sont pas favorablement disposés à l'égard du projet et cela par suite de leur manque de formation appropriée; les objectifs cognitifs atteints sont inférieurs aux prévisions établies mais par contre la majorité des étudiants ont acquis et développé une attitude positive vis-à-vis des sciences grâce à ce Projet. On a identifié les domaines qui demandent à être reconsidérés lorsque le Projet sera révisé et qui pourraient intéresser les personnes s'occupant du développement de projets similaires dans d'autres parties du monde.

     

Distance education research priorities for Australia: A study of the opinions of distance educators and practitioners

The advantages of undertaking research in distance education are numerous. They include those which impact on national development, educational practice, professional practice in distance education, policy and management, and the constant review of research needs and methodology.

Research in distance education has suffered from a number of problems which include lack of co‐ordination and focus, and the involvement of comparatively few researchers. This is perhaps why there have been calls of late from some quarters such as the Australian Research Council to prioritise educational research agenda in Australia. Future development in distance education would require a coordinated effort in establishing research priorities in Australia to effectively drive distance education theory and practice. One of the criteria in setting research priorities should be that derived from distance educators and practitioners of distance education. This paper reports on the Australian data collated from an investigation carried out as part of a worldwide study of the opinions of distance educators and practitioners regarding: (1) the availability of research information; (2) the areas in which research efforts should be concentrated; and (3) the order of priority to be given to such research areas in distance education. Using a five‐part questionnaire (with a Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient of .89), the results suggest the need for a conceited effort to embark on vigorous research in almost all areas of distance education. The distance educators and practitioners have also prioritised the areas of research and have ranked the difficulties they face doing research in distance education. The results are discussed and their implications for distance education practice and further research indicated.     

Nature of worldview presuppositions among science teachers in botswana,indonesia, japan,nigeria, and the philippines

The focus of this study was to identify the nature of worldview presuppositions held by a group of science teachers from five non-western cultures. The results show that the subjects, irrespective of their cultural backgrounds, hold identical worldview presuppositions. It is not clear at this exploratory stage to what extent the subjects' alternative viewpoints influenced their scientific outlook or their science teaching. However, an analysis of the subjects' viewpoints suggests either poor conceptualizations of the nature of science or a form of collateral thinking, whereby an individual accepts or uses both mechanistic and anthropomorphic explanations depending on the context in question and without exhibiting any sign of cognitive dissonance. The implications of such a scenario for the teaching-learning process are highlighted.     

Gender Differences in Factors Influencing Achievement of Distance Education Students

The responses of 712 high achieving and low achieving students at the Open University of Hong Kong were analysed to investigate gender differences in factors that contribute to successful achievement in distance education. The analysis indicated a number of gender differences, including in the areas of organisation and use of study materials, confidence about studies, and independent versus collaborative study. Based on these, some questions have been raised about the need to develop some different treatment for male and female students in order to maximise the achievement of both groups.     

An investigation into students’ disposition to the use of objectives in distance learning materials

The use of learning objectives in study materials for external students is an instructional design strategy which is generally accepted. However, with the emergence of the constructivist paradigm in learning theory, there is the question as to whether the use of objectives, underpinned by behaviourist theory, is justified. This study was undertaken to investigate the distance education student's disposition towards objectives, with particular reference to the way they used them and to what their perceptions and expectations were. Responses to a questionnaire revealed that objectives were perceived by the majority of the students sampled as useful to their studies, and that objectives, for them, were an integral part of their learning strategy.     

Timing of ball release in overarm throws affects ball speed in unskilled but not skilled individuals

We tested the hypothesis that variability in the timing of ball release in overarm throws affects ball speed. Nine unskilled and six skilled throwers made 30 throws fast and accurately from a sitting and standing position. Angular positions of finger and arm segments were recorded with search-coils at 1000 Hz; ball speed was measured with a radar gun. The time of ball release from the fingertips was measured with respect to seven arm kinematic reference points. Mean timing windows for ball release were 28?ms for unskilled throwers and 7?ms for skilled throwers. Mixed-model analyses of variance showed that a there was a statistically significant relationship between ball speed and the timing of ball release in unskilled throwers, but not in skilled throwers. This was presumably due to the difference in variability of the timing of ball release between the two groups. In contrast, skilled throwers showed a relationship between ball speed and peak forearm angular velocity (one measure of arm speed). We conclude that although variability in the timing of ball release can affect ball speed, this is only a major factor in unskilled throwers. When skilled throwers throw fast, variability in ball speed is due to variability in arm speed.     

Altering socio-cultural beliefs hindering the learning of science

Recent studies in educational productivity and effectiveness of schooling have shown that certain factors could be altered within the classroom to result in enhanced achievement and positive attitude towards the study of science. A learner who is not positively disposed to, or has a socio-cultural background that is indifferent to the learning of science would find it hard to learn science effectively. If, as suggested by recent research, the socio-cultural characteristics which children in non-western society bring into the classroom from their environment create a wedge between what they are taught and what they learn, it is plausible to hypothesise that school based alterations of the socio-cultural prior knowledge of the learner could result in school effectiveness. This study attempted to determine whether or not instruction based on a socio-cultural model could significantly alter students' attitudes towards the learning of and achievement in science. The sample consisted of 600 senior secondary year one students (442 boys, 156 girls) from 15 secondary schools in Nigeria. The Socio-Cultural Environment Scale (SCES) and the Biology Achievement Test (BAT) were used to measure the change in attitude and achievement of subjects respectively in a pretest — posttest situation after a six-week treatment. Evidence was found from the study to support the hypothesis that science instruction which deliberately involved the discussion of socio-cultural views about science concepts altered students' attitudes toward the study of science. The finding also indicated that some socio-cultural factors were amenable to alterations in such a way as to promote the subjects' positive attitudes towards the study of science.