Investigating the Effects of Bangladesh and Global Studies (BGS) Assessment of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Examination on Students Learning (Published)
The study determines to find out the present situation of Bangladesh and Global Studies test items/creative questions in Bangladesh. This descriptive study was conducted using a concurrent triangulation research design. To conduct this study both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. 16 test of Bangladesh and Global Studies test items/creative question papers of 2015 or 2016 were selected purposively as a sample from all educational boards. Bangladesh and Global Studies curriculum were analyzed to find out the major skills reflected through the curriculum. 48 students were selected conveniently for an interview from those who had been passed the SSC examination of 2015 or 2016. For collecting data from these sources, test analysis protocol, the curriculum content reading protocol and interview protocol were used as research tools. Test analysis protocol consisted of two criteria; wording criteria and practising criteria. Selected test items were analyzed based on these two criteria and Bloom’s cognitive domain. The study revealed that there was an imbalance in wording criteria and practising criteria of test items. SSC examination test items didn’t reflect the major skills of the curriculum appropriately. Most of the test items promoted students lower level learning and ignored higher level learning.
Keywords: Assessment, Bangladesh and Global Studies, Curriculum, Examination, SSC, Secondary Education
Parenting Styles as Correlates of Students’ Attitude towards Examination Malpractices in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State: Implications for Counselling (Published)
Parenting styles refers to practices adopted by parents in rearing their children. A good parenting style is needed to develop in a child interpersonal relationship, capacity to take initiatives, self-reliance, motivation and to conform to societal acceptable code of conduct. Bad parenting style is counterproductive and may as well get children involved in antisocial behaviours including examination malpractices. This work is a correlational study intended to determine the relationship between parenting styles and students’ attitude towards examination malpractices. Three research questions and three hypotheses were designed to guide the study. The instruments for data collection were Students’ Attitude to Examination Malpractices Scale and Parenting Style Scale. These instruments were vetted by three experts in Educational Psychology. The reliability coefficient of Attitude to Examination Malpractices Scale measured through test-retest method and Pearson product moment correlation technique was 0.86. The reliability indices of sections of Parenting Style Scale established through Cronbach Alpha technique were 0.68, 0.81, 0.73 and 0.84 for sections A, B, C and D respectively. It was found that though, majority of the students showed negative attitude towards examination malpractices, a sizeable percentage of them showed positive attitude towards the malaise. Authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and neglectful parenting styles had a significant joint relationship with students’ attitude towards examination malpractices. Authoritative, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles each had individual negative relationship with students’ attitude towards examination malpractices while neglectful parenting style had a positive relationship with students’ attitude towards examination malpractices. Based on these findings, it is imperative for the counsellors to assist prospective couples through premarital counselling or marital counselling to adopt good parenting styles especially authoritative parenting style in nurturing their children. Appreciable number of counsellors should be employed by the government of Rivers State and sent to secondary schools to help maladjusted students acquire good value re-orientation that will enable them distinguish what is good from what is bad with a view to avoiding negative tendencies including examination malpractices.
Keywords: Authoritarian, Authoritative, Corruption, Examination, Fraud, Test, antisocial behaviour, cheating, malpractices, neglectful parenting styles, permissive
Examination of The Readability Level Of Some Approved Science Textbooks in Use in Junior Secondary Schools in Ebonyi State Of Nigeria (Published)
This study was designed to examine the readability level of some approved Science textbooks in use in Junior Secondary Schools in Ebonyi State of Nigeria. The sample of the study consisted of three (3) approved Science textbooks, 21 Junior Secondary Schools randomly selected from the 3 Education zones of the State. The instrument used for data collection is Science Textbook Readability Text (CSTRT). The data were interpreted using a standard guideline for calculation and readability level by Harrison (1980). The results of the findings showed that the approved Science textbooks were very readable. Based on the findings, conclusion were drawn and it was recommended that Science textbooks should be revised periodically to enrich the readability of the textbooks
Keywords: Examination, Learning, Readability Level, Science Textbook, Teaching