Effect of Formative Assessment Methods on Mastery of Mathematics Course Content by Junior Secondary School Students in Obio-Akpor LGA of Rivers State (Published)
Formative assessment remains one of the most regular assessment tools which most teachers adopt in the process of assessing the performance of students. However, apart from just providing insight to the teacher, these methods over the years remain controversial on its ability to help students in gaining mastery of course content. Hence, the study focus on effect of formative assessment methods on mastery of mathematics course content by junior secondary school students in Obio-Akpor LGA of Rivers state. The study adopted the pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design. Three specific objectives and corresponding hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of 14,350 junior secondary school students in public schools in Obio-Akpor LGA of Rivers State. The sample size included eighty (80) participant drawn using multi-stage sampling process. The “Junior Secondary Mathematics Test” (JSMT) was used as instrument for data collection. Table of specification was used to validate the test while KR21 was used in determining a reliability index of 0.88. Participants were randomized into three experimental groups and one control group. Specifically, group A, B and C consisted of 20 participants who were given class test, take home assignments as well as engaging in class discussions respectively. Group D was tagged as the control group. In determining the cut off score for mastery of JSMT, the Angolf method was used by sending JSMT to five judges. From the average, the overall percentage for the five judges stood at 67.7% indicating that for any students to be considered and mastering the “Junior Secondary Mathematics Test” (JSMT), it is required that 34 of 50 test items must be correct. Mean, standard deviation and independent t-test was used in data analysis.
Keywords: Formative assessment, Mastery, Mathematics, assignments, class discussion, class test
Mastery Learning Approach versus Constructivist-Based Learning Approach on Senior Secondary School Students’ Academic Achievement in Biology (Published)
This study as a comparative study, investigated the impact of two learning approaches, mastery learning approach and constructivist-based learning approach on senior secondary school students’ academic achievement in biology. The population of the study comprised of the 2016/2017 academic session of the senior secondary school biology students of Hallmark Academy Secondary School, Omoku, Rivers State. An intact class of 58 students in two streams (A/B) made up the sample size. Stream A had twenty eight (28) students who were taught using Mastery learning Approach, while stream B had thirty (30) students who were taught using Constructivist-Based Learning Approach. The instrument was a post 20-item test with a reliability coefficient of 0.66 gotten using test re-test, which was administered to the two groups. T-test statistics was the analytical tool used in testing the two hypotheses of this study. The study revealed that students taught using Mastery learning approach had higher academic achievements than those taught using constructivist-based learning approach. Consequently, it is recommended that Mastery Learning Approach should be encouraged in schools for mastery of subject contents and improved students’ achievement in science subjects especially in biology.
Keywords: Academic Achievement, Constructivist-Based, Learning Approach, Mastery