Tag: CHEMISTRY STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENTS

Sep 17

Teachers Personal Characteristics And Students Academic Performance Students In Chemistry

Teachers Personal Characteristics And Students Academic Performance On Senior Secondary School Students In Chemistry In Odunka Local Government , Cross River State

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Teachers have a direct responsibility to shape a student’s academic performance, and are the most important school based factor in their education (Rockoff, 2004; Rivkin, HanushekKain 2005; Aaronson, Barrow & Sander, 2007). This is why it is important to examine which teacher characteristics may be related to student academic performance.

Considering which teacher characteristics produce the best student academic performance at the Senior Secondary School level can help the school in identifying unique ways to increase student performance with the teacher resources available to them.

Excellence in academic life demands high level of intelligence; but in addition to intelligence, recent studies have indicated that there are other factors that can be useful predictors of academic performance (Busato, Prins, Elshout, &Hamaker, 1999, 2000; Chamorro Premuzic&Furnham, 2003). One of the factors is teachers’ characteristics.

Teachers cannot be undermined in the discussion of knowledge transfer or education in every way. Teachers are very instrumental to the transfer of knowledge. Ali (2009) observes that there is a statistically significant relationship between teachers’ characteristics and student academic performance.

According to Thompson, Greer, & Greer (2005) there are twelve characteristics that are central to what students conceptualize as good teaching which connect to the caring for students, both academically and personally and strengthen recent indicators for academic performance.

These characteristics are: displaying fairness, having a positive outlook being prepared, using a personal touch, respecting students, maintaining high expectations. Possessing a sense of humor, possessing creativity, admitting mistakes, and being forgiving, showing compassion and developing sense of belonging for students.

As humans, we possess an ingrained sense of fair play. We react negatively whenever we are dealt with by someone in a manner that violates what we think constitutes fairness in a situation. Any sign of favoritism, or lack of fairness, can leave scars that last a lifetime.

Borich (2000) suggests that effective teachers are those who use meaningful verbal praise to get and keep students actively participating in the learning process.

Effective teachers are generally positive minded individuals who believe in the success of their students as well as their own ability to help students achieve.

Competence and knowledge of the content area being taught is something that makes a well-prepared teacher more likely to take time during lessons to notice and attend to behavioral matters, effective use of instructional time, student participation and thereby, academic success.

Teachers must show interest in their students, as this promotes bonding. Teachers with a sense of humor make learning fun. If a teacher has a quick wit and the ability to break the ice in difficult situations with the use of humor, students recognize the strength reflected in these teachers, as they provide a wonderful model for how to deal with embarrassing situations effectively.

Students remember unusual things that their teachers did in their teaching. They remember how it related to a subject matter being taught which captivated their interest.

Irvine (2001) suggests that students defined teachers who set limits, provides structure, held high expectations and pushed them to achieve as their favorite teachers. Generally, these behaviors affect student learning. Working to include these traits into everyday teaching routines will ensure that students have a positive school experience as well as a successful one.

Rice (2003) recognized five broad categories of teacher attributes that appear to contribute to teacher quality. They are experience, preparation programs and degrees, type of certification, course work taken in preparation for the profession, and teachers’ own test scores.

Performance as a variable is linked to the teachers’ experience, resulting from the ideas generated in the course of learning, training, acquired classroom management skills/expertise. Teachers’ experience has a significant effect on student performance in the sense that students taught by more experienced teachers achieve at a higher level, because their teachers have mastered the content and gained classroom management skills/expertise to deal with different types of classroom problem (Gibbson, 1997); therefore, academic performance of students in chemistry is dependent on the characteristics that a teacher portray.

According to Mumare& Philip (1981), experience has a significant positive effect on the connection that exist between the quality of a teacher and the academic performance of students in chemistry cannot be over emphasized because they both work hand in glove in showcasing how quality education could be enshrined in an academic process and this could be inferred from the words of Strong (2007); that asserted a positive relationship between teachers’ verbal ability and students’ achievement.

Parents are keen at seeing their children enroll and graduate from prestigious educational institutions as most compete to offer their best educational programs and be at the fore front of academic excellence. People who are directly involved in the students’ academic life are the teachers who provide help to these students.

Classroom teachers are primarily responsible for student academic achievement as a school’s primary focus is on the academic preparation of students.

Statement of the Problem

The issue of declining academic performance of students in chemistry in chemistry  has generated much interest among stakeholders in the educational sector in Nigeria. The quality of education and performance of students depends on the teachers as reflected in the discharge of their duties. Overtime, students’ academic performance in chemistry in both internal and external exams had been used to determine the effectiveness of teachers and teaching. According to Ogunsaju (2004), academic standards have fallen below societal expectations. Considering governments huge investment in public education, its output in terms of quality of students has been observed to be unequal with government expenditure.

Despite the increase in educational attainment by teachers in trying to improve on their qualification and skills/expertise the academic performance of students in chemistry in senior secondary schools has not been encouraging. This is reflected in the falling standard of education in view of the performance of students in examinations like Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), etc.

There is a persistent decline in the academic performance of SSS students in spite of the huge government budgetary allocation on education. There is a prevalent rise in examination mal-practices, where parents, teachers and even stakeholders in the economy spend heavily on prepared solution and ‘assistance’ from teachers to make their students pass examinations without merit.

This has led to a high degree of failure to breed students that are worth their certificates and is giving the country a serious cause for concern.

Functional educational system most time depends on the adequacy of some indispensable behavioral traits of teachers, such as qualification, experience, and skills/expertise among others hence the need for further investigation.

Objective of the Study

The essence of this study is to investigate Teachers Personal Characteristics And Students Academic Performance On Senior Secondary School Students In Chemistry In Odunka Local Government , Cross River State

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The specific objectives are:

  • To determine if the qualification of teachers have an effect on the academic performance of students in chemistry.
  • To find out if teaching experience is related to academic performance of students in chemistry.
  • To examine the relationship between teachers classroom effectiveness and students academic performance.
  • To ascertain the influence of teachers skills/expertise on the academic performance of students in chemistry.

Research Questions

  • There is no significant relationship between teachers’ qualifications and students’ academic performance in chemistry.
  • There is no significant difference in the academic performance of students in chemistry taught by teachers with longer years of experience.
  • There is no significant relationship between teachers’ effectiveness and students’ academic performance in chemistry

 

 

  • There is no significant relationship between teachers’ skill/expertise and students’ academic performance in chemistry.

Research Hypotheses

H01:      There is no significant relationship between teachers’ qualification and students’ academic performance in chemistry.

H02:      There is no significant difference in the academic performance of students in chemistry taught by teachers with more years of experience

H03:      There is no significant relationship between teachers’ effectiveness and students’ academic performance in chemistry.

Ho4:      There is no significant relationship between teachers’ skill/expertise and students’ academic performance in chemistry.

Significance of the Study

This study will look intensively on the effect of teachers’ characteristics on academic performance of students in chemistry. It will be beneficial to stakeholders in the educational sector such as teachers, parents, students, school management, and ministries of education, educational researchers, and the society at large.

It will be used as a guide line for schools in recruiting teachers and also help already recruited teachers in improving their teaching methods.

It will be beneficial to curriculum developers in the framing and designing of topics that will correct and improve the performance of senior secondary school students. Educational researchers will see it as an addition to the literature on teachers’ characteristics and academic performance; giving them a concise and significant outlook of the topic.

The recommendations will enhance academic performance.

Scope of the Study

The scope of the study is limited to only teachers’ characteristics as a determinant of student’s academic performance.

The study is carried out in the Cross River metropolis only. The study is also limited to activities of Senior Secondary Schools and not Junior Secondary Schools or Primary Schools.

The study will make use of both primary and secondary data. Questionnaires will be distributed and used to find out the correlation between teachers’ characteristics and academic performance

 

Sep 17

EFFECT OF USE OF JIGSAW STRATEGY ON CHEMISTRY STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENTS IN MOLE CONCEPT

EFFECT OF USE OF JIGSAW STRATEGY ON CHEMISTRY STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENTS IN MOLE CONCEPT  IN BOKKOS LOCAL GOVERNMENT

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the Effect Of  Use Of Jigsaw Strategy On Chemistry Students Achievements In Mole concept  In Bokkos Local Government. Four research questions and six null hypotheses were posed and formulated respectively to guide the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. This study adopted a quasi-experimental research design, precisely nonequivalent control group design. A total of 156 chemistry students were used as sample for this study. A 30 multiple choice achievement test and mole concept  interest scale were used to collect data for the study. Three experts validated the instrument. The instrument was trial tested and the reliability coefficient of 0.86 and 0.87 were obtained using Kuder-Richardson formula (KR-20) and Cronbach Alpha respectively. The Research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation and the null hypotheses were tested using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).The results of the study revealed among others that Jigsaw instructional strategy improved students’ achievement and interest in mole concept  than lecture method. The implications of the above findings were examined and it was recommended among other things that the chemistry educators, federal and state ministries of education, and secondary school education management board should organize seminars, workshop, conference, and in service training to inform and train teachers on the use of Jigsaw instructional strategy.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Education is shaped with respect to the demands of the changing world; a knowledgebased economy has shaped educational approaches, pedagogy and curriculum. Individuals and societies are being shaped spontaneously with respect to changing demands. Countries are beginning to start educational reforms to reach or keep pace with increasing knowledge (Tang et al. 2012; Dogan et al. 2015). This could be achieved through education by raising the individuals who have analytical thinking strategies. In this aspect, it is important that the individuals in the society have science literacy, understanding of science and ability of using scientific process. Active learning is one of the methods which can be used to reach the desired goals (Gardner and Belland 2012).

Active learning may trigger the situational interest of students in topics; thus, this may help students to understand conceptual facts (by using deeper processing strategies). Cooperative learning methods are also one of the active learning methods and it is based on simple psychological needs for competence which promotes learning (Rotgans and Schmidt 2011; Uyanik 2016). Active learning is a good way to facilitate learning because it enhances thinking strategies which in fact develops cognitive skills of students (Buckley et al. 2011; Byrd 2012).

However, to improve the students’ thinking strategies, it is also necessary to ask them appropriate questions. This means teachers should also be prepared for unexpected questions and answers from students. Moreover, it is also important to give students hands-on activities or homework since it is an essential tool of visualizing the lecture topics for the students (Shieh et al. 2010). Studies point out that students, when become teachers, tend to teach in the way they learned through their education life.

This means pedagogy or core concepts taught at school about teaching and information is not embraced by the future teachers but instead they tend to act with respect to facts based on their experiences. In that case, it is important to give information to students (future teachers) in a constructivist approach which may help the students to experience meaningful learning, and help their future students to achieve better meaningful learning (Tang et al. 2012).

Jigsaw technique is one of the active learning techniques used for educational purposes. This technique relies on sharing materials, purpose and time between students within a group. By doing this, it is assumed that students will benefit from each other, socialize, gain responsibility and regulate their learning (Doymus 2007; Yoonkyung and Yongseob 2015). Bonestroo and Jong (2012) pointed out that self-learning activities are one of the key factors increasing students’ critical thinking levels. However, it is also important to incorporate proper planning into learning activities since studies also indicated that planning has the biggest effect among the factors affecting students’ achievement. Cetin and Akkus (2016) also implied similar points of view. In their paper, they implemented jigsaw technique in the chemistry laboratory and they argued that if course content is not related with proper assessment then positive learning outcomes would not be achieved. Implementing cooperative learning in the right way not only increases academic success but also have positive effects on long term retention of knowledge (Dat 2016). Warfa (2016) in his paper showed that there is a positive relationship between cooperative learning and chemistry achievement. Similar findings were reached by Joel et al. (2016), pointing out that cooperative learning groups have better academic achievement than traditional groups and these findings are statistically significant. Yoruk (2016) used Jigsaw technique in Chemistry laboratory, and pointed out in his paper that using Jigsaw technique in chemistry laboratory increases students’ awareness towards chemistry, chemistry laboratory, and their surroundings along with increasing positive social skills.

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1.2 Statement of the Problem

There is consistent poor achievement of students in Chemistry at senior secondary school level. This poor achievement of students in Chemistry is suspected to be related and attributed to constant use of traditional teaching method (talk and chalk method) in teaching and learning Chemistry. Chemistry as a science subject is practically oriented, hence; there is the need to use innovative strategies such as Jigsaw instructional strategy that guarantees students’ active participation in teaching and learning encounter. Previous research reports show that the use of Jigsaw instructional strategy enhances students’ achievement in subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology and even Geometric Construction in mathematics. Thus, it is not known if the use of Jigsaw instructional strategy could help students to improve their achievements in mole concept  in Chemistry. This gap is what the present study intends to fill.

It is against this background that the problem of this study put in question form is; would the use of jigsaw instructional strategy enhance students’ achievements and interest in mole concept  than the lecture method ?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of the study is to investigate the Effect Of  Use Of Jigsaw Strategy On Chemistry Students Achievements In Mole concept  .

 

Specifically, the study intends to determine the:

  1. Mean achievement scores of students taught mole concept using Jigsaw instructional strategy and lecture method.
  2. Mean interest scores of students taught mole concept using Jigsaw instructional strategy and lecture method.
  • Mean achievement scores of male and female students in mole concept .
  1. Mean interest scores of male and female students in mole concept .
  2. Interaction effects of teaching method and gender on students’ mean achievements scores in mole concept .
  3. Interaction effects of teaching method and gender on students’ mean interest scores in mole concept .

1.4 Significance of the Study

This study has both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the study is anchored on constructivist theory of learning. Constructivist theory of learning holds the view that students are active in the learning process that presents them the opportunity to think critically, and construct meaning from the learning activities. Jigsaw instructional strategy is an innovative teaching approach that enables students to think critically, work/solve problem in groups, and construct meaning from the learning content delivered in the classroom through group interaction and collaborative work. Thus, the findings of this study will help to support or reject the constructivist theory particularly through determining the effect of Jigsaw instructional strategy on students’ achievement and interest in mole concept .

The findings of the study in practical terms will be significant to the students, Chemistry teachers and curriculum planners. The study will be significant to the students in the sense that it will provide the students with the opportunity to work cooperatively. Through this cooperative work, the lower ability students will learn from the higher ability students. Furthermore, the students through this study will acquire skills that will help them solve mole concept  problems in groups which by implication will enhance their achievements and interest in mole concept . The findings will provide Chemistry teachers with an alternative approach of teaching mole concept  for easier understanding and effective application by students. It will provide insight on how to apply Jigsaw instructional strategy in the teaching of mole concept , thus, serving as energizer for more research work on Jigsaw instructional strategy in teaching other difficult concepts of the Chemistry curriculum. This study will provide useful information for teachers training institutions when publication on the work is made. Also as additional activity oriented teaching approach, institutions can then develop new programmes of instruction based on Jigsaw instructional strategy of teaching. Therefore, such programmes of instruction (instruction based, for instance, on the Jigsaw instructional strategy) can be passed-on to teachers through seminars and workshop who then pass the knowledge to the students.

On the part of the curriculum planners, this study will help them plan programmes that will enable students to develop and strengthen their achievements and interest in mole concept . This can be done by including Jigsaw instructional strategy as part of the teaching strategies for teaching and learning Chemistry in secondary schools.

1.5 Scope of the Study

The study will be limited to senior secondary 2-3 (SS2-3) students in Bokkos Local government , Plateau state. The choice of SS2-3 students is because the students by age can work cooperatively during teaching and learning process. The content scope of this study is on mole concept . The choice of this topic is because the students see it as an abstract and a difficult Chemistry concept.

Research Questions

The study following research questions guided the study.

  • What are the mean achievement scores of students taught mole concept using Jigsaw instructional strategy and those taught with lecture method?
  • What are the mean interest scores of students taught mole concept using Jigsaw instructional strategy and those taught with lecture method?
  • What are the mean achievement scores of male and female students in mole concept ?
  • What are the mean interest scores of male and female students in mole concept ?

 1.6 Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide and was tested at 0.05 level of significance.

H01:  There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of the students taught mole concept using Jigsaw instructional strategy and those taught with lecture method.

H02:  There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores of the students taught mole concept using Jigsaw instructional strategy and those taught with lecture method.

H03:  There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female students in mole concept .

H04:  There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores of male and female students in mole concept .

H05:There is no significant interaction effect of method and gender on students’ achievement in mole concept .

H06: There is no significant interaction effect of method and gender on students’ interest in mole concept .