scholarly journals Effect of Problem-Solving Instructional Technique on Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Chemistry in Anambra State, Nigeria

Author(s):  
Achugbu Chinwe N. J. ◽  
Eke Joy Anulika
Author(s):  
Chioma N. P Mbachu ◽  
Joy C. Ebenebe ◽  
Ikechukwu I. Mbachu ◽  
Chizalu I. Ndukwu ◽  
Jacinta C. Elo-Ilo ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectivesUse of Psychoactive substances by young people poses an important public health threat despite mass campaigns and education. There have been documentations of rise in prevalence and use of psychoactive substances by Nigerian adolescents in urban areas of Nigeria. Few reports exist on in-school adolescents in rural areas, and differences in their sociodemographic profile such as public/private school attendance, day/boarding status and socioeconomic status of students. The study determined the rate and sociodemographic profile of psychoactive substance use among secondary school students in selected rural communities in Anambra state, Nigeria.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study in which multistage sampling was used to select 494 students from selected secondary schools in Anambra state. Data on age, gender, socioeconomic status, student status, school category, alcohol, tobacco and intravenous drug use were obtained using pretested semi-structured questionnaires. Analysis of data was done using IBM SPSS statistics software version 20.0, frequency, percentages and means were calculated, with cross-tabulation done for variables (Chi-square and Fishers exact test where applicable). Level of significance for tests of association set at 5%.ResultsA total of 494 participants were studied of which 48.8% (n=241) were males. The mean age was 14.5 ± 1.8 years. The prevalence of lifetime use of psychoactive substance was 22.5%. Prevalence for individual substances were 21.9% (n=108), 1.8% (n=9) and 0.8% (n=4) respectively for alcohol, tobacco and illicit intravenous drugs. Neither gender {6 males (2.5%), 3 females (1.2%), p=0.890}, age {10–13 years (1.3%), 14–16 years (2.1%), >16 years (1.7%), p=0.329}, student status {day (2.6%), boarding (1.2%), p=0.320}, social class {upper (0.9%), middle (0.6%), lower (3.1%), p=0.208 } nor school category {private (1.5%), public (2.1%), p=0.742} of students was significantly associated with smoking and respectively. More males (73/241=30.3%, p<0.001) took alcohol than females (35/253 = 13.8%) and this was statistically significant. Participants from the lower socioeconomic class (30.3%, p<0.001) had a significantly higher rate of alcohol consumption than those from the upper (11.8%) and middle classes (16.7%) respectively. Higher rate was noted among those who attended public schools (30.8%, p<0.001) compared to those who attended private schools (13.8%). Day students (30.2%, p<0.001) indulged more in alcohol than boarding students (14.3%). There was no association between either the class (junior=22.5%, senior=21.3%, p=0.759) or age of participants (10–13 years=20.7%, 14–16 years=20.1%, >16 years=33.3%, p=0.071) and alcohol consumption. No association was found between age (0.7%, 1.1%, p=1.000), gender (male=1.2%, female=0.4%, p=0.362), social class (lower=1.3%, upper=0.9%, p=0.443), student status (day=0.9%, boarding=0.8%, p=1.000), school category (junior=0.8%, senior=0.8%, p=1.000) and intravenous drug use.ConclusionsThe rate of about 22% alcohol use by secondary school students in rural south eastern Nigeria, which is strongly associated with male gender, low socioeconomic status, day student status and public school attendance is high.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ifeoma Bridget Udigwe ◽  
Chioma Phyllis Nnamani ◽  
Chioma Chetachukwu Ajator ◽  
Chioma Pauline Mbachu ◽  
Ogochukwu Chioma Ofiaeli ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Gender-based violence (GBV) increases during every type of emergency whether economic crises, conflicts or disease outbreak like in the case of Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and types of GBV among secondary school students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Anambra State, South East, Nigeria.Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study, conducted among 403 secondary school student who were recruited consecutively after consent and assent were gotten. Self-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data was analysed using STATA version 16.0. The level of significance for test of association was set at p-value < 0.05Results: The prevalence of GBV was 63.28%, emotional/verbal abuse were the most prevalent type while sexual abuse was the least type (85.5% vs 8.2%). The highest perpetrator of the emotional/verbal abuse were their fellow students (64.8%). The relationship between GBV and impact of abuse was statistically significant for academic performance, alcohol and tobacco intake (p-values: 0.040, 0.010, 0.029 respectively)Conclusion: The prevalence of GBV is high among students during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the emotional/verbal type being the most prevalent type. GBV has an impact on their academic performance and social lives. We therefore recommend that stakeholders should have target programs to address the diverse effects of GBV on students especially with the pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 001-007
Author(s):  
Nweze Kenneth Emeka

Scabies has been listed as one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases. Therefore, this study aimed at estimating the prevalence of Scabies among Secondary School Students in Anambra State, Nigeria. A survey of Scabies infection was conducted in fifty (50) randomly selected secondary schools in the three geographical zones of Anambra State, Nigeria. A well-structured questionnaire was employed to elucidate information on age, sex and also on knowledge, attitude and perception (KAP). Focus group discussions, direct clinical observations and microscopic examinations using the skin scraping test method for the confirmation of scabies infestation were also employed. Data analysis was done using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23 and Microsoft Excel version 16. Out of the five thousand (5000) students examined 500 (10.0%) were identified as positive from the research works, the sex-specific prevalent rate showed that 209 out of the 3000 females (6.97%) were positive while 291 out of the 2000 males (14.55%) were positive. The age-specific prevalence showed that age groups 10 to 12 years had the highest prevalence rate (29.0%) and 9.6% in both the male and female students respectively. The infectivity rate among urban and rural schools showed that rural students were more prone to scabies infections (14.12%) than their urban counterparts (5.88%) and the difference was statistically significant. The result of this study helped identify some students with Scabies infection in Anambra state Nigeria for appropriate treatment, prevention and control measures to curb the menace of Scabies infestation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 1279-1310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ünal Çakıroğlu ◽  
Suheda Mumcu

This exploratory study attempts to determine problem solving steps in block based programming environments. The study was carried out throughout one term within Code.org. Participants were 15 6th grade secondary school students enrolled in an IT course at a public secondary school. Observations, screenshots and interviews were analyzed together to find out what students do and what they think during problem solving process. As a result, three main steps (focus, fight and finalize) were extracted from students’ behavioral patterns. The results suggest that three steps occur in linear or cyclic manner with regard to the programming constructs required for the solution of the problem. Implications for instructors who desire to provide a better learning experience on problem solving through block-based programming are also included.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maghsoud Danesh ◽  
Nava Nourdad

The present study investigated the relationship between Creative Problem Solving (CPS) skill of Iranian secondary school students and their reading comprehension ability. The sample of participants included 70 second grade students randomly selected among secondary school students. The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking was used to measure CPS. Also, a valid and reliable teacher-made reading comprehension test was applied to asses reading comprehension ability of the participants. The results indicated that there was a positively significant correlation between reading comprehension ability and CPS skill. Among the sub-components of CPS, elaboration and originality revealed positively significant correlation with reading comprehension. Furthermore, the findings suggested a dire need of accommodating creativity and CPS techniques and activities in EFL materials, text book. Teaching creativity is highly recommended as a prerequisite for every kind of learning including foreign language learning.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (32) ◽  
pp. 271
Author(s):  
Chinyelu Nwokolo ◽  
Obianuju Blessing Mokwelu ◽  
Uche Eva Eneasator

Test anxiety constitutes a serious academic impediment to lots of students in schools. This study investigated the Effects of Meditation technique on test anxiety among secondary school students in Anambra State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Quasi-experimental research was adopted in carrying out the study. A sample size of 101 adolescents was chosen from a population of 475 adolescents in SS2 with test anxiety. The sample was derived from two schools selected using purposive sampling technique based on the number of students that scored high on Test Anxiety Inventory. Data relating to research questions were analysed using statistical Mean while data relating to hypothesis was analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Findings from the study revealed among others that though the reduction of secondary school students’ test anxiety after meditation technique differed significantly with that of the conventional counselling group, meditation technique was not effective on secondary school students’ test anxiety. It further revealed that meditation technique reduced the secondary school students’ test anxiety. Based on the findings, implications of the study were noted and recommendations made that since the technique meditation was found not to be effective, but significantly reduced the test anxiety of the participants, the technique should not be used alone by the guidance counsellors in helping clients, especially students in overcoming their test anxiety in schools.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 180
Author(s):  
Huseyin Uzunboylu ◽  
Cigdem Hursen

From the EditorsHuseyin Uzunboylu, Cigdem HursenIt is an honour for us to welcome you as Editors of Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences which has accepted publications indexed in qualified databases since 2006. Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences (CJES) is listed in many scholarly citation indexes; DOAJ, Ulrich's Educational Research Abstracts (ERA), EBSCO, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, Asian Education Index & AWER index. Also our major aim is to increase the quality of the journal day by day. We are ready to publish the new studies of Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences which has 9 full length articles written by authors from, Cyprus, Canada, Nigeria and Turkey.The aim of this issue is to give the researchers an opportunity to share their academic studies. First of all, I would like to thank all who have contributed to this issue. There are different focuses. For example, Hayat Boz and Sibel Esra Karatasexplored the impact of Internet use on QOL of the elderly by examining available researches in this field. By searching on ADM Digital Library, WEB Science, ERIC, PsycINFO and PubMed databases, this study reviewed 25 studies published after 1990 that investigates the relationship between Internet use and QOL of elderly. The synthesis of the research findings indicates that the functional use of computer and Internet improves QOL for older people. The findings also provide a comprehensive perspective on the current state of knowledge and raises questions for further research.On the other hand, Japo Oweikeye Amasuomo, examined the academic performance of students in the compulsory courses in technical education during the transition period of first and second years of three years Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) Technical programme before choosing their disciplines in the third year. The study established that, students in Electrical/Electronics discipline performed better than their counterparts who made Automobile, Building, Metalwork and Woodwork as their discipline, and the academic performance of the five groups of students differed significantly. Also, Hussain Ali Alkharusi examined students' perceptions of classroom assessment tasks as a function of gender, subject area, and grade level. Results showed that students tended to hold positive perceptions of their classroom assessment tasks in terms of congruence with planned learning, authenticity, student consultation, transparency, and diversity.In addition to these, Johnson Enero Upahi, Ganiyat Bukola Issa and Oloyede Solomon Oyelekan carried out a study on students. This study assesses the classroom activities which are the fundamental process required to determine the extent to which intended learning outcomes has been achieved. Emrah Soykan aimed to identification of views of teachers, students and their parents at Near East College in North Cyprus on use of tablets in education. The research is a descriptive case study. As result of the analysis carried out in this research, it has been seen that teachers, students and parents evaluate the problems related with tablet PCs under the following two sub-dimensions; the experienced problems of during tablet supported education and the benefits of tablet pc usage in education.Zeynep Karatas and E. Tremblay Richard examined the level of depressive symptoms of the secondary school students in Turkey and Canada has been aimed in this study. The research group of the study consists of 1050 secondary school students with the average age of 13. Their socio-economic levels are low in both countries, Canada and Turkey. The study revealed that the level of depressive symptoms of Turkish secondary school students has been found higher than the level of depressive symptoms of Canadian secondary school students. While the levels of depressive symptoms of the Canadian female students have been higher than male students, the level of depressive symptoms of Turkish students has not differentiated in terms of their genders. Behiye Akacan and Gurcan Secim examine the responses of university students in social anxiety situations in order to create a psychological counselling program with a structured group based on Cognitive Behavioural and Existential Approaches. These responses involve the behaviour and thoughts of the university students in situations where they experience or anticipate social anxiety. The findings of the study revealed that the thoughts regarding the social anxiety situations of the final year students studying in Guidance and Psychological Counselling and Pre-School Teaching departments are generally negative and their behaviour usually presents as desertion or avoidance.Also, Halil İbrahim Akyuz and Hafize Keser examined the effect of an educational agent, used in online task based learning media, and its form characteristics on problem solving ability perceptions of students. It is determined that applied method has an important effect on problem solving ability perception of students and that the educational agent in the role of teacher is more effective than the role of friend in the development of problem solving ability perception. Finally Muge Tacman and Nazan Comunoglu examined  the way how the primary school class teachers evaluate the candidates, what their  expect from the candidates and the effectivenes of the teaching training program being conducted in Ataturk Teacher Training Academy (AOA)  to fulfill these expectations. Research findings were studied and interpreted in the framework of 4 main topics which are field knowledge, basic professional attitudes, effective communication and teaching abilities.I would like to express my thanks to all authors preferring Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences to make their articles published, all reviewers working seriously in the process of publishing, and also quest editors supporting us in this process.Best regards,Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu, Editor-in-ChiefAssist. Prof. Dr. Cigdem Hursen, Executive Editor 


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