Content Validation of Basic Education Certificate Examination Questions in Basic Science in Adamawa State, Nigeria

The study assessed the content validation of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) questions in Basic Science set by Adamawa State Educational Resource Centre (ERC), Yola, Nigeria. This was to determine the representativeness of the topics and their levels of the cognitive domain in the Junior Secondary School Basic Science curriculum in the Basic Education Certificate Examination in Basic Science question papers from 2013 to 2017. Document analysis research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised all past Basic Education Certificate Examination questions in Basic Science. The research instrument used for the data collection was a designed checklist along table of specification. A pilot study was conducted and a reliability index of 0.86 was obtained using Cronbach alpha analysis. Three research questions were raised with two hypotheses tested at 0. 05 level of significance. The result of the findingp=0.000 revealed that there is no significant difference between the topics in the Basic Science curriculum and those examined in the Basic Education Certificate Examination questions in Basic Science. Again, the result 0.675 showed that there is significant difference between the weights assigned to the various levels of cognitive domain in the Basic Science curriculum and those weights assigned to them in Basic Education Certificate Examination Basic Science question papers. Based on the findings, it was recommended that re-training, workshops, conferences and seminars should be organized for Basic Science teachers and external examiners regularly to update their knowledge on test construction.

Synergistic, ecological education development: The Vietnam Consortium Fellowship Program

This article presents an analysis of a learning community that formed in a project in science curriculum development at the tertiary level in Vietnam during the nineties. This ‘Vietnamese Consortium Fellowship Program’ was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and delivered through Simon Fraser University (SFU) from 1993 to 1999. The aim of the project was to develop and implement a master of science (MSc) program in science curriculum research for twenty young professors of science selected from among the eleven universities of the consortium to assist in developing an educationally sound, up-to-date basic science curriculum for the initial phase of post-secondary science education in Vietnam.

Article Commentary: Group Learning Assessments as a Vital Consideration in the Implementation of New Peer Learning Pedagogies in the Basic Science Curriculum of Health Profession Programs

Inspired by reports of successful outcomes in health profession education literature, peer learning has progressively grown to become a fundamental characteristic of health profession curricula. Many studies, however, are anecdotal or philosophical in nature, particularly when addressing the effectiveness of assessments in the context of peer learning. This commentary provides an overview of the rationale for using group assessments in the basic sciences curriculum of health profession programs and highlights the challenges associated with implementing group assessments in this context. The dearth of appropriate means for measuring group process suggests that professional collaboration competencies need to be more clearly defined. Peer learning educators are advised to enhance their understanding of social psychological research in order to implement best practices in the development of appropriate group assessments for peer learning.