The study investigated the effects of concept mapping instructional strategy on students' ability in organic chemistry. The study was carried out in E nugu State of Nigeria. Specifically the pretest posttest non -equivalent control group research design was used. The study employed a quasi experimental design. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The experiment was done on the teaching of Chemistry to senior secondary school students two (SS2). A sample of 200 students (92 boys and 108 girls) selected randomly out of the population of 457 students in SS2 from four public secondary schools in Enugu State. Pre-test of Chemistry was given to both the groups and the results were recorded. One group was taken as a control group which was taught Chemistry by the teach er who used conventional approach of teaching while the other i.e the experimental group was taught by the teacher who used concept mapping teaching strategy. After one month 's time of teaching, a post -test was conducted. Mean, standard deviation and Analysis of Co -Variance (ANCOVA) were used to analyze data. Results showed that concept mapping is an effective strategy for teaching and learning chemistry. The strategy is also capable of improving students' mastery of content at the higher-order levels of cognition. Based on the findings, the study recommended that concept mapping should be added to the teaching strategies of chemistry teachers at the secondary school level.
The accepted general notion that chemistry is abstract in nature as it is presented via mathematical formulars, structures and arrows, goes to a long extent in being perceived difficult by the students, which in turn hinders their academic achievement and interest in the subject. Hence, the study investigated difficult concepts in chemistry as perceived by students and teachers in senior secondary schools in Agbani Education Zone of Enugu State. Two research questions guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population for the study comprised 1462 senior secondary school three (SS3) chemistry students and 45 chemistry teachers in public secondary schools within Agbani Education Zone. A sample size of 359 (314 students and 45 teachers) was used for the study. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled Difficult Chemistry Concepts Questionnaire (DCCQ), which was designed by the researcher. The instrument was divided into two sections namely: A and B. Sections A was based on the respondents' biodata while B consisted 46-item statements structured to elicit information from the respondents. The instrument was validated by three experts. In order to determine reliability of the instrument, the researcher administered 30 copies of the questionnaire on 28 SS3 chemistry students and 2 teachers in two schools in Enugu Education Zone to determine the overall reliability index of the instrument. Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient formula was used to estimate the reliability of the instrument, and an overall reliability coefficient of.75 was established. The data were collected by the researcher with the help of two research assistants. The collected data were analyzed using mean scores and standard deviation. The decision rule for interpreting the results was based on the values of the calculated means. Item responses on each of the research questions were considered high and difficult when the mean is 2.50 and above, and low and not difficult when less than 2.50. The results of the analysis revealed that the chemistry concepts in senior secondary school that teachers and students perceived as difficult are: chemical combination, mass volume relationship (stoichiometry), acid, base reaction, oxygen and its compounds, among others. The study also revealed that there was a significant difference between male and female chemistry students as well as teachers in their mean difficulty in some concepts. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that: teachers and students should devote greater attention to the teaching and learning of these difficult concepts, and workshops
This study focused on teachers' academic self-concept and academic stress as predictors of academic achievement of Biology students' in Enugu Education Zone. Six (6) null hypotheses were postulated for the study. The study adopted ex-post-facto research design. The population of study comprised 74 Biology teachers in 33 public secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone with SS 2 biology students' population of 4,737. The sample consisted of all the Biology teachers' in the Zone and a sample of 10% of the students' were sampled from the Biology teachers' classroom. The instrument used for data collection were three (3) Marsh teachers' academic self-concept scale, Balamurugau and Kumaran academic stress scale and Students' scores from their promotion examination 2022/2023 academic year were used to measure their academic achievement in Biology. The instruments were validated by three experts and the internal consistency reliability was determined though Cronbach Alpha method. The teachers' self-concept scale yielded a reliability index of 0.92 while teachers' academic stress scale yielded an index of 0.88 coefficients. The data collected were analysed using Simple and multiple regression analysis with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. The findings of the study showed that: Teacher academic self-concept significantly and positively predicted students' academic achievement in Biology in Enugu Education Zone; likewise, teachers' academic stress significantly and negatively predicted students' academic achievement in Biology in Enugu Education Zone. Based on these findings it was recommended amongst others that Biology teachers should arrange learning activities, in such a way that it will help students to be self-directed in their learning in order to have significantly positive achievement in Biology.
Cause and effect of biological phenomena seem to remain ambiguous to most people, including biology students. Understanding the concept of biological phenomena requires proper articulation of biological concepts and scientific reasoning. This study on enhancing the understanding of biology students on how and why biological phenomena occur through causal reasoning was carried out in Enugu North local government area of Enugu State, Nigeria. The population of the study was 4,612 biology students in Enugu North local government area. The sample size was thirty (30) biology students. This was made up of one (1) male and one (1) female, biology student that were sampled through simple random sampling, by balloting, from each of the three senior secondary school classes of five public co-education schools in Enugu North local government areas. Pre-teaching and post-teaching of causal reasoning interviews were conducted on the students to determine the impact of teaching causal reasoning to the students. Data collected from their interview responses prior to the teaching and after the teaching of causal reasoning about biological phenomena were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and subjected to Chi-Square test at 0.05 level of significance, to determine the impact of the teaching on their understanding of how and why biological phenomena occur. The Chi-Square test result indicated that there was significant association between causal reasoning with enhancement of the understanding of biology students on how and why biological phenomena occur. It was, therefore, recommended that teaching towards understanding how and why biological phenomena occurred, should be approached through scientific reasoning, by the teachers. Biology teachers should teach their students on how to think analytically and scientifically in order to understand and interpret biological phenomena.
The problem of poor achievement in Physics in external examinations by students in Ebonyi State, Nigeria warranted the study. The need to use of a cutting-edge individualized instruction rooted in artificial intelligence to measure its potency in curbing the menace of poor achievement becomes necessary. The study examined the effect of self -regulated learning strategy through chat-generative-pretrained-transformer model4 (ChatGPT4) on senior secondary school students' achievement in projectile motion concepts. The study was guided by 2 research questions and 2 hypotheses. The design of the study was none- equivalent control groups quasi-experimental. The population for the study was 10,679 senior secondary school two Physics students in the thirty -one secondary schools for 2017/2018 academic session in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi state, Nigeria. The s ample size for the study was 316 se nior secondary school two Physics students in 4 sampled co-educational secondary schools in Ohaukwu. Projectile motion achievement test (PMAT) was the instrument used for data collection. Kuder-Richardson's formula-20 was used to determine the internal consistency reliability of P MAT. The coefficient was 0.88. Mean and standard deviations were used in answering the research questions while 2× 2 analysis of covariance was used to test the hypotheses at.05 level of significance. The result of the study showed that the students who learnt Physics using self- regulated individualized learning s trategy: ChatGPT model4 achieved better than th eir counterparts, who learnt Projectile motion using expository method. The result of the study also showed that there was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and female students who learnt projectile motion concepts using ChatGPT model4. Hence, it was recommended that Physics students should use ChatGPT model 4 which is gender-friendly to enhance their self-learning in Physics concepts.
Basic education means a component intended to ensure functional li teracy for all jobs participants. Technical and Vocational education remains that form of educatio n which helps its recipients to acquire knowledge and specific skills with which to work and earn a living. Both the Nigerian government and masses have suffered high economic downturns given negligence towards these systems of education. This is evident in the high turnout of people who are either unemployable a nd at the same time cannot survive except they are dependent in the Nigeria. As a result, this paper examined the relevance of technical and vocational educ ation in making the recipients of basic education self-reliant. Related concepts were extensively discussed and in the course of this review, it was discovered that technical and vocational education will forever be likened to the wand in the hands of a magician with respect to solving the eco nomic problems of any society. B ased on this, it was suggested that government and school managers should among other things, do the following: 1) make Practical trainings compulsory for all the children of basic education. 2)Make Basic education programme relevant/attractive throu gh practical and holistic trainings.
