An Assessment of Teachers’ Knowledge of Test Construction Procedure in Chemistry Objective Test in Senior Secondary Schools
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is as follows:
- To determine the level of competence of chemistry teachers as regards their knowledge and skills and constant utilization of sequential stages of test construction of teacher made achievement test.
- To find out if the teacher made tests constructed by the chemistry teachers in Edo Central Senatorial District of Edo State as a tool for assessing students’ level of achievement, possess the basic psychometric properties.
3. Find out if gender difference in teacher has any significant relationship with their knowledge of test construction. - To ascertain if the educational qualification and experience of chemistry teachers has any significant relationship with their test construction skills.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
NATURE OF CHEMISTRY
Emphasis in chemistry teaching, as it is practiced, has often focused on facts, vocabulary, definitions, algorithms, and basic skills, rather than on higher-order thinking through practical work or inquiry within authentic investigations. Chemistry learning too often occurs by rote learning off actual knowledge (Gabel, 1998). Teaching has often focused more on transmission of information than on knowledge construction in small groups. Most activities found in laboratory manuals require students to operate with lower-order thinking skills rather than with higher-order thinking skills. Students are often not allowed enough time for deep processing‖ of information during their practical work, due to time constrains. Also, students often do not want to think for themselves they just want to know the right answer (Lawson, 2002). There is often a lack of necessary inquiry skills, i.e. science process skills and students also often lack interest in studying chemistry. Research-based approaches take into account chemistry teachers‘ needs regarding chemistry teaching and ICT use needed to create a rich learning environment that can support secondary level chemistry students‘ meaningful learning and higher-order thinking. The effectiveness of ICT tools depends much on teachers‘understanding of how to use them. Teachers often fail to adapt an ICT innovation because it is not easily integrated within school-level activities in chemistry. To promote scientific understanding of chemistry (meaningful chemistry learning) requires an increased focus on secondary level students‘higher -order thinking skills (HOTS) that is, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating or synthesizing. All students need to employ higher-order thinking skills to acquire scientific literacy for better lifelong learning. This includes understanding scientific content, the scientific enterprise, and having the ability to apply methods of science to construct or to evaluate explanations of natural phenomena, every student must become more aware of their own thinking processes, learning strategies, and methods. Cultivating High Order Thinking Skills in chemistry can help students understand basic principles of chemistry that they also encounter in everyday life, and to make personal, social, and economic decisions.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought construction procedure in chemistry objective test in senior secondary school.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain construction procedure in chemistry objective test in senior secondary school. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of construction procedure in chemistry objective test in senior secondary school.
Summary
This study was on construction procedure in chemistry objective test in senior secondary school. Four objectives were raised which included: To determine the level of competence of chemistry teachers as regards their knowledge and skills and constant utilization of sequential stages of test construction of teacher made achievement test, to find out if the teacher made tests constructed by the chemistry teachers in Edo Central Senatorial District of Edo State as a tool for assessing students’ level of achievement, possess the basic psychometric properties, find out if gender difference in teacher has any significant relationship with their knowledge of test construction, to ascertain if the educational qualification and experience of chemistry teachers has any significant relationship with their test construction skills . In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected secondary schools Edo Central Senatorial District in Edo state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made principals, vice principals administration, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The findings confirm that the use of chemistry practical’s is an effective method in improving students‟ performance in chemistry in secondary schools regardless of their gender. They also confirm that the nature, quality and frequency of chemistry practical’s in teaching and learning of chemistry boosts learner performance in chemistry. Use of chemistry practical’s enhances students‟ knowledge and understanding in a better way compared to none use of the chemistry practical’s. While it is important to encourage use of chemistry practical’s in the teaching and learning of chemistry, it is equally important to consider the nature, quality and frequency of the practical work.
Recommendation
Based on the findings of this study, and their implications, the following recommendations are made.
- The teaching of chemistry in secondary school should be conducted in a manner that students will effectively understand and learn the concept taught. It should be practical as the use of improvised instructional materials has play greater role in students’ achievement.
- Teacher should try to improvise instructional materials and encourage students to do the same. This will gives students enough understanding of Biology concepts as the child’s local environment will be use to source for the materials.
- There should be cordial relationship between policy makers and schools for the provision of essential resource materials, like laboratory, glass wares, reagents, microscope, burner, etc
REFERENCES
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- Adeyemi, A. and Olaleye, A. (2010). Effect of Students’ Involvement in the Production of Instructional Materials on their Academic Performance in Biology. Retrieved October 20, 2010 from http://www.ladb.org/3ds/doc/educationandtechnology2
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