Assessment as a Tool in Communicating on Teaching and Learning of Mathematics Among Junior Secondary School
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the Study
Purpose of this study is to investigate assessment as a tool in communicating on teaching and learning of mathematics among junior secondary schools. The following are the specific objectives of the study:
- To identify the extent to which assessment techniques has been of great gain to the school system.
- To examine the capabilities of schools using the Assessment technique and to proffer solutions based on the observed problems on how to make the technique more indigenous and reflective of our local needs especially in our schools.
- To determine the problems created by the introduction of assessment technique in our school system.
- To establish the benefits or gains recorded by school system as a result of the bringing into play of assessment technique.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The review is presented under the following sub headings.
Conceptual Framework
- Concept of Assessment
- Characteristic of Assessment of assessment
- Techniques used in the administration
Theoretical Framework
- Behaviorist learning theory
- Cognitive, constructivist theories of learning
Empirical Studies
Summary of Literature Review
Conceptual Framework
Concept of Assessment
Assessment can be seen as taking into account the child’s all round performance in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor during a given period of schooling using a wide range of instructions according to (Ebon: 2011) assessment is the process of assessing a student in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of behaviour over a period of time using several techniques in order to help him fully develop his ability. According to (Ajuonuma, 20010), it is a process of gathering and fashioning data into an interpretable form of making decisions. This process involves data collecting which will be used in making value judgment concerning the quality of a person, object, group or an event. A good assessment can make the following contributions, promote the development of reading skills and encourage long term habits through reading, listening etc. These learning habits form the key to continuous success in school and to the personal enrichment of leisure (Obi, 2013).
Study habits are learning tendencies that enable students to work privately. It is also an adopted way and manner a student plans his or her private readings after classroom learning so as to attain mastery of these subjects .Good study habits are good assets to learners because the habits assist students to attain mastery in areas of specialization and consequent excellent performances (Azikwe, 2010). Senior secondary school is a post secondary school educational level in Nigeria 6-3-3-4 system with 3 years duration st Anambra south es, it is the final stage of secondary school level whereby a learner that has already gotten the necessary and basic foundation in cognitive affective and psychomotor domain of knowledge in junior secondary will be allowed to choose which areas to concentrate on, be it science, arts, commerce or technical. All senior secondary school students have to sit for a Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (S.S.C.E) which can be West African Senior secondary certificate examination (W.A.S.S.C.E) and National Examination Council (N.E.C.O). This is the final state before university education. Students must pass this examination before being admitted into any university.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter presents the research design, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, instrument for data collection, validation of the instrument, reliability of the instrument, method of data collection and method of data analysis.
Research Design
The research design adopted for this study was a survey design. According to (Iketaku 2011) it is one in which a group of people or items are studies by collecting and analyzing data from only a few or items considered to be representative of the entire group. This design is used to elicit different opinions of people on an issue of wide concern. This is the overall plan scheme or programme of the research. It is a design that enables us to describe a number of decisions which need to be taken regarding the collection of data before ever the data are collected. These decisions must undertake a systematic or scientific process. According to Kerlinger (1979) research design is the plan. Structure and strategy of investigation, conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance. It implies an outline of what the investigator will do from writing the hypothesis through collection of relevant data to the final analysis of data. It is the description of the design that indicates the basics structure of the study. Research design gives the nature of the hypothesis, the variables involved and the constraints of the real world. All contribute to the design to be used.
Area of the Study
The study was carried in all the secondary schools in Fegge in Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra State. The choice of the area was because of its geographical location and low educational development.
Population of the Study
Population of the study comprises all the student in the eight public secondary schools in Fegge in Onitsha South Local Government Area with total population of 9821 students. There are (15) government secondary schools in Fegge in Onitsha South Local Government Area.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATIONS AND ANALYSIS
Results
This data collection for the study was presented and analyzed in this chapter based on the research question that guided the study.
From the computed mean in table 1: It was found that the mean of items 1,2,3 were above the cut-off point of 2.5 and therefore agreeing on the way is the present method of assessing pupils in secondary schools different from the termly examination. While item 4 were below 2.5 therefore not agreeing on the way is the present method of assessing pupils in secondary schools different from the termly examination.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of the Study
In summary, assessment practice evidently changes the role of teachers as an assessment to one who enters into dialogue with the learner being assessed to find out their current level performance in their different course of study. Based on the research made, it was reviewed that the success of assessment depends on teachers’ will, abilities and skills. The impact of assessment helps to adjust the mind of teachers who were used to holding traditional way of assessment.
Educational Implication
The basic reason for good assessment can make the following contributions. Promote the development of ready skills and encourage long term habits through ready, listening and etc those learning habits from the key to continuous success in school and to the personal encouragement of leisure this throughout line. Assessment is not merely testing (Osokoya, 2006), it is a process through which the quality of an individual work or performance is judged (Mwebaza, 2010). In relation to school setting, Greaney (2001) defines assessment as any procedure or activity that is designed to collect information about the knowledge, attitude, or skills of the learner or group of learners. Thus, in the context of education, assessment can be defined as a predetermined process through which the quality of a student’s performance in the three domains of educational objectives (cognitive, affective, and psychomotor) is judged. Assessment of students learning of curriculum contents in the area of knowledge, skills, and values is a major pre-occupation of many educational reforms. This is because results from such assessment not only provide feedbacks regarding the educational progress of students but remain the authentic yardstick for gaining the effectiveness of the teacher, the quality of instruction and in part the functionality of any curriculum reform. Assessment as an assessment carried out in an ongoing process (Mwebaza, 2010) is an objective judgment considered an important part of structured assessment purposely designed and administered to enable the teacher to evaluate some aspect of a students learning of a specific time.
A number of characterizations of assessment exist in the literature. According to Agawam cited in Mwebaza (2010) assessment not simply continuous testing. Assessment does not solely depend on formal tests. Assessment is more than giving a test; it involves every decision made by the teacher in class to improve students’ achievement. Assessment as only a part of the field of educational evaluation is a method of evaluating the process and achievement of students in educational institutions (Yoloye, 2006). This means that assessment could be used to predict future student’s performance in the final examinations and the possible success of individuals at the work place or on a particular job. Assessment is a formative evaluation procedure concerned with finding out in a systematic manner, all gains that a student’s has made in terms of knowledge, attitudes and skills after a given set of learning experience (Ogunniyi, 2004). A more comprehensive definition of assessment is given by Ezewu and Okoye (2007). They see assessment within the educational context as a systematic and objective process of determining the extent of a student’s performance and all the expected changes in his behaviour from the day he enter into a course of study in a continuous and progressive manner to the end of such a course of study and jAnambra south cious accumulation of all pieces of information derived from this purpose, with a view to using them to guide and shape the students in his learning from time to time and to serve as bases for important decision about the child.
Conclusion
This study was aimed to examine assessment as a tool in communicating on teaching and learning of mathematics among junior secondary schools in Fegge in Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra state and its effects on academic performance. The literature review indicates that rapid technological changes, innovations and knowledge explosion necessitate redefinition of the role of learning and teaching, which in turn necessitates a revisit of assessment strategies and methods. The teacher, through teaching, has to make learners aware of the fallibility of knowledge. Both the teacher and learner have to find out how the knowledge is constructed. One way this could be achieved, as mentioned earlier, is by assessing of learning and examining of alternatives assessment practices. Assessment is used to test the learners’ knowledge although cognizance is taken of the fact that a particular method of assessment may serve more than one purposes. It should be stressed that all aspects of teaching, learning and assessment are interwoven and cannot be divorced from each other. Assessment in schools is an issue of quality assurance and thus it is a tool used as away to ensure quality educational outcomes. Therefore, negligence and or lack of planning for assessment in schools will compromise and counteract the quality of educational outcomes. The important role that teachers play or ought to play in the assessment process cannot be overemphasized because it is vital for the success of assessment practice in schools. Strengthening of the technical aspects of assessment would help to meet the rigorous standards of reliability and validity. The underlying guiding principle of assessment should be to ensure that it promotes and rewards desired learning activities and outcomes.
Recommendations
Based on the fore-mentioned educational implications of the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made.
- The ministry of Education or its relevant agencies should organize seminars and workshop for Mathematics teachers at least once in a term in order to update their knowledge on the practice of assessment.
- The Ministry of Education or its relevant agencies should train and post enough professional guidance counselors in the schools in the zone.
- Secondary schools in the zone should set up assessment committees to perform the duties currently performed by Examination committee. Such duties include:
- Oversee the keeping of various assessment records.
- Develop time-table for assessment of pupils in the school. The committee is to be headed by the vice-principal (academics); members to include, the school guidance counselor, Head of social science section, Head of science Education sections.
- Trained officers from the Ministry of Education should visit schools in the zone from time to time for on the spot assessment of the scheme.
- The ministry of Education should grant study leave with pay to all qualified tutorial staff members to study statistics and computer in higher institutions to enable them acquire knowledge and improve on their efficiency in data collection and analysis involved in the practice of assessment.
- The school authority should ensure that the pupils’ populations in the classroom are within the ranges that favour effective supervision of In the same vein, teachers work load should be manageable to enhance their effectiveness.
- Teachers should be motivated by both government and school authority through adequate incentives to boost their morale.
- School authority should make fund available for teachers to take pupils out on field trips to widen their knowledge.
Limitation of the Study
The researcher observed that there are some limitations which might have influenced the results of their findings, these limitations include: in as much as the findings of this study have provided good guides for explicative Anambra south in other populations, the results are most applicable in Anambra south Local Government Area.
- Efforts to secure financial grants to increase the samples for this study were made but to no avail. The researcher therefore has to rely on his meagre earnings to undertake the study. This is one major reason why the sample size was limited to only the schools in Anambra south local government area.
Suggestions for Further Studies
Further studies could be carried out on the following:
- Developing effective and psychomotor assessment skills in teachers for effective teaching/learning.
- The role of Information and Communication Technology in the implementation of assessment.
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