Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology

This study was undertaken to examine pre-service teachers’ conception of mathematics, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State. One hundred and twenty mathematics students were randomly selected from the faculty of Education and the faculty of physical sciences, University of Benin, Edo State out of a population of 550 mathematics students in both faculties. To guide this study, four (4) research questions were raised. Nineteen (19) questionnaire items were generated for the research questions raised to guide the study. The data collected for the research questions were using frequency count and mean. The results gotten from the analysis revealed that majority of the Pre-service teachers have negative conception towards the learning of
mathematics. Based on the findings, it was recommended that; Lecture method of teaching mathematics be replaced with problem solving method as this will
enable students to develop good study habits and reasoning powers, stimulates their thinking, helps improve and apply their knowledge and experience to real life situations, mathematics teachers should put on good
behaviour in class as this helps to motivates students to listen attentively, periods of teaching mathematics should be fixed in the morning as this will enable students to understand mathematics better, mathematics teachers should make use of good instructional materials as this will help students to understand mathematics better, and lastly, parents should monitor their children’s progress, buy good textbooks and other learning materials that are relevant to their studies.

This study assessed the problems militating against effective teaching and learning of science subjects in senior secondary schools in Edo state. The study was carried out in Ovia North East local government area of Edo state. Five research questions guided the study. The design of the study is survey research design. A sample of ten (1O) students each from five(5) schools were used for the study. The instrument used was a researcher developed questionnaire tagged problems militating against teaching and learning of science subjects in senior secondary school (PMAETLSQ). The questionnaire was validated by my project supervisor. The data generated was interpreted using simple percentage statistical analysis. The major findings were that most science teachers are experienced I teaching the subjects but not qualified academically, most public schools have science laboratories but are not practically taught science in the laboratory and that school ownership affect teaching and learning of science. Recommendation were made to the government and school board on how to eradicate these problems in senior secondary schools.

The purpose of the study is to determine the influence of gender difference on students’ academic performance in Ovia North-East Local Area of Edo State. The target population for the study comprise of teachers in senior secondary school in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State. A sample size of 80 senior secondary schools which consist of 8 teachers from each school, descriptive survey designed was used for the study. The reliability was done by administering questionnaire to 20 respondents and the data obtained correlated using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient to determine its appropriateness and a reliability value of 0.698 was gotten The findings from the result includes: It was discovered that female perform much better than their male counterpart; that in the subject level girls perform much better than their male counterpart. It was recommended schools administrators’ should improve teachers working conditions by, increasing their numeration and fringe benefits to motivate them for work. They can also be made aware of impact of their actions on girl’s child education.

The study investigated the “Problems Associated with Failure in Laboratory Practicals of Science Related Senior Secondary School Students in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State”. In order to achieve the purpose intended, four research questions were raised. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The total population of the study is two hundred and three (203) science teachers. The sampled size used was one hundred and fifty (150) science teachers. The instrument used for this study was a structured questionnaire which was validated through expert judgment approach and was tested for reliability through internal consistency method. The data obtained was analyzed using frequency count and mean. The findings from the study revealed that laboratory practicals have an effective way of developing the curiosity and logical thinking of students which is one of the reason why teaching of practicals is very important as far as teaching of science is concerned. However, students don’t understand
better when they are not involved in laboratory practical experiment. The study also revealed that, most science laboratories are dilapidated, not well stocked with facilities, seats and demonstration tables, even when these materials are made available, their management becomes questionable. Moreover, the few available equipment, students are not allowed to have access to them because of fear of being damaged or stolen. Lastly, the main problems revealed for the failure of science students in laboratory practicals include; lack of resources, lack of laboratories and laboratory equipment, lack of laboratory technicians and large classes.

This study investigates the multifaceted factors that influence students’ interest in studying chemistry in Egor Local Government Area in Edo State. Five research questions were raised in the study. And five hypotheses was formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey design was adopted in this study. The population of this study includes all private and public senior secondary school offering chemistry in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. A sample size of hundred (100) students was randomly selected for this study across SS1 – SS3. The instruments were validated and to determine the instruments’ reliability, twenty (20) students with similar academic standing to the sample were used in the pilot testing and a reliability score of 0.808 was obtained. Data was collected through questionnaire that were randomly distributed to ten (10) schools in the Local Government Area. The method of analysis was by mean score rating which analyzed data based on the 2.5 acceptance region format. Based on the research, it was discovered that students are more interest in studying chemistry when the teachers utilize effective teaching methods and aids, parents who serve as role models greatly influence students’ interest in studying chemistry and students study chemistry as a requirement for the science course they wish to study. The study recommends that Governments and school managements should provide an environment suitable for the best teaching methodologies and allocate appropriate teaching aids, Government agencies should make provisions for free laboratory coats across senior secondary schools to increase students’ interest in studying chemistry and School administrators should make it imperative to always hire professional teachers who can effectively increase the interest of studying chemistry through adequate teaching methods and maximizing the utility of instructional material

This study was to investigate the learning strategies adopted by chemistry education students. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire, which was developedandadministered to 80 students from the department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology. The data from their responses were analyzed with the use of simple percentage. The result revealed that reading is a fundamental activity, enabling chemistry studentstoabsorb information from textbooks, articles, or digital resources. Accompanying this, notetaking helps organize and retain essential concepts. Chemistry students often ask questions, contribute to discussions, and engage in collaborative learning, fostering a deeperunderstanding of the subject matter. Furthermore, effective time management is critical forsuccessful studying. Chemistry education students allocate dedicated time slots for eachsubject, break down tasks into manageable chunks, and create study schedules. It is therefore recommended that Faculty officers and instructors should emphasizetheimportance of group study sessions, peer teaching and collaborative projects, fosteringaconducive environment for chemistry education students to share knowledge and learnfromone other, Chemistry education lecturers should play a vital role in incorporatingdiverselearning approaches, utilizing technology and encouraging interactive learning methods, School managements should provide guidance on time management techniques, settingachievable study goals and creating structured schedules to help chemistry education studentsprioritize their studies and maximize their learning potentials

This study was an investigation into the influence of extrinsic motivation on the academic performance of Senior Secondary students in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State. The study examined the following objectives; the influence of extrinsic motivation on the academic performance of student's, what type of incentives students find most motivating in the teaching-learning process, the extent to which praises and previous academic results can influence academic performance. Operant Conditioning Theory by Skinner (1975) was used in the study. This study states that a behavior become more or less probable, depending on the stimulus that elicits it and its consequence. The study adopted descriptive research design since it allows the researcher to use sample from a given population and make the generalization to the entire population with respect to the problem under study. Primary data was obtained using questionnaires and interview schedule while secondary data was collected from the internets, books and journals. The sampling design utilized was Simple random sampling and Stratified sampling. Data Analysis was done with the use of Statistical Package For Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive and inferential statistics which include the use of means, standard deviation, frequencies, percentages, and t-test were utilized respectively

This study was designed to analyze the challenges of teaching Biology in senior secondary schools in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. This study was guided by four research questions.
The design adopted for this study is the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consisted of all Secondary Schools in Egor Local Government Area. The research instrument used for this research is the questionnaire. The validity of the instrument was done by the supervisor. The data was analyzed with the use of simple percentages and mean.
The findings revealed that the lack of instructional materials and a non-conducive environment are some challenges of teaching Biology in senior secondary schools. It is recommended that the government and all stakeholders in the Ministry of Education should make provision for instructional materials to be
available in every public secondary school and that the teachers should also endeavor to incorporate the use of instructional materials in their lesson periods.

In March 2020, World Health Organization (WHO), declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Consequently all schools in Nigeria were shut down and Federal Government instructed schools to adopt online modes of teaching and learning. This study assessed the
perceptions of senior secondary school chemistry students in Benin City of the effect of COVID-19 lock-down on their academic and social life. Four research questions and four corresponding hypotheses were raised and tested. Related literatures were reviewed. The study employed the descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised of all the chemistry students from Public and Private senior secondary schools in Benin City, Edo State. The sample consisted of one hundred and five students. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire on Effects of COVID-19 Lock-down on Academic and Social Life: Perceptions of Senior Secondary Science Students. The instrument consisted of two sections. Section A is on student’s biodata, Section B is information on the effects of COVID-19 Lock-down on Academic and Social Life: Perceptions of Senior Secondary Science Students. The instrument was face validated by the supervisor. The instrument was administered to the students in their various schools by the researcher with the assistance of their class teacher. Students responded to the questionnaire, which were collected on the spot. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent T-test. Results showed that there is no significant difference in students’ perception of the effect of COVID-19 on their academics based on type of school and gender. Students from public and private schools; male and female students, seems to perceive COVID-19 has not affected their academics. Similarly, there is no significant difference in the perceptions of students from private and public schools on the effect of COVID-19 on their social life. They seem to also disagree that the pandemic had effect on their social life, except for male and female students from private schools who agreed. It was recommended that academics in secondary schools should be made more interesting and fulfilling for students by government providing infrastructural and elearning facilities to enhance teaching and learning of science.

This study investigated the effect of computer assisted learning of basic science among secondary school students in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State. Four (4) research questions were raised to guide the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised 1734 JSS3 students in 29 Junior Secondary Schools in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 120 JSS3 students as sample for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled Questionnaire on Effect of
Computer Aided Learning of Basic Science among Students (QECALBSS). It was validated by the researchers’ supervisor and two experts in Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, University of Benin, Benin City. Its reliability was established at 0.84 using Cronbach Alpha method. The data collected for the study was analyzed using frequency tables, simple percentages and mean. The findings revealed that level of computer aided learning of basic science among the students in was fairly above average (mean=2.73); computer aided learning of basic science had high and positive effect on secondary school students (mean=3.47); social factors affecting the effective use of computer aided learning in basic science are language barrier (mean=2.60) and discouragement of students from taking responsibility for their own learning (mean=2.57) respectively and constraints facing the teaching of basic science using computer aided learning support in schools are inadequate CAL facilities in school (3.90), frequent electricity interruption (3.89), poor network bandwidth (3.88), limited budgetary allocation to basic science education (3.40), lack of/limited ICT skills among teachers(3.20) amongst others respectively. It was recommended among others that government should invest heavily to provide adequate number of computers CAL facilities in schools and also enhance internet connection in the schools to ensure easy access to teaching and learning materials of Basic Science using CAL. Also, the government should develop pre-service and in-service staff training programmes that are tailored to the school programmes to keep teachers up to date with the technological changes which will promote proper integration of computer aided learning in teaching and learning. Those teachers that are not ICT compliant should be encourage to study further in order to meet up with the new demand.