Score Level, Text Structures and Senior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Genetics in Ilorin, Nigeria
Hafsat Imam Alabi Isaac Olakanmi AbimbolaPages: 198-209
Genetics is one of the hard to learn biological concepts owing to its connectedness to Latin / Greek origin. Hence, the need for its proper structuring for easy comprehension by the students. The effectiveness of text structure on students’ proper understanding had been widely reported in literature, hence, this study investigated score levels, text structures and senior secondary school students' achievement in genetics. Specifically, the study assessed the: (i) variation in the achievement of students taught using different text structures (ii) interaction effects of text structures and score levels on senior school students’ achievement in genetics among others. A quasi-experimental design of pretest, posttest, non-equivalent, and non-randomized control group was adopted. A total of 239 students purposively selected took part in the study. ANCOVA was used to analysed the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. Findings indicated that there was (i) a statistically significant difference in the achievement of students exposed to different text structure i.e., F (2, 238) = 15.11 at p < 0.05; (ii) no statistically significant difference in the interaction effects of text structure and score level. The implication of the finding is that the two structured texts were useful for improving senior school students’ achievement in genetics. It was therefore, recommended that biology teachers should consider logical prose and concept maps in structuring their instructional materials.
View it in PDFCOVID-19 Pandemic and Changes in Parents’ School Preferences in Bursa Province
Fuat Sekmen Haşmet Gökırmak İsa DemirkolPages: 210-218
This study examines families’ preferences to choose the best educational institutions for their children in Bursa, Turkey, using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) Model. For this purpose, sixty-one face-to-face interviews were conducted with students and their parents at private high schools, public high schools, and open high schools in Bursa. Health concerns, quality, price, time management, safety, and self-confidence were considered criteria in determining families’ decisions in private, public, and open high schools. The AHP results reveal that the most important criteria are health concerns with 44.91%, quality with 21.30%, safety with 12.02%, price with 8.88%, time management with 6.71%, and self-confidence is the least important criterion, which has a percentage of 6.24%. According to the criteria, values reached within the same method ranking use the criteria weights for health concerns, quality, safety, price, time management, and self-confidence. According to the AHP-weighted SAW method, private high schools are in the first place, public schools in the second place, and open high schools in the third place.
View it in PDFA Novel System, Method and Perspective Plan for the Assessments of Higher Education’s Progress Towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Ali Mohammad GhulamPages: 219-231
As the education for Sustainable Development is recognized as an integral element of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on quality education and a key enabler of all other SDGs. Therefore, this research article is primarily focused on the roles and responsibilities of the Higher education systems and in the same direction a unique novel System, Method and Perspective Plan in the form of a Project is proposed that will help any country in creating a Global Knowledge Hub which will act as a data service provider for the common people, for the researchers, for the Ministry, for each Institution and for the UN body to reflect exactly the contributions made so far through the Higher Education Systems and what are its' outcomes, and how our Higher Education Systems are helping in achieving the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and their targets. In this paper, some other UN-SDGs related information are also cited based on the published documents in a sequential and systematical manner that will help to any reader/researcher/audience to understand better about the mission, vision and objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, what are the roles and responsibilities of the Higher Education Systems in the same context till 2030 and onwards with constant approach, what are the initiatives have been taken so far and also what initiatives are being undertaken now. Some suggestive measures and about convergence are also suggested. Discussed in details about the SDG Index & Dashboards and finally about the major thrust areas. All the information cited here are properly mentioned in the references column.
View it in PDFSchool Board ‘Visibility’ During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Education Management Musings From A Tripartite Case Study of Schools in Central Uganda
Gyaviira Musoke GenzaPages: 232-243
School level education management requires the active involvement of both school administration and the board of governors. Without board’s supervisory eye, school administration may easily lapse to the detriment of education quality. How, then, did school boards execute their oversight mandate during the difficult times of COVID-19? Using a tripartite case study design, the study examined school board ‘visibility’ in school management during COVID-19 with focus on the ensuing education management lessons. Results showed that, during the pandemic, the visibility of different school boards varied from ‘considerable’ to ‘no visibility’ depending on certain interesting factors. It was concluded that there is no single uniform descriptor of board’s visibility during an emergency such as COVID-19. Secondly, there are both materialistic and altruistic antecedents of boards’ visibility levels. The study serves as a correction to the stakeholder model’s excessive faith in board members’ disinterested commitment to service of the common good. It also recasts the question of board membership for better school management.
View it in PDFPerceived Learning Difficulties of Students in Flexible Learning in A Philippine State College
Julius Ruger Hermano Sol DenamarcaPages: 244-252
The sudden shift from traditional classes to flexible learning due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to numerous challenges. This descriptive research study was conducted at Iloilo State College of Fisheries to determine the perceived learning difficulties of the Second-Year College of Education students for the year 2021-2022. Data were obtained using a 20-item online survey questionnaire from 86 purposively selected respondents and subjected to certain computerized statistical tools for the analysis. The data revealed that students struggled mainly because of a lack of internet connection at home, long exposure to their gadgets, and balancing household chores and online activities. Thus, the slow internet connection may be improved, online classes may be limited only to one hour, and teachers may become more compassionate and understanding to students and attend various seminars to create an effective learning environment, improve teaching-learning situations using modern instructional devices and inspire them to become better teachers in the modern world. Infrastructure and mechanisms may also be established to reduce the interruption of learning and provide quality materials for education.
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