TYPOLOGY OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS BEHAVIOURS IN SCIENCE CLASSROOMS IN NIGERIA

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Date
1984-06
Authors
MARTINS, Olufunmilayo Oluronke
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Abstract
Direct classroom observation studies by participant and non-participant observers have been in vogue since Flanders work in classroom Interaction Analysis was first published two decades ago. Reports of such observations have been a matter of suspect, as observed teachers are often reported as saying that the reports of such observations hardly reflect their intentions and perceptions of what transpired in the observed classrooms. The present study was undertaken to identify the prevalent behaviours among the Nigerian secondary school students in their science classes. A major use of classroom observation studies has been to describe typical classroom behaviours as models for teacher preparation. To add to the abundant published works in this area, the present study was undertaken as an indirect approach to identify the prevalent behaviours among the Nigerian secondary school students in their science classes. Instead of an outside observer, 94 science education student teachers in the Faculty of Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, were requested to imagine and describe five typical students in their science classes. Each respondent has had at least one year teaching experience. The assignment was given during the second week of December 1963 and the students were allowed one week during which to complete the assignment. A total of 54 behavioural adjectives appeared in the student-teacher descriptions. The list of adjectives was submitted to the Language Arts division of the Department of Education for clustering. An eightpaired category system (each pair is a word-opposite) emerged from these clustering. The student-teachers descriptions of their students were subsequently classified according to these eightpaired category system. The X2 -statistic was used to test the differences between the paired-proportions (negative - positive) in each category. Results showed that most Nigerian secondary school science students are percieved and described by their teachers as rurable, self-centered and of above average intelligence. However, most science classrooms in Nigeria are filled with students who are not interested in science work, who lack creativity and have negative 3elf-concept of themselves. The classroom behaviours which emerged from this open-ended indirect approach to classroom interaction analysis are hardly reflected in the "Mirrors for Behaviour" that are currently in use.
Description
A STUDY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF EDUCATION IN CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION SCIENCE) FACULTY OF EDUCATION AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA - NIGERIA JUNE, 1984.
Keywords
TYPOLOGY,, SECONDARY,, SCHOOL,, STUDENTS,, BEHAVIOURS,, SCIENCE,, CLASSROOMS,, NIGERIA.
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