The Effect Of Task Size On Secondary School Students’ Achievement In Biology

The Effect Of Task Size On Secondary School Students’ Achievement In Biology

Abstract

The National Policy on Education emphasizes the significance of tasks on students’ academic accomplishment and requires that all of a learner’s performances over a period of time be taken into account when evaluating them at the end of any course of study. Attention must be paid to the issue of the practice of giving pupils tasks and how it impacts their academic performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to ascertain how task size affects students’ biology accomplishment in Ushongo Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria. All of the senior secondary biology students in Ushongo Local Government Area, Benue State, made up the study’s target group. The population in Ushongo Local Government Area, Benue State, consisted of all biology students. For this investigation, the quasi-experimental design was selected and applied. It used a lightweight, uncomplicated control group as opposed to a heavy, laborious one. The sample included 70 senior secondary (SS II) students from the two chosen schools in the Ushongo Local Government Area, 35 from each of the two classes. By probability sampling (balloting: withdrawal-replacement technique), schools were selected. The study’s sample is chosen at random using the sampling approach. The research questions were answered using the mean and standard deviation. At a significance level of 0.05, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to test the hypotheses. The findings indicate that the group that was given large tasks to complete performed better on their achievement exam. For biology instructors, teacher trainers, curriculum writers, and other stakeholders in biology education, this research has important ramifications.

CHAPITER 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study, Section 1.1

Education is crucial for the growth of human capital and is associated with a person’s wellbeing and prospects for a better quality of life. It guarantees that people gain the knowledge and skills necessary to increase their productivity and improve their quality of life, which boosts a nation’s economic growth (Saxton, 2000). Since it has the potential to have an impact both locally and globally, the quality of students’ performance or achievement continues to be a major issue for educators, instructors, parents, and researchers.

The degree to which a learner, instructor, or institution has attained their educational objectives is referred to as academic achievement. According to Oguneye (as stated in Idowu & Esere, 2009), it is the result of the teaching-learning process, which involves behavioral changes, knowledge gains, and other aspects of the learner’s development. It is an evaluation of the academic material that a student learns over the course of a given amount of time. According to Linn (2006), a student’s achievement is the current state of their subject-matter knowledge, understandings, and skills. The most typical metric of achievement typically refers to a student’s performance on achievement tests in academic subjects including reading, language arts, math, science, and history. The quality of schools and teachers, a child’s personal circumstances and situations, as well as a number of other factors, are all known to have an impact on academic achievement (Cunningham, 2012). According to Wong (2002), there is just one proven method for increasing student achievement. Student achievement is determined by the teacher and what the teacher is capable of doing. He claims that the key determinants of kids’ academic success are teacher training and experience.

Research on the techniques and programs used in schools, according to Cawelti in Wong (2002), has shown that classroom management abilities can significantly raise student accomplishment. practices that significantly raise students’ academic achievement are;

Teaching strategies for behavioral classrooms, time on task, tutoring, early childhood programs, and parental involvement.

According to Engelmann and Carnine (as cited in Huitt, Huitt, Monetti, & Hummel, 2009), schools should efficiently and effectively organize themselves towards this task because classroom teachers are primarily responsible for students’ academic achievement (Darling-Hammond, 2000). This is the main goal of schools, in the opinion of many. Others feel that a more comprehensive strategy ought to be used. The campaign for schools to concentrate on a much wider variety of desirable outcomes (such as the development of moral character, emotional and social awareness, and cognitive processing skills) could be categorized as efforts along these lines. These methods reference studies by Gardner and Goleman (in Huitt et al., 2009) which show that scholastic success and intellectual ability only explain roughly one-third of the variance in adult success.

According to Bruner (2004), there are learning objectives or instructional standards for each grade level that teachers must cover. These standards are comparable to a “to-do” list that teachers use to direct instruction. According to Crosnoe, Johnson, and Elder (2004), a variety of factors influence how well students perform or achieve. These factors can be classified as student factors, family factors, peer factors, and classroom or school factors and can exist inside or outside the educational system. He added that “task” is a type of assessment and is one of these classroom elements.

A task is any activity that is completed, especially one that is done repeatedly, reluctantly, or with difficulty. It is a task that must be completed in a specific amount of time. According to Konigsburg and Frankweiler (1991), a task is any work that is required, has been assigned, or poses a challenge. It suggests disagreeable job that is typically forced by someone in a position of authority or situation.

A “real-world” task is what? The following are a few generic types of tasks that, according to McColskey and O’Sullivan (2000), require students to use information in ways beyond than only recalling or identifying accurate information:

bringing a group to consensus on a matter

data gathering, analysis, and interpretation regarding the success of a program, item, or event

investigating both sides of a debate and reporting on it impartially

• Creating standards for grading a product’s, idea’s, or suggestion’s quality.

These responsibilities are easily recognizable as being a part of many workplaces for adults.

Particularly for science students, tasks are crucial since they give them the chance to learn through experience. Students must display abilities and skills that accurately reflect those required for success in adult daily life in order to complete the task. Since tasks push students to apply what they have learned rather than just recall or recognize information, they are worth repeating and practicing. A task is one that calls for the learner to apply knowledge or abilities in order to create a thing or finish a performance. According to this concept, employing a formula to address a real-world problem would be an authentic activity rather than memorizing it (Wisconsin Education Association Council, 1996). According to Adman in Mustapha (2002), practical work gives students the chance to use scientific tools to hone their basic manipulation abilities, practice conducting investigations or other types of inquiries, and acquire the problem-solving mindset necessary for future work in the sciences. Therefore, task size refers to how much, how little, huge, or little a specific task is.

By giving students work (tasks) in the form of homework assignments, projects, tests, classwork, attendance, interviews, research, and other activities, teachers can learn about their students’ progress in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of learning (Adaramaja, 2005). Adaramaja contends that assessment must be ongoing, methodical, thorough, cumulative, and instruction-focused in order to fulfill its intended function. According to the National Policy on Education (updated 2004), education assessment must be completely or partially based on ongoing evaluations of the learners’ development.

The importance of “task” assignment in the educational process cannot be overstated because it affects students’ academic performance. Teachers in our Nigerian schools give students tasks, however there are several difficulties with this procedure. According to Owolabi (2009), there are issues with assessment include;

lack of resources for assessment or task standardization

too many students in the classrooms

teacher’s unethical actions when giving tests or giving tasks

absence of task-giving instructions

the capacity for change, and

absence of money.

While conducting assessments (given tasks) as part of a teaching practice exercise in 2013, the researcher encountered difficulties including student absenteeism, low morale among students and even the teacher, and parents’ ignorance of the significance of task assignment to children.

Declaratory Statement of the Issue

The National Policy on Education emphasizes the significance of tasks on students’ academic accomplishment and requires that all of a learner’s performances over a period of time be taken into account when evaluating them at the end of any course of study. Attention must be paid to the issue of the practice of giving pupils tasks and how it impacts their academic performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to ascertain how task size affects students’ biology accomplishment in Ushongo Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria.

Goals of the Study, Section 1.3

The study’s goals are to discover:

the degree to which biology homework is given to pupils.

the degree of biology achievement among pupils.

impact of task complexity on biology performance of secondary students.

1.4 Questions for Further Research

How do biology students do when assigned a task with a little or large size?

What is the level of biology proficiency among students?

1.5 Research Hypothesis

Ho1: The success of secondary school pupils in biology is not significantly impacted by task size.

The Study’s Importance, Section 1.6

The purpose of this study is to ascertain how task size affects secondary school students’ performance. The findings will be crucial for researchers, educational policy makers, educators, and students. The study will assist educators in strengthening the reliability and validity of “tasking” activities while keeping in mind how it influences students’ academic performance.Due to the fact that assessment (tasking) has an impact on academic accomplishment, it will aid pupils in developing interest and commitment. The study will aid in the revision of current trends in the practice of task assignment to students, and it will offer suggestions for additional research to academics. The study will add to the corpus of knowledge about task complexity and how it affects students’ achievement.

1.7 The Study’s Purpose and Restrictions

Concern should be expressed about the number of tasks given to students and how this impacts their academic performance. This study’s goal is to ascertain how task size affects secondary school students’ Biology achievement in Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State.

Due to limitations like time and money, among others, the researcher has limited the study to two (2) secondary schools in the Ushongo Local Government region. This research effort should have covered more comprehensive areas of investigation.

1.8 Definitions of Operational Terms

Task size is a measurement of how big or little, in terms of quantity, a given task is.

The level of subject-matter knowledge, understandings, and skills at a given period is known as a student’s achievement. It evaluates student performance in relation to the task.

Effect: According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, an effect is a change that one item or person has on another.

Tasking is the process of giving students tasks.