Relationship between Teachers’ Content Knowledge, Qualifications, Experience and Students’ Achievement in Chemistry

Aim: To bring to light a prototype archaeology site at Gbaagbum village in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Data for the study was gotten through primary and secondary sources. These includes oral interviews, observation and documentation from field work, and written / archival records respectively. Study Design: The study items were from Gbaagbum village and the research evaluation of the items found at the site revealed that the site was home to unknown occupants before the present settlers. Place and Duration of Study: Gbaagbum village in Gwer West Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria. Methodology: There was physical observation of the culture materials found at the site and through oral interview sessions conducted further revelations were made. Results: Findings revealed that it was once an abandoned site for an unknown migrant community who occupied the area, but relocated before the present occupants. Furthermore, the study revealed a tunnel with complete and pieces of pots and a human jaw in the first chamber. There was a big open pot which serve as a lid to the second chamber. The paper suggests that a more comprehensive and professional archaeological / historical study be conducted at the site and within the Ityôshin area to unearth a history of the originators of the cultural materials that were accidentally discovered. The use of modern archaeological equipment, methods and principles can be greatly relied upon in this regard. To conclude a lot still needs to be done in archaeology especially in the remote areas like the Gbaagbum Village of Benue State, Nigeria.

This study assessed the use of improvised instructional materials on the performance of chemistry students. It also examined the differential performance among male and female chemistry students when this method is used in teaching chemistry. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided this study. A descriptive survey design was used for the study. Data were collected from 150 senior secondary school chemistry students using simple random sampling procedure from eight secondary schools in Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Improvised Chemistry Teaching Aids Questionnaire (ICTAQ) developed by the researchers and validated by experts was used for data collection. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Students taught using improvised instructional materials outperformed their counterparts taught with conventional lecture method. There was also a better performance among the male chemistry students when compared to their female counterparts. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that teaching of chemistry using improvised instructional materials should be encouraged since it facilitates the learning of this subject.

Studies were undertaken to investigate and isolate African Swine Fever virus in pig in Ado local government area (LGA) of Benue state of Nigeria and this has confirmed the carrier status of the pigs in the LGA. Out of the 188 serum samples collected, 7 were obtained from the LGA and were tested using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Three samples (42.86%) were positive and 4(57.14%) were negative for the test. All the serum samples (42.86%) that were positive by ELISA were also positive by polymerase chain reaction amplification (PCR). The PCR-positive pigs had higher mean WBC count, lower eosinophil and basophils count, higher mean monocytes count but the mean PCV values were not significantly different from the normal and PCR negative pigs. High mean WBC count may indicate an ongoing secondary bacterial and ASF virus infection, lower eosinophil and basophils count indicates parasitism in the pigs, higher mean monocytes count. This confirmed that pigs with demonstrable antibody should be considered as chronic carriers of the virus because it is doubtful if true recovery ever occurs. Control measures such as use of biosecurity, test and slaughter of animals that test positive for African Swine Fever (ASF) antibody with adequate compensation are suggested to eradicate the disease.

The study assessed the role of radio Benue in the campaign against the spread of HIV/ AIDS among farmers in Makurdi Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria. A total of 140 respondents were selected for interview using a simple random sampling technique. The collected data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, Chi-square and logit regression model. Results of the study showed that HIV/AIDS radio programmes packaged in Pidgin English, local language or dramatized enhance farmers' interest, listenership and positive change in behavior. In addition, farmers' level of education, gender and ownership of radio sets were found to positively improve their level of satisfaction with HIV/AIDS radio programmes. Based on these findings, it was recommended that intervention polices aimed at combating HIV/AIDS scourge should package more radio programmes in Pidgin English, drama and local languages.

The study investigated the role of youths in agricultural development in Makurdi Local Government area (LGA) of Benue State. Interview schedules were used to collect data from 120 youths selected through random sampling procedure from Makurdi LGA. Descriptive and inferential statistics namely, mean and factor analysis respectively were used to analyze the data. The result shows that youths play important roles in the supply of labour, donation of materials, initiating of projects, attend meetings punctually and use initiatives to gain outside help. Also, participation of youths in community based non-formal rural youth agricultural programmes is mainly in youth organizations which includes, age grades, local social clubs and young farmers organization. The major problems that inhibit youth participation in agricultural activities were lack of commitment, lack of logistic support and lack of land ownership. It was recommended that a robust relationship between agencies interested in encouraging youth involvement in agriculture should be evolved through legislation and implementation of policies to guarantee training programmes, credit facilities and land accessibility to youths at the identified rural youth organizations. This will enhance youth involvement and catalyze agricultural development.

This study examines the achievement of different types of students in learning chemistry at Engineering college level. In this study, the investigator applied Experimental Research as a method to describe and interpret what will exist in the future. A achievement test for the assessment of learning chemistry among Engineering college I year students was prepared with a sample of 30 students. The achievement test consists of 54 items. The achievement test was used for the achievement test. The male and female students have an average level of achievement in learning chemistry. The rural and urban students have an average level of achievement in learning chemistry. The male and female students do not differ significantly in their achievement in learning chemistry. The rural and urban students do not differ significantly in their achievement score in

Academic achievement of Nigerian secondary school students in Chemistry has not been satisfactory to many for nearly a decade now and this is becoming one of the most exigent puzzles facing teachers as well as students which require an urgent solution. Motivation has been recognized as one of the factors that have great impact on academic achievement. Therefore, this study examined the contribution of students' academic motivation in predicting students' academic achievement in Chemistry. The study was carried out in two schools of science (Ipade and Oladipo) in Oyo state. The descriptive survey design was employed for the study. A total number of 150 students which comprised 66 male students and 84 female students were randomly selected from the schools. Data were collected from the participants through the researchers designed questionnaire containing the Motivation Scale (AMS) which consists of 20 items and achievement test in chemistry. The achievement test comprised 20 questions in Chemistry. The data collected were analyzed by correlation and simple linear regression using R software version 3.6.2. The results of the analysis revealed a positive correlation between the motivation and the students' achievement in chemistry, and the students' academic achievement was observed to increase with increase in motivation. It was concluded that high motivation is likely to promote higher academic achievement of the students in Chemistry, while low motivation is also likely to diminish it. Therefore, motivation can be seen as an index for determining the levels of students' achievement in chemistry. This finding should serve as a weapon for every potential chemistry teacher, parents/guardians and students in combating poor academic achievement in Chemistry.

The study investigated the Effect Constructivist Based Instructional Strategy on Senior Secondary Students’ Achievement in Chemistry. The high rate of failure in Senior Secondary School Chemistry necessitated the study. The study employed a quasi-experimental design specifically, the pretest posttest non-equivalent control group design. The study was carried out in Abakaliki Education Zone of Ebonyi State. The population of the study is three thousand, two hundred and forty two (3,242) Senior Secondary School two (SS 2) students who were selected from the seventy eight (78) coeducational secondary schools in Abakaliki Education Zone. The sample consisted of one hundred and seventy four (174) senior secondary school two (SS 2) science students who were sampled from four coeducational senior secondary schools randomly selected from the four Local Government Areas that make up Abakaliki Education Zone. Two of the schools were assigned to treatment group while two were assigned to control group. Intact classes were used throughout the study. The treatment group was taught using constructivist based instructional strategy while the control group was taught using conventional method. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. A Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) which is made up of thirty (30) items was used to collect data for the study. The data collected for the research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviations while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study showed that Constructivist Based Instructional Strategy is superior to Conventional Method in facilitating students’ achievement in Chemistry. It also revealed that gender does not have an effect on the achievement of students when taught with Constructivist Based Instructional Strategy. It was also found that there is no interaction between method and gender on students’ achievement in Chemistry. This implies that the use of conventional method in teaching might have been partly responsible for the students’ poor performance in Chemistry. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that Constructivist Based Instructional Strategy should be used by Chemistry teachers in teaching both male and female students because it facilitates teaching and learning and does not discriminate across gender. It was also recommended that government should organize seminars, workshop and conferences with the aim of training Chemistry teachers on the effective use of Constructivist Based Instructional Strategy in teaching.

The study determined the effect of interaction pattern approach on secondary students’ achievement in Chemistry. The study was carried out in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design. Specifically, the pre-test, post-test non-equivalent control group design was used. A sample size of 112 (45 male & 67 female) out of the 1,522 senior secondary two (SS2) Chemistry students was selected using purposive and simple random sampling techniques. A 50 multiple-choice objective items Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) developed by the researchers was the instrument used for data collection. The reliability index of 0.92 was obtained for CAT using Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance (w). Data were analysed mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that interaction pattern approach (IPA) significantly improves students’ achievement in Chemistry than the conventional lecture approach (CLA). Gender has no significant influence on students’ achievement in chemistry when taught using IPA. Also, there is no significant interaction effect of instructional approaches and gender on students’ achievement in chemistry. Based on the findings, it was recommended that chemistry teachers should make use of IPA to improve students’ achievement in the subject and promote gender friendly chemistry teaching and learning.

This study examined the effects of self-regulated learning instructional strategy on students’ achievement in basic science among Upper Basic 2 in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. The study employed non-equivalent group pre-test-post-test quasi experimental design. The population of the study was 638 upper basic school levels. The sample for this study was 128 students from six co-educational schools within Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was Basic Science Achievement Test (BSAT) and was trial tested using Kuder-Richardson (K-R, 20) formula to determine the reliability coefficient of BSAT which was found to be 0.99. Descriptive statistics of means and standard deviation were used to answer all the research questions and inferential statistics of Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test all the hypotheses at 0.05 significant level. The results of the study showed that demonstration method enhanced students’ achievement in basic science better than self-regulated strategy. There is no significant difference between the mean achievement score of students taught basic science using self-regulated learning strategy and those taught using demonstration method. There was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and female students taught basic science using self-regulate learning strategy. Basic science Teachers should not only use demonstration method to teach but also allow the student to actively participate in the learning. This can foster confidence in the students and enhance better achievement in basic science.

This study investigated the effects of guided inquiry-based learning on student interest and achievement in chemistry in secondary schools in Enugu State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling was used to sample of 240 SSII students from six public secondary schools, 40 students from one secondary school from each of the six education zones in Enugu State, were selected for the study. The students were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was taught using guided inquiry-based learning strategy, while the control group was taught using conventional lecture method. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. Data was collected using Chemistry Interest Inventory (CII) and Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT). The instruments were validated and reliability tested. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that students taught using guided inquiry-based learning strategy had significantly higher mean achievement scores than those taught using conventional lecture method. Similarly, the experimental group had higher interest scores than the control group. The study also revealed that there was no significant interaction effect between teaching methods and gender on students' achievement and interest in chemistry. The findings suggest that guided inquiry-based learning strategy is effective in enhancing students' interest and achievement in chemistry. Therefore, chemistry teachers should adopt guided inquiry-based learning strategy in teaching chemistry concepts to enhance students' interest and achievement. Based on the findings, recommendations were made for educational stakeholders as well as guided inquiry-based learning strategy is recommended for use in chemistry classrooms to improve student outcomes.

The study aimed at assessing how 13 environmental variables taken together predict students’ achievement in Chemistry as well as their relative contribution to the prediction. Two research questions were raised and stratified random sampling technique was used to select 94 Chemistry teachers and 600 of their Chemistry students for the study. Environmental variable Questionnaire 1 and 11 and Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) were used for data collection and analysed using multiple regression.The results showed that the 13 variables taken together had significant contribution to students’ achievement in Chemistry and accounted for 77.34% of the variation in students’ achievement in Chemistry. It was recommended that stakeholders in provision of Chemistry education at the secondary school level should consider the eight variables that contributed significantly to achievement seriously during planning and executing Chemistry education programmes for optimum achievement of students. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v4n3p275

The study aimed at assessing how 13 learning environment variables taken together predict students' achievement in chemistry as well as their relative contribution to the prediction. Two research questions were raised and stratified random sampling technique was used to select 94 chemistry teachers and 600 of their chemistry students for the study. Learning Environment Questionnaire I and II (LEQ) and Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) were used for data collection and analysed using multiple regression. The results showed that the 13 variables taken together had significant contribution to students' achievement in chemistry and accounted for 77.34% of the variation in students' achievement in chemistry. It was recommended that stakeholders in provision of chemistry education at the secondary school level must consider the eight variables that contributed significantly to achievement seriously during planning and executing chemistry education programmes for optimum achievement of students in chemistry.

Communication used to form a crucial part of the constituents of social administration of the Tiv society. The Tiv communication as a means of passing information or knowledge from one person or a group of persons to another through the Tiv language, music, dance, symbols and signs was predicated chiefly upon the Tiv indigenous Religious canon. Communication was and is still one of the important aspects of the Tiv social setting among the Kunav Mega Clan of the Tiv people who used different ways to pass information from one entity to another among the populace. Consequently, due to the importance of communication to the people, technological innovations were drastically improved to invent better means or devices of communication and Indyer was invented from the earlier Gbagede and Ilyu. The Indyer was paramount among different means of communication among the Tiv people of Vandeikya and as such any message coming from the beating of Indyer (Indyer í Tan or Kuhan) was considered with grave seriousness. The study looks at the effect of Indyer as a means of communication among the Tiv people of Vandeikya local government area of Benue state, Nigeria. A sample of 363 Tiv people of Vandeikya was drawn using random sampling technique. Apparently, mean and standard deviation were used in answering the research questions while Chi-Square was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study discovered that Indyer has significant effect as a mean of communication among the Tiv people of Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria however, there are potential challenges affecting it. It was recommended that the Federal Government of Nigeria should discard the International Intellectual Property Laws such as The Paris Convention and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) and develop its IP laws to be in conformity with indigenous practices and what is obtainable in the Nigerian folds and Christian converts and leaders should accept Indyer as a technological device not a fetish component.

Aspergilloma is often misdiagnosed as tuberculosis (TB) in developing countries where the prevalence of TB is high, hemoptysis is often equated with TB, and most patients are diagnosed clinically. This study aims to determine the Occurrence and Distribution of Aspergillus species among presumptive tuberculosis patients in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. A total of 461 clients gave their consent and were involved in this research work from four (4) different healthcare facilities in the Otukpo Local government area. The samples were packaged in triple nylon, stored in a cold chain box, and were taken to the general hospital Otukpo laboratory and/or St Charles Hospital Adoka laboratory for analysis. Each Sputum sample was divided into two parts. One part was analyzed for Tuberculosis using PCR (GeneXpert Machine) and the second part was inoculated on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar Medium for identification of Aspergillus species. The Aspergillus species isolated were identified using cultural and comparative pictorial characteristics. Exactly 216 patients had an Aspergillus species prevalence rate of 46.9 %, and 245 patients with 53.1% showed no growths of fungal. The males had a prevalence rate of 113(44.8 %), with the highest rate of 27(10.7 %) in the age group 31 – 40, and females had a prevalence rate of 103(49.3 %), with the highest rate of 18(8.6 %) in the age groups 21 – 30 and 31 – 40 with a significant p-value of 0.015. Co-infections of Aspergillus species/tuberculosis in relation to age range distribution and gender had a total prevalence of 22(4.77 %). The males had a co-infection prevalence rate of 14(3.03%) compared to the females having a co-infection prevalence rate of (1.74%). The age range of 31- 40 had the highest co-infection prevalence rate, followed by the age range of 41-50. There is a significant co-infection of Aspergillus/tuberculosis with a p-value of 0.007. Four species of Aspergillus were identified; Aspergillus niger (38 %) ranked highest, followed by Aspergillus fumigatus (25 %), Aspergillus flavus (24 %), Aspergillus oryzae (6 %), and other fungi isolated were 7%. This research shows a significant positive result of patients with aspergillosis, which is a significant co-morbidity in pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State; this could be misdiagnosed as relapse or treatment failures in the absence of reliable diagnostic and clinical management. The progress of the disease and prolonged treatment with antibiotics or immunosuppressive agents make TB patients susceptible to fungal infection. Patients with persistent clinical symptoms despite TB treatment should be subjected to fungal investigations before re-treatment. Aspergillosis is also one of the nosocomial infections, so patients and healthcare givers should be encouraged to always go for routine fungal infection investigation if few of the symptoms are experienced.