ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Students’ and teachers’ challenges in teaching and learning mathematics in large classes in the Tema Central Municipality

his study investigated senior high school students and teachers challenges in teaching and learning Mathematics in large classes as well as teachers‘ frequent use of effective large class size instructional techniques in Tema central municipality. To achieve this,199 students as well as 48 Mathematics teachers were purposively sampled from four (4) public senior high schools in Tema Central municipality. The explanatory sequential design was employed as the research design. For the quantitative part, questionnaires were used to collect data from the students and teachers. Also, simple random sampling was used to select twenty (20) mathematics teachers out of the 48 teachers and interviewed for the qualitative part. The findings from the study showed that Mathematics teachers in Tema Central Municipality had classes above 40 as 90% of the mathematics teachers taught in schools whose STR exceeded the Ministry of Education‘s STR of 40:1. From the findings, the three topmost challenges encountered by teachers were increasing stress on teachers, difficulties in students control and class size affecting students‘ academic performance with means rating from 4.98, 4.93 and 4.89 respectively. Students also encounter challenges such as distractions by unserious students, lot of noise making and teachers spending more time controlling students rather than teaching with mean rating of 4.99, 4.99 and 4.91 respectively. In dealing with these challenges, Mathematics teachers in Tema Central municipality has devised effective large-class instructional techniques in teaching including activity-based instruction (mean frequency of use 4.82) and varying questioning techniques to engage students‘ participation (mean frequency of use 3.92). The implication for these findings is the need for more classrooms to be built by the government and Ministry of Education ensuring that enrolment in senior high schools is reduced to the required number by GES to maintain the STR to 40:1, and also organizing workshops to train mathematics teachers in the use of effective large class instructional techniques.

Source: UEW
Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the use of cell phones as instructional tools for teaching and learning in Senior High Schools at the Ejisu Municipality of Ashanti Region

The poor performance of students in WASSCE is cause for concern. Various factors such as teachers’ mastery of the subject and the pedagogical strategies used have been widely reported as the main causes of the low performance of students in the exams. Mobile device is a common sight today in our schools as you see students going to school/class with some of the most expensive and sophisticated mobile phones, tablets and ipads that has all the applications, facilities and software that can connect them to the internet and all forms of social media platforms, other web sites and so on, where they chat, access, stream, download, upload, exchange and play different kinds of media contents. Objectives of the study are to establish if students own and use mobile device on their campuses, determine the pattern of mobile device use among students of senior high school, determine if the use of mobile device in senior high schools have significant impact on students’ learning, determine if the use of mobile device in senior high school effect student’s achievement. A well-resourced mobile learning facility must be constructed by government, Parents and Teachers Association in each school and schools with it already must be improved, and it should be manager by well-trained facilitators to assist student in other to have the maximum benefit of the use of mobile devices. There should be a dedicated period for the facilitators to train and also sensitize students on the effect/ appropriate use of the device aside they assisting them to use for academic performance. Students are to be made to take more active role in the use of mobile device for learning specially department like science should be encourage to use in class with their teachers and teachers must be train to use more videos and audio lessons. Curriculum planners should consider student learning style base on this content developers and programmers should design and develop educational mobile phones.

Source: UEW
Students’ attitude towards the teaching and learning of oral English a case study of senior high schools in Koforidua

Speaking English has become very important in Ghana especially because of its international and worldwide integration with time. Teaching English pronunciation is difficult for several reasons. These include the fact that teachers are left without clear cut guidelines, and face contradictory pronunciation instruction practices. Due to these issues, instruction in pronunciation has become less important and teachers are not very happy to teach pronunciation in their classrooms. This thesis examined the attitudes of students towards the teaching and learning of Oral English in Senior High Schools in Koforidua using Spolsky‟s model of second language teaching and learning as the framework underpinning it. Adopting a convergent mixed method design, data were collected by means of questionnaire and interview from 700 randomly and 35 purposively sampled students and teachers and analysed descriptively and thematically. The analysis revealed that teachers were not comfortable with the teaching and learning of Oral English since aspect teaching was not encouraged, with logistics and other teaching learning materials unavailable for the teaching and learning of the aspect. It was shown that both students and teachers have a negative attitude towards Oral English teaching and learning. Based on these results, it is concluded that teachers should seek to raise learners‟ knowledge of different techniques in teaching Oral English and help them to develop their trust, rather than clinging to their negative attitude towards the aspect.

Source: UEW
Students’ challenges in summary writing at Bolgatanga Technical Institute

This research was conducted to find out the challenges students of Bolgatanga Technical Institute have in summary writing. The study also looked at the impact of the student’s challenges in summary writing on their performance and how students can overcome their difficulties in summary writing. Forty students were selected comprising twenty boys and twenty girls together with four English language teachers to volunteer information for this research. The researcher used interviews, questionnaire, observation and students’ exercises as instruments for data collection. The study revealed that students have difficulties in reading and in identifying main ideas in written texts. Unqualified English language teachers couple with the lack of capacity building programmes for teachers constituted a huge difficulty in students learning process. Students’ difficulties in mastering summarization have affected them negatively in other areas especially in comprehension exercises. The authorities in education have been called upon to look into the training of the English language teacher and also supply the necessary logistics to make teaching and learning effective. It is recommended that school authorities should organize some award schemes for both English teachers and students to motivate them to do their best. All this can help reverse the current situation of students when it comes to summary writing.

Source: UEW
Students’ competency in the use of computer assistive technology at Akropong School for the blind

The objective of the study was to assess students’ competencies in the use of computer assistive technology at Akropong School for the Blind. This became necessary because little research has been conducted to document the competencies and challenges in the use of computer among students with visual impairments. A case study design with a mixed research strategy was adopted for the study. The researcher gathered both quantitative and qualitative data to measure the students’ competencies in keyboarding skills and Job Access with Speech (JAWS), as well as the other challenges. The findings indicated that comparatively students’ competency in keyboard skills was higher than JAWS application use. Thus students had reached higher stages in the conscious competencies matrix in the former than the latter. It was generally noted that challenges limiting effective use of students’ competencies in computer assistive technology in the School were more personal than external influences. This was because most of the challenges were due to the individual response to the training and familiarity in developing their competencies in using computer assistive technology. Base on this it was recommended that efforts should be made to stock up the laboratory with additional computers. Directly in line with the first recommendation, it was further suggested that more practice time should be created for the students to maximize computer use. Also Licensed JAWS must be acquired by the school to advance students’ competence in using computer assistive technology.

Source: UEW
Students’ conceptual understanding of the arithmetic mean and the standard deviation a case study at the University of Education, Winneba

This study investigated undergraduate mathematics students’ conceptual understanding of the arithmetic mean and the standard deviation after going through the Ghanaian Junior and Senior High School's core and elective mathematics curriculum. It also sought to determine the levels of conceptual knowledge of the arithmetic and standard deviation that these students have with respect to the Action, Process, Object and Schema (APOS) Theoretical Framework. The study employed the case study design. The purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to select four hundred and thirty first year students from three different year batches admitted into the Department of Mathematics Education of the University of Education, Winneba. Two instruments were used to collect data on students’ conception of the arithmetic mean and the standard deviation: a test and an interview schedule. The test was given to students in their first semesters on admission before lectures for the introductory statistics course begun. Nine students were randomly selected from the 2014/15 year group and interviewed. Findings revealed that undergraduate mathematics students have conceptualized the arithmetic mean as an average, and as a computational act. They exhibited an incomplete Process conception of the arithmetic mean with respect to the APOS Framework. Participants demonstrated to have no conceptual understanding of the standard deviation, revealing not even an Action conception with respect to the APOS Framework. A recommendation was made for lecturers and tutors responsible for training teachers to ensure that they teach student teachers the concepts of the arithmetic mean and standard deviation before their computations.

Source: UEW
Students’ mental models of chemical reactions and balancing of chemical equations : A case study of a Ghanaian senior high school

This study investigated students’ mental models of chemical reactions and balancing chemical equations at Diamono Senior High School in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. The study employed case study design using Action Research approach. An intact class of form 2 science class made up of 24 males and 6 female students’ were used for the study. The data for this study were derived from class exercises done by students to probe their mental models of chemical reactions and balancing chemical equations for various chemical phenomena. Data collected from the study was analysed qualitatively. Thematic analysis of the students’ discourse of their mental models revealed different types of mental models; named Model A, B, and C. Model A was considered as an initial mental model, which was based on students’ experience with changes of matter in their daily life. Model B was based either on the attributes related to the kinetic theory of particles or attributes related to chemical bonding. Model C was based on students’ scientific ideas but include some erroneous assumptions. A general conclusion drawn from this study was that, some students’ mental models were found to be lacking in attributes that relate to scientific ideas such as particle model, particle collisions, activation energy and entropy, despite being introduced with these ideas in their formal learning. It is suggested that students’ should be introduced to model-based instruction that encourages them to construct acceptable mental models of particles and link these models with the chemical phenomena. Therefore, an inquiry that investigates the impact of an intervention would be beneficial.

Source: UEW
Students’ mental models of chemical reactions and balancing of chemical equations_a case study of a Ghanaian Senior High School

This study investigated students’ mental models of chemical reactions and balancing chemical equations at Diamono Senior High School in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. The study employed case study design using Action Research approach. An intact class of form 2 science class made up of 24 males and 6 female students’ were used for the study. The data for this study were derived from class exercises done by students to probe their mental models of chemical reactions and balancing chemical equations for various chemical phenomena. Data collected from the study was analysed qualitatively. Thematic analysis of the students’ discourse of their mental models revealed different types of mental models; named Model A, B, and C. Model A was considered as an initial mental model, which was based on students’ experience with changes of matter in their daily life. Model B was based either on the attributes related to the kinetic theory of particles or attributes related to chemical bonding. Model C was based on students’ scientific ideas but include some erroneous assumptions. A general conclusion drawn from this study was that, some students’ mental models were found to be lacking in attributes that relate to scientific ideas such as particle model, particle collisions, activation energy and entropy, despite being introduced with these ideas in their formal learning. It is suggested that students’ should be introduced to model-based instruction that encourages them to construct acceptable mental models of particles and link these models with the chemical phenomena. Therefore, an inquiry that investigates the impact of an intervention would be beneficial.

Source: UEW
Students’ motivation and preference for home economics subjects in senior high schools in Ashanti region, Ghana

The study was students’ motivation and preference for home economics subjects in Senior High Schools in Ashanti Region, Ghana. The target population was the second and third year Senior High School students in three selected schools in the Ashanti Region, their teachers were sampled for the study. In all, 3 teachers, and 86 students, were engaged in the study. The researcher used both questionnaire and interviews as the main instruments for data collection. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis, which involved the use of frequency and percentages in analysing the data collected. Findings from the study indicated that the female students outnumbered the male counterparts in the pursuit of Home Economics Education in the schools selected: 6 students were males (representing 6.16%) and 80 were females (representing 94.84%). The study also indicates that the majority of students perusing Home Economics were helped by their parents and teachers in selecting the Home Economics program. Student’s preference for the various Home Economics programme options ranges from 16 students (representing 18.6%) for Clothing and Textiles, 18 students (representing 20.9%) for Management in Living and 5 students (representing 5.8%) for General Knowledge in Arts. Factors influencing students’ choice of Food and Nutrition over other Home Economics Options include Job opportunities available to the food and Nutritionist compared to other career opportunities in the Home Economist Options. The fact that the students’ choice of programme options was not influenced by family, gender, religious factors, Career Guidance and Counselling activities can be developed and carried out by the Guidance and Counselling Coordinators with little or without paying attention to the various sex and age groups as there were no statistically significant sex and age differences among factors with regard to their influence on students ‘programme choice.

Source: UEW
Students’ perception and attitude towards technical and vocational education and training in the Western North Region

This study sought to investigate students' perception and attitudes towards Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the Western North Region. Specifically, the research was to ascertain students‟ view about Technical and Vocational Education, students‟ attitude and perception towards TVET‟s enrolment and to identify guidance and counselling support that might be implemented in selected technical and vocational schools throughout the Western North. An explanatory sequential mixed method design was used. The primary tools used to collect the necessary data were questionnaire and interview. Questionnaire was employed on quantitative phase while interview was employed to collect qualitative data to supplement the quantitative phase. Stratified sampling technique was employed to select 320 respondents for the quantitative phase whereas twelve students were purposively selected for the qualitative phase. The results indicated that about 80% of students have negative attitude towards TVET while about 85% also have negative perception toward TVET. The results also indicated that the academic background of the students, economic background of students‟ parents, the motivation of getting self-employed or other job from TVET training, the cost involve in TVET education as compared to general education and the labour market indications and demands of skills determine students‟ participation in TVET education. Finally, the results show that self-directed learning and coaching are the two main guidance and counselling technique that are mostly employed to assist Students in TVET education. It is recommended that TVET education in Ghana should focus on practical aspect rather than abstract in order to assist students in the acquisition of employable skills that are needed in the job market field.

Source: UEW
Students’ perception of multimedia instructional materials and their effect on learning ICT in senior high schools in the Adentan Municipality

The study investigated students’ perception of multimedia instructional materials and their effect on learning ICT in Senior High Schools in the Adentan Municipality. Specifically, the study sought to identify the kinds of multimedia instructional materials that are appropriate for students’ learning of ICT and also investigate the effects of them on students’ learning of ICT. The accessible population of 1,563 students was drawn from the High School student population of 5,015. The study then sampled 100 second year students of selected schools in the Adentan municipal. The selection was done using simple random sampling technique. The researcher opted for descriptive survey design was used gather data from the various respondents. Descriptive statistics such as standard deviation, mean and frequencies were used to analyse the research questions. The findings revealed that computer interactive lesson and slideshow lesson are the most appropriate multimedia instructional materials for learning ICT. However, even though the students are of the opinion CD/DVD lesson and web-based content are also appropriate, they are rarely used for ICT lessons. Secondly, though there are some challenges students face in the use of multimedia instructional materials, they significantly effect students’ learning positively. The researcher then recommends that schools should make multimedia instructional materials available for learning ICT. Furthermore, CD/DVD lesson and web-based content should be incorporated in teaching and learning of ICT.

Source: UEW
Students’ perception of sex education in Senior High Schools in Biakoye District in the Volta Region of Ghana

This thesis investigated students’ perception of sex education in senior high schools in Biakoye District in the Volta Region of Ghana. The study sought to unearth students’ perception of the sex education in senior high schools. The study reviewed theoretical and empirical studies on sex education. The goal of the study was to address the knowledge gap in the literature by contributing to an understanding of the need to enhance teaching of sex education in senior high schools. Descriptive research design was used for the study. Simple random sampling was used to select sample size of 298 senior high students to respond to sets of questionnaire. Also purposive sampling techniques was used to select ten teachers for interviews. Out of 298 sets of questionnaire sent out, 293 were received indicating a response rate of 98 percent. The study adopted descriptive statistics using frequencies, percentages, and contingency tables to present the results. The main findings of the study were that most students understand sex education to mean knowledge about sexual activities and sexual intercourse, and sex education lessons in senior high schools lay little emphasis on contraceptives. Also, most students agree that comprehensive sex education is more likely to benefit them in their healthy sexual life decisions. It is therefore recommended that efforts should be made by the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, and other district authorities to intensify teaching of comprehensive sex education in senior high schools in the Biakoye District, and finally, future research should be conducted on this phenomenon to ascertain the relationship between comprehensive sex education and application of such knowledge to the benefits students and also help for theory development and policy implication.

Source: UEW
Students’ perception of the relationship between prior knowledge and musical competencies a case study at university of education, winneba department of music education

This project involved discovering the musical backgrounds of beginning music students of UEW. The goal was to show how their prior learning affects their musical abilities and their individual interests. All level 100 students‘ background was investigated using a questionnaire. Data was analyzed using quantitative statistics and presented in tabular form containing the number of responses per item (frequency) and the percentage of each response via graphs. The findings indicated that respondents had prior knowledge in all forms of African music: art-composed, indigenous and popular music. After showing that music student‘s posses prior knowledge in all forms of African music, this research accentuates the connection(s) between prior knowledge and music abilities from students‘ perspectives. This was accomplished through a stratum that organizes musical competencies into instrumental and non-instrumental musical competencies. It was confirmed that prior knowledge appears to influence music students‘ musical competencies in more positive ways than otherwise in playing of musical instruments, composition, sound set-up, choir management, and dancing and music business. Engaging student‘s pre-existing knowledge or misperceptions offers music educators an efficient way to formally diagnose their students‘ baseline, which should then serve as the critical first step in the teaching/learning cycle of tertiary music classrooms in Africa.

Source: UEW