TODAY,THERE ARE FAR TOO MANY STUDENTS IN OUR SECONDARY SCHOOLS WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDERS!..BUT HERE IS ONE SOLUTION

SHOULD NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS RESEARCH AND WRITE PROJECTS?...WHY NOT?

WHY RESEARCH PROJECTS FOR OUR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IS GOOD,,,MASON COLLEGE FESTAC AS CASE STUDY


When Covenant University,Ota opened its doors it shocked many of its first set of students by giving them projects to write.Many of the students spent  most of their Christmas holidays researching and gathering information for their projects.But some students had an advantage over others.While some of their colleagues did not know what to do others who attended schools like Mason College settled down to business quickly.In fact they also became tutors to their colleagues on how to conduct researches  and write relevant reports.

In Mason College preparing a researched report was mandatory for all students from JSS1 to SS3. Students were given a list containing over 100 topics and asked to choose 3 to write on for each year.In addition to the list they were given lectures and handouts on how to conduct researches and how write relevant reports.They were then allocated graduate staff mentors for additional guidance and supervision of their finished work. None of them could submit theirs without approval of the staff mentor.Apart from essay-writing benefits the projects kept students busy especially on topics which they loved and freely chose.

Believe it or not. many Nigerian students now have ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDERS (ADD). Unfortunately most of these cases are not officially diagonised  Above all, many educators fail to see or understand that the situation is  epidemic.Today  the only attention-grabber for students is the English Premier League.To many of them any other matter different from Maltina Dance,Big Brother Africa , Nigerian Idol or surfing on their phones  is a mere waste of time.

Our proposal therefore is that many schools should keep their students on busy and narrow paths through such schemes as RESEARCH PROJECTS AND NOVEL SUMMARIZATION SCHEMES. Many of these students will later look back at their schools with love and joy.No matter how difficult or expensive it may seem (mentors will have to be paid extra allowance to do the job well) the end result will make both the school and parents bond more together.Above all the school would have produced  more confident students ready to face  demands at higher level of studies as was faced by the first set of students of the Covenant University Ota!



ejiro was senior prefect girls in mason college festac…she was among the first set of students from mason college to attend covenant university when it opened…as a student she received the university’s scholarship,came out with a degree in computer engineering…and i was proudly the chairman at her wedding ceremony in 2010!

Please find below an example of handouts given to students of Mason College for their research project.It was a panacea against ADD and idleness.

STUDENTS’ PROJECTS – SUMMARY OF HOW TO CONDUCT RESEARCHES.

SOURCES OF RESEARCH  MATERIALS

BROWSING- Wikipedia, Encarta online (phasing or fading out but materials on available CDs still useful) Britannica online, Study.org and other student – friendly sites. (Check also other online reference books or online reference books or online periodicals such as magazines and newspapers)

COMPUTER CDS- Encarta/Britannica CDS distributed by the school from suppliers or available at the computer department of the school

LIBRARY- Texts/Magazines/Newspapers/Dictionaries/Encyclopedia/Periodicals/Almanacs/Atlases & other maps.

VCDS/DVDS- VCD/DVD lists available at Bookends(external library)/internal  library

BRAINSTORMING- Generation of creative ideas about the topic can be done individually or with a group.

FREE WRITING- Write about a topic for 15 minutes without stopping or reference to a book.  Don’t worry about organization. When finished examine what you have written. Thereafter review by adding or subtracting materials as you think relevant.

COLLECTING AND COLLATING INFORMATION GATHERED FROM SOURCES LISTED ABOVE

REVIEW YOUR SOURCES- Are they enough? If not locate or look for more sources. Assess the reliability of the source if you can. Note that Wikipedia is already being criticized by some people for allowing its information to be amended by anyone who wishes to from any part of the world.

TAKE APPROPRIATE NOTES- Take notes relevant to your topics from the source. Remember to write down names of writers for citation as sources of information.  Decide how to organize your notes.

ORGANIZE YOUR NOTES- By using chronological outlines, spider or Venn diagrams to separate materials into different compartments. Make sure it supports the purpose of your report.

WHAT TO INCLUDE TO COMPLETE YOUR REPORT- A clear specific title/ ideas from your sources / your ideas or opinions or comments/ citation information (you must always give credit for sources used in your report)

 FORMAT OF PROJECT REPORT- Introduction made of background and thesis sentence/ notes on research methods / relation of evidence to thesis sentence / conclusion made up of how evidence fits together and restatement of thesis statement.

NOTES FOR MENTORS/STUDENTS:-

Note that not all projects require the format stated above. Other formats can be compared or contrasted on format or cost/benefit format basis

However there must always be introduction, body and conclusion.

In writing each section you can always use several techniques of writing. Think about what you are going to write in each section, then try one of the techniques of writing contained in another handout provided for your use.

(Extracted from Microsoft Encarta with a few changes made)

O.O.ODUMOSU

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