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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WHY ARE SOME TUTORS SETTING OBJECTIVE EXAMS IN NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS SO CARELESS?

TIPS FOR SETTING MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAMINATIONS

IN NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

exam hall

 1. Present a single, definite statement in a concise easy stem. Students should know what is being asked from the stem, not from the answer options. Eliminate irrelevant materials. Address only one piece of information per question.2. Ensure that only one response is considered best or correct by experts in the field. If dealing with opinion

( as opposed to fact), cite the source.

3.  Avoid negative statements. Negative words and prefixes are often misread. Never use double negatives. If negative must be used, capitalize, underline, or otherwise highlight the negative term.

4. Use only plausible and attractive alternatives as incorrect response choice. Good response choices are those that can help pinpoint student’s knowledge. It is therefore best to include choices that reflect common misconceptions or errors in logic. But please note that when choices are obviously incorrect they are, for all practical purposes, not real choices or options

5. Avoid giving clues to the correct option. Clues can take many forms: inconsistencies in grammar, sentence lengths, structure or style: use of words such as ‘always’ or ‘never’, presenting exhaustive opposites; answers to other questions on the exam, to name a few.

6. Avoid interdependent items where the answer to one item is necessary to work on the next item. This,however, should  not eliminate the possibility of having multiple questions relating to the same data or passage.

7. Use as choice ‘all of the above’ and ‘none of the above’ sparingly, if at all. Make sure that these are sometimes the correct and sometimes the incorrect choices.

8. Avoid irrelevant sources of difficulty. Esoteric terminology should be used when such terminology is an integral part of the objective.

9. Arrange response choices in logical order. For example, when dates or numbers are presented as response choices, list them in order. Or type answer alternatives in a vertical list.

10. Avoid patterns of response: the correct answer should appear in each of the response positions approximately on equal number of times but in random order.

11. Present the same number of choices throughout the test. The use of variable number of response choices can cause students to make clerical errors unrelated to their understanding of the material.

12.Do not write questions on trivial ideas.

13.It is always a good idea to pre-test your questions for content, format, and length.

 14.   A MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAM CAN TEST KNOWLEDGE AT SEVERAL LEVELS.

          a.    LOW LEVEL QUESTIONS: Recall date, report observations, identify, define.

          b.   CONVERGENT QUESTIONS: Find similarities or/and differences, identify relationships, draw inferences, explain.

           c.   DIVERGENT QUESTIONS: Develop a theory, make predictions, develop a generalization, speculate.

 15.  LENGTH: You should not give students less than one minute per question (a maximum of 50 questions for a 50 minute class period.) You may choose to give even fewer questions depending on the number of responses per questions or calculations required.

TIPS FOR PREVENTING CHEATING IN THE EXAM HALL

16.   There are two main aspects of multiple choice exams that create possible cheating opportunities,

17.   First, during the exam copying answers from others may be easier than with subjective answers.

18.   Second, after the exam, changing answers, or attempting to submit others work may be easier.

With a little forethought, these can both be dealt with very effectively

19.   The most common way to prevent cheating is to use multiple versions of the exam as done by JAMB these days It is important to mix the order of the questions and the order of the items. There are many test- bank computer programs available that will automatically do this for you. If you change the order of the questions make sure that all versions are equally logically ordered. For example, if one version was in a logical order and the others were in a random order, those students with added clues of order may do better in the exam.

20.   Make sure the versions alternate then they are handed out.

21.   Have students keep the exam papers face down until you signal the start.

22.   Where affordable some instructors choose to identify the versions on different colors of paper. This means that the he can identify if students  have shuffled the order of the exams and are sitting next to others with the same version. However, this also means that students may be able to identify a potential source for cheating.

 23.      You may also choose to use ‘phantom’ versions where you indicate that you have more versions than you actually have. For example, use four ‘Versions’ but have only 2 keys (versions 1 and 3 are actually the same.  as are versions 2 and 4).

 24.   Be sure all desks are cleared of any material and  such materials placed out before starting the exam.

 25.  Do not allow toilet-going.

EXTRACTED FROM THE WEB A FEW YEARS AGO

LETTER TO NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR THE NEW ACADEMIC YEAR!

3RD LETTER TO MY CHILD IN A NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL

[caption id="attachment_20494" align="aligncenter" width="593"] ex-prefects of Mason College Festac[/caption]

My Dearest Child.

I refer to my first letter in which I pointed out that EDUPEDIA (Lagos Books Club) had promised to prepare and send useful tips for your WAEC/NECO/JAMB exams.I am proud to note that they have kept their promise through their three blogs namely:

1...http://lagosbooksclub.wordpress.com

2...http://lagosbooksclub.com

3...http://edupedianigeria.wordpress.com

Now go  to these blogs for some tips on

a…English Language

b…Mathematics

c…Study and Examination Techniques for WAEC/NECO/JAMB

d…Library Rules and Regulations/Novels Summarization Scheme

e…Tips for improving educational inputs versus outputs for the average Nigerian student

f…Lists of books and DVDs in their library (work in progress)

g…Personal improvement techniques for students and  tutors

The short write-up below on Study Techniques was prepared/extracted by them for your use. Please go through carefully. Thereafter, give me your opinion about the blogs as it seems many tutors are using the content for their students these days. Let me also know what you think of the short write-up below

Greetings from your mum,brothers and sisters. Have a nice day.

Your Dad.

ATTACHMENT TO LETTER

 WHY STUDY AND HOW TO STUDY ( EXTRACTED AND RE-COMPILED BY EDUPEDIA)

A. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY  YOU HAVE TO STUDY THEN THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT THESE QUOTATIONS)

1. Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can enslave. At home, a friend, abroad, an introduction, in solititude a solace, and in society, an ornament. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once, grace and government to genius. Without it what is a man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage’- Joseph Addison

2. ‘He that has knowledge spareth his words’- Proverbs 17:27

3. Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive, easy to govern but impossible to enslave’ – Henry Brougham.

4. ‘Studies serve for delight, for ornament and for ability’ –Francis Bacon.

5. It is purely a matter of skill

Which all may attain, if they will

But every jack.

He must study the knack

If he wants to make sure of his Jill’ -    Sir William Gilbert.

B. HOW TO STUDY?/GET YOURSELF BETTER ORGANIZED!

6. The first step is to decide to get your acts together and organize your life. Organizing your life can improve your success in school, help you avoid cramming or engaging in examination malpractices. It will also help persuade your parents and teachers that you are becoming more mature and of good judgment. From this you might earn more rights and privileges too.

7. The next step after taking the decision to get organized is to find a quiet place free from distraction (such as GSM or TV). That is, find and choose a place where you don’t normally do other things. For example if you study on your bed you will start thinking about falling asleep. Make sure your study table or corner has enough light to avoid straining your eyes. Also use a straight backed chair and table instead of a sofa. Keep certain things on the table, to make your studies more efficient such as pencil, biros, eraser, marker, writing paper, cellotape, pencil sharpener, rubber band, ruler, stapler, paperclip, calculator, a pair of scissor, and cardboard. Having a computer at home could also have its advantages. But there are other disadvantages that could come with it. So be careful and do not let it distract you with games or breaking news. It can also break down after you have become so reliant on it. Another problem could also be electricity supply.

8. As earlier mentioned you need to organize your time with a personal time-table (PTT).  A PTT is a must and should be carried with you always (classes, after school activities, at home, at weekends etc.) Experts have given the following suggestions for planning a personal time-table or for time management.

9.  Set your priorities after making a list of everything you do in a week.

10. Include time for some recreation.

11. Be flexible. Things do change; Your PTT is not to be carved in stone.

12. Don’t over schedule yourself. Look closely at distractions you can do without. Block them out of the PTT.

13.  Plan time for getting yourself organized each day. That is, plan a few minutes each day to renew your PTT and confirm if it is working well for you.

14. Find and use little chunks of time to read e.g. 15 minutes, 20 minutes or 40 minutes before classes, or while waiting for food .

15. Don’t procrastinate at studies. These are always things including your body that might try to discourage you and make you postpone your studies. Our bodies are not always our friends and we need to fight and conquer them.

16. Note that completing assignments or doing homework is a major part of studies. It is not an option, it is a must do. Listen carefully to your tutors when they give you homework. Don’t get yourself into the habit of giving shameful excuses for not doing your homework on time. Know that you need to refer to your notebook, recommended and supplementary textbooks too. Again, stop doing your homework in front of TV or with your phone cells etc. distraction like these will always be problematic. Don’t copy answers from your friends early in the morning at school either.

17. You must also plan to succeed. Successful people do not become successful by accident or by luck. They plan to succeed. They recognized problems that  get in their way and come up with  personal solutions.

18. Above all refer to the last two letters and ask our Heavenly Father to give you grace and show more mercy on you and all of us, your family and our organization. I know you have said AMEN to all that. Or haven’t you?

LAGOSBOOKSCLUB/EDUPEDIA.

ANOTHER WELCOME REMINDER FOR OUR NEW VISITORS

LAGOSBOOKSCLUB.COM IS BORN:WELCOME AGAIN TO  OUR NEW WORLD!

[caption id="attachment_1778" align="alignleft" width="500"] My library
Was dukedom large enough.
- Shakespeare, The Tempest
-[/caption]

Kindly note that this website is still under construction and may be so till Jan,2013.Please be patient with us and remember

us in your prayers to come out with a website which will thoroughly educate, entertain and be generally useful to the public

at large. In doing so we shall concentrate,most of the time, on what is useful to education in our country. This means that we

intend to focus on those things that are positive and uniting to our people and not  what denigrates our country or divides us.

Once again we thank you for coming here and look forward to inviting you here in the nearest future.

My name is Kayode Odumosu...ex- director mason college,festac...presently managing consultant at EDUPEDIA

ASSOCIATES...LAGOS BOOKS CLUB is a branch of EDUPEDIA..