by Benjamin Adu Gyamfi and Abraham Yeboah
Original Research
The study examined regular education teachers' readiness for inclusive education in Ghana's Adansi North District of the Ashanti Region. The study employed a descriptive survey design. One hundred and twenty regular education teachers from public basic schools were included in the study through census technique. The data was collected using a questionnaire, and the Cronbach's coefficient alpha for the data was 0.79. The data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, rankings, and standard deviations. Regular education teachers in the Adansi North District were found to be ready for inclusive education. Teachers modified instructional practices in inclusive classrooms to accommodate the requirements of special education learners by pre-teaching difficult concepts prior to the start of classes and offering written as well as oral directions to learners. Teachers indicated their readiness by using appropriate Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs) and group work in the inclusive classroom. It was revealed that regular education teachers faced challenges in teaching learners with special needs in inclusive classroom. There was an issue of inadequate teaching and learning materials. It is recommended that even though regular education teachers are ready to implement inclusive education, teachers need to be motivated by the Government of Ghana to show more commitment in ensuring effective implementation of inclusive education in their classrooms. Regular workshops on adaptation of instructional strategies should be organized by Ghana Education Service (GES) to equip teachers on current practices in adapting the instructional strategies in their classrooms to meet the needs of all learners.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2022, 10(6), 420-431. DOI: 10.12691/education-10-6-8
Pub. Date: June 23, 2022
by Pritam Pyne and Dr. Laxmiram Gope
Original Research
The knowledge society is struggling to revive from the devastating impact of the Corona Virus throughout the globe [1]. India is no more exception. To be more specific, the education sector has not been spared too. Institutions have lost their former momentum in each aspect, e.g., teaching-learning, research and innovation, human and material resources management, etc. The Higher Education system strives to cope with this alarming situation significantly since postgraduate and research programmes are affected badly. The academic leaders of the Universities are at stake under such circumstances. Since last year, we have become compelled to develop with a few steps in our technology-based education. However, we must think about alternative ways to keep the higher education system normal. These can be possible while the educational leaders innovate the key to various issues and challenges, be more cautious, and acknowledge all framing grounds. Leadership strategy needs to look beyond the present scenario and evolve with a more futuristic and sustainable approach. In this paper, the researcher focuses on ongoing issues and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic over Higher Education and possible alternative ways for educational leaders to evolve with new-normal phenomena. Due to frequent lockdown and unavailability of sufficient human resources, the researcher has opted narrative research method following convenient sampling. It includes teachers, research scholars, and postgraduate students from a few universities in West Bengal who are aware of the existing higher education system. Individual experiences and narratives are explored various issues and their probable solution for Institution builders.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2022, 10(6), 413-419. DOI: 10.12691/education-10-6-7
Pub. Date: June 21, 2022
by Emokol Francis, Muweesi Charles, Namisi Moses, Musiime Joseline and Kaweesi Muhamadi
Original Research
This qualitative study assessed student’s engagement in utilizing the 2020 NCDC home-study learning materials on continued learning at home during COVID-19 lockdown. Sampled purposively, students were grateful for government home-learning materials whose learning activities occupied them while at home much as many learners revealed that it was not easy to study without the teachers’ explanations, and also indicated parent’s contribution towards the implementation of the home schooling program was highly seen. Thus NCDC should develop a strategy to prepare home study-materials for all classes to keep on occupying learners on self-study since the pandemic recess is now a new normal.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2022, 10(6), 409-412. DOI: 10.12691/education-10-6-6
Pub. Date: June 21, 2022
by Santosh Kumar Behera and Tiya Mondal
Original Research
The aim of the current study is to examine the Mental Health of Post Graduate students at Kazi Nazrul University during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Paschim Bardhaman District of West Bengal, India, using the Descriptive method, specifically the normative survey strategy. As representative samples of the population as a whole, 150 Post Graduate students (47 males and 103 females) from Kazi Nazrul University in Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal were considered. Post Graduate students were selected using simple random sampling. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was analysed using the mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and regression analysis. The study revealed that the Mental Health of the Post Graduate students was average or moderate during the COVID-19 pandemic. As revealed by this study, the Mental Health of Post Graduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic were not significantly different between their Gender (Male-Female), Locality (Rural-Urban) and Stream (Arts, Science, and Commerce). Further, it was found that Gender, Locality, and Stream did not have any significant impact on mental health.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2022, 10(6), 401-408. DOI: 10.12691/education-10-6-5
Pub. Date: June 16, 2022
by Helen A. Berbesada and Janneth Q. Rondina
Original Research
The study aimed to determine the students learning gains in Mathematics as they were exposed to Blended Learning Instruction in the new normal. The study was a pretest-posttest one-group design. The data was gathered using the validated teacher-made test which was based on the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs) as mandated by the Department of Education. Pretest and post-test were conducted before and after the intervention respectively. The respondents were the 41 Grade 10 students of Misamis Oriental General Comprehensive High School (MOGCHS). Mean, Standard deviation, and paired t-tests were used to analyze the data. The analysis yielded a computed P-value of 0.000 which means that a significant difference in learning gains was observed as the students were subjected to blended instruction using the module and a constant follow-up via messenger. Therefore, it is recommended that blended learning instruction in the new normal gives a positive outcome to student achievements in Mathematics.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2022, 10(6), 398-400. DOI: 10.12691/education-10-6-4
Pub. Date: June 16, 2022
by Huang He Meng
Chinese is one of the languages popularly taught in universities in Vietnam. That not only gives many opportunities for Chinese language lecturers to show their abilities, as well as creates many challenges in improving their professional qualifications and teaching forms and methods. In teaching languages (including Chinese), using multimedia has become a popular trend to improve effectiveness during teaching hours, create love and passion for students for the new language. To the extent of this article, the author refers to the theoretical basis of multimedia use in language teaching; analyzing the situation of multimedia use in teaching module Language Practice 1 - Speaking 1 for first-year students of the Faculty of Chinese Language, Hanoi Open University; thereby proposed some notes when using multimedia in teaching to improve the effectiveness of teaching Chinese language nowadays.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2022, 10(6), 391-397. DOI: 10.12691/education-10-6-3
Pub. Date: June 12, 2022
by Vanie Y. Benben and Mary Allein Antoenette C. Bug-os
Original Research
There is an emergence of various modern strategies for teaching physics, but there have been few investigations into gamification strategies. Consequently, this study investigated the effects of a gamified formative assessment on students' academic achievement and motivation while learning physics. This study employed a one-group pretest-posttest pre-experimental design. All participants were given a pretest and posttest to determine their academic achievement in physics and Physics Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ-II) to determine their motivation to learn physics. Physics lessons were delivered online for an entire grading period, with gamified formative assessment in the form of a slide presentation via Quizizz. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the academic achievement and motivation tests scores. The results revealed that academic achievement increased from pretest to posttest scores, but there was a "low-g" learning gain. The level of motivation also increased from pre-gamification to post-gamification, shifting from moderately high to high motivation. The results also revealed a significant difference in academic achievement and motivation after exposure to a gamified formative assessment. It was concluded that gamifying formative assessment effectively improved junior high school students' academic achievement and motivation in learning physics. It was recommended that physics instructors be encouraged to use gamification strategies when teaching physics lessons to cater to the learning needs of the younger generations migrating to an online environment.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2022, 10(6), 385-390. DOI: 10.12691/education-10-6-2
Pub. Date: June 06, 2022
by Margaret I. Abikwi and Chukujindu J. Okafor
Original Research
The study examined impact of social media on academic performance of selected secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State. Two research questions were raised with two corresponding hypotheses formulated to guide the study. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study consisted of 685 SS2 and SS3 students from selected public secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State. The entire population was used for the study since the population was small and manageable. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire which was validated by two experts from Benson Idahosa University, Benin City. Spearman rank order was used to determine the reliability of the instrument which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.87. Out of the 685 questionnaires administered to the respondents, 672 copies were retrieved and used for analysis. Mean and standard deviation were descriptive statistical tools that were used to analyze the two research questions while t-test was the inferential statistics used to test the two null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. For the research questions, the decision was based on the criterion mean of 2.50. For the hypotheses, if the calculated value of t (t-cal) is less than the table value of t (t-crit), the null hypotheses will be accepted. The findings of the study revealed that the use of social media among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State is to a high extent and social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State to a high extent. The null hypothesis 1 was retained while the null hypothesis 2 was rejected. The study recommended among other things that students should be shown the value of reinvesting the time and effort saved by technology into higher-order tasks that matter to their learning, such as writing a complex argument, reading difficult texts, and debating ideas with others as this will enhance their academic performance.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2022, 10(6), 378-384. DOI: 10.12691/education-10-6-1
Pub. Date: May 30, 2022