Effects on an Ethnoscience-Based Instructional Package on Students
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1 2 NOV. 199!f 1 i EltFECTS O.F AN ETHNOSCIENCE-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL PACKAGE ON STUDENTS' CONCEPTION OF SCIENTIFIC . i •-,' PHENOMENA AND ATTITUDE TO SCIENCE. ; .. ···, (9 G.O 3 ,8 ~ j '·/ ''··,\·.:;\, n_.. i~o '!~ \0\ ~ ~ :1 ..,, -::.~·~·-. ..J i_,_: ,~- q,_ 1 /l: ' ~,,_,, ~r 15 ~ b 1~ ) ~! ··o ·, 1 ·. 0 ~, / BY ,;J .<\f .... ùo '/ ·, "J.JL1G') ... ,, ··~,1•• ,. •,·~,:,·,·• "'.., .. ,'1-"',:-r ABONYI,OKECHUKWUSUNDAY PG/Ph.D/95/21741 BEING A DOCTORAL THESIS PRESENTED TO TIIE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA. / CODESRIA - LIBRARY IN PARTL4L Jfl.JI.1.tfILlVIENT OF TI1~ REQUIREl\tŒNTS FOR THE AvVAii.i) OF THE u~GRE~ 0.F· DOCTOR OF PIDLOSOPHY IN i.SHUCATION (MEASUREMENT & EVALUATION). NOV EMBER, 1998 Ji CERTIFICATION '· ,,, ' ' ') AllONYI OKECHUK\VU SUN DA Y, A Postgraduate doctoral Student of· : . - . !lie Subdepartment" of Science Educaüon ,of the University. ot.· Nigeria_ with . i' Registrati9n . number PG/Ph. D/95/217 4 l has satisfactorily . completed the ' 1 ' 1.. i ., require1iH!f1ts for the· degree of Do'c~·::>r · of Philosophy'· in l\kasurement and ' ' i . ; . Th<l work embodied in this the~i:·. is original .and has not be·en submitted in : . part ür 'füù fol' any other Diploma or d,:gree of this or any other University. ' ' ' LIBRARY ..' ;, ' 1 - 1 .,1 (·:$1~?= i' Dh. D. N~_EZE '' .Head üf D;eparqnentCODESRIA Bupervis<Jr · i 1 i ' 1 1 • iii ··:i. This thesis l1as be~~1 approveJ for .ihe· Departnient of Education, University . ' . '' or Nigeria, Nsukka. .···'·.·· i ../."· •', ·.~Y,··/· ·/ ., ,1 , , lnt~f nal Examiner. / ' . LIBRARY - External -! / i . .:~· j."· ij.-~··· ~_.......____ . ·1'... ·..... · P~arl 9. Faculty . : ' . : 1: i • • ·,1 . CODESRIA .,· e·: 1 "'' ..... 1 ;· ·:: 1 • ~ . .,1 ; •• 1 1 i 1 ' iv DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my mother Nwele, my wife Clara and my children: Okey, Chinasa and Ngozi. LIBRARY - j CODESRIA V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful to the almighty God whose gift of knowledge, courage, good health and wisdom made it possible for this study to be concluded. To my Supervisor, DR. B.G Nworgu, I remain very grateful. His charismatic leadership, kindness, patience, and willingness to lead me along made it possible for this work to be concluded. He has always been responsible for my academic growth and initiatives. I also express my gratitude ro Dr. D .N Eze for his kindness, patience and genuine contribution to the progress of this work. His intelligent advice and constru.ctive criticisms led in no small measure to the completion of this work. 1 also wish to acknowledge the interesting contributions of Prof A. Ali, Prof Mrs V.F. Habor-Peters and DR.LIBRARY A.A Nwosu in shaping the work at the preliminary stage of the study. - In the same way I cannot thank enoiigh the teachers who assisted me during the field work. I am really indebted to the integrated science teachers of Q.R.S.S Nsukka, S.T.C. Nsukka, Model Secondary School, Nsukka, B.H.S Orba and G.S.S. Ibagwa. Their dedication to this study made it possible for this work to be . ' ·- . I completed. I would also registerCODESRIA my appreciation to my family for their support and encouragement. I also wish to acknowledge the sacrifices of Chinwe Mba and Kate Elechi at the most critical moment of this study. I lack words to express my gratitude to them. They made it possible for the study to progress at a time it became almost impossible for me to forge ahead. To Engr. Emeka Obe, I lack words to express my appreciation to him. He single handedly type-set the work both at the proposai and this final stage. vi I also express my gratitude ta Rev. Fr. DR'. J.M. Chikani, the pr_incipal of my college (S. T. C N sukka), for his spiritual, moral and financial support throughout the period of the study. Finally, I wish ta acknowledge the council for Development of Social Science ll~search in Africa (CODESRIA) for their award anà sponsorship of this project. They not only gave this study an international recognition but also made available material and financial support for the study. LIBRARY - CODESRIA / vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATION . ii APPROV AL PAGE 111 DEDICATION . .......... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V ABSTRACT .... X CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION . 1 Background of the Study . 1 Statement of the Problem . 6 Purpose of the Study . 8 Significance of the Study 8 Scope of the Study . 10 Research Questions . 11 Hypotheses . , . : :. LIBRARY 11 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE- . 12 Theoretical framework . 12 Concepts of Ethnoscience . 12 Scope of Ethnoscience . 15 Rationale for Ethnoscience . 25 Ethnoscientific versus Western Scientific Views and Paradigms 28 Ethno.science and the Western Conceptual Method . 35 Religion and Esoterism in Ethnoscientific thought . 40 ContributionsCODESRIA of the Ancient lndigenous Africans to Conventional Sciences . 44 r.oncept formation: An overview . 48 Theories of concept formation and learning 58 Cvù1.,tptiu11:s uf Scientific Phefiomeha 62 Attitude to Science . 64 Programme Evaluation: an overview 66 1fodels of Prngram Evaluation .. 69 Empirical Studies . 71 Empirical Studies On Ethnoscience . 72 Empirical Studies on Conception and Concept Development . 76 viii Empirical Studies on Attitude and Attitude to Science 78 Summary of the Review 81 CHAPTER THREE : RESEARCH METHOD ............... 83 Design ....... 83 Area of Study 83 Population of Study 84 Sample and Sampling Procedure . 84 Instrument for Data Collection 85 Validation of the Instruments 86 Reliability of the Instruments . 87 Experimental Procedure . 87 Control of Extraneous Variables . 88 Method of Data Collection 89 Method of Data Analysis 90 LIBRARY CHAPTER FOUR : RESULTS . -. 91 Research Questions 91 Hypotheses . 105 Summary of Results 107 CHAPTER FIVE : DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION AND RECOMMENDATION. ................. 109 Research Questions 109 Hypotheses ..... 114 Conclusion CODESRIA. 117 Implications of the Study 118 Recommendations . ... ,, .. " . 119 1 , ~ _ ,\ , i;.} Limitations of the Study 120 Suggestions for further Research 120 Summary of the study . 120 REFERENCES . 121 . IX APPENDICES . 132 Appendix I : Ethnoscience based lnstructional Package in Integrated Science (for the treatment group). 132 Appendix Il : Conventional Instructional Module in Integrated Science (For Control Group) . 135 A ppendix Ill : Conception of Scientific Phenomenon Test (CSPT) . 137 Appendix IV : Conceptual types for items of the Conception Test . 144 Appendix V: Attitude to Science Scale (ASS) (Adapted from Baggaley (197BJ)7 Appendix VI : Retest typology summary for the Conception Test . 149 Appendix VII : A model lesson note for treatment group . 150 Appendix VIII : A model lesson note for control group . 152 LIBRARY - CODESRIA X ABSTRACT This study was designed io investigate the effects of an ethnoscience-based instructional package on students conception of scientific phenomena and attitude to Science. The study employed a non equivalent control group quasi-experimental design. The sample for this study comprised of two hundred and forty three J. S. III students. The study was conducted in six secondary schools (2 boys, 2 girls and 2 co-educational). The schools were drawn through a stratified random sampling. In each school one intact class was drawnfor the study through a simple random sampling. Out of the six schools three schools (one male, one female and one co-educational) were assigned to the treatment group while the remaining three schools were assigned to the control group. The treatment group was taught science using the ethnoscience based package while the control group was taught science using the conventional approach. Five research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. A· Conception of Scientific Phenomenon Test and Attitude to Science Scale were used to collect data on conception and attitude respectively. The data on Conception of Sçientific Phenomenon were analyzed qualitatively using categorizing and typologies:LIBRARY Data on Attitudes to science were analyzed quantitatively using mean, standqrd- deviation and analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA). The result revealed that the ethnoscience based Instructional package is superior to the conventional approach in facilitating modern science concept formation in learners, that the ethnoscience-based package has no dif.ferential impact on concept formation among males and females and that the ethnoscience based /nstructional package is more effective than the conventional package in fostering attitude to science. The study also revealed that although with the ethnoscience based instructional package .females showed higher attitude than males, the dif.ference in the mean attitude of males and females CODESRIAtaught science using the package is not statistically significant. There was no significant interaction between gender and instructional method on students at!itude to science. The researcher, therefore, recommended that ethnoscience based instructional package be adopted in our school system and that teachers be trained on the proper use of the package. This study, therefore, calls for an urgent curriculum review to reflect the African culture and environment. CHAPTERONE INTRODUCTION Background of tnê Stüdy·; · · ~lliek (1986:2;lJ) defined ethnoscience as "the knowledge that is indigenous to a particular language and culture". Perceived from the same dimension, Ogunbunmi and Olaitan (1988) conceived ethnoscience as the study which approximates or reflects the natives' own thinking about how their physical world is to be classified. The views of