BULGARIAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND EDUCATION POLICY

213-251

Authors: M. Karakas

This study examined experiences of science faculty who teach introductory undergraduate science courses including the fields of chemistry, biology, physics, and earth science. Participants were seventeen science instructors from five different institutions in the northeastern U.S. and all of them were interviewed. Findings revealed that participants generally had a public schooling experience. Their interest in science generally started as self-motivated and self-interest in middle and high school years, except for the three female scientists who got interested in science in their college years. Their parents were generally college graduates and supported them in their education in general, but did not give them any particular guidance in getting into their field of sci-ence. Most of the participants described their best science teachers as being, enthusiastic and exciting about their subject, motivating and involved with their students, and as a person who uses a lot of demonstrations and hands-on experiments. The participants were interested with general social issues in science, such as evolution vs. creationism and stem cell controversy. The majority of the scientists said that they understood how science really works in gradu-ate or after graduate school.

268-288

Authors: K. C. Nwosu, C. N. Ementa

Modern trend in educating persons with special needs points to the direction of inclusivity and demands the elimination of all forms of educational barriers that can impede their academic successes. However, there appears to exist an entrenched discrimination against persons living with special needs in Nigeria. This warrants they put in extra efforts for them to progress in their academic pursuit. The study explored the identity narrative of a graduate with visual impairment from a Nigerian University with particular reference to his encounters with societal challenges from his early childhood till when he graduated and how he made sense of his everyday world. The qualitative research paradigm was adopted in this study using semi-structured interview as the primary data tool. The narrative inquiry was used during the interview. Data analysis was based on content analysis. Findings indicated that there was the emergence of both desired and undesired identities in his narratives and in spite of the overwhelming challenges our participant faced, the desire for uncommon success is found in his narratives and he actively turned negative challenges in his way into steps that helped him arrive at his desired destination exemplifying an agentic role in constructing meaning in his social world. It was concluded from the study that ability to positively reconstruct ones negative experiences could lead to self-fulfillment. Resilience and belief in his abilities in spite of crushing experiences are keys to unlocking the potentialities of our respondent.

303-313

Authors: M.A. Auta, O.B.I.M. Noleen

The study validated strategies for effective vocational school public relations. Six purposes and six research questions guided the study. The design for this study was a descriptive survey. The area of the study was Taraba state and the population of the study comprises of eight Technical college principals and 24 Vice-Principals thereby making a population size of 32. No sampling was used. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher. The instrument was validated by three experts one from the department of technology education, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, one technical college principal, and one public relations practitioner. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability, and a reliability coefficient of 0.79 was obtained. The 32 copies of the instrument administered were properly filled and returned. Mean and Standard deviation were used to analyze the research questions. Findings from the study indicated that the use of media, school outreach, improved school facilities, promoting excellence, networking, open-doors are valid strategies that vocational school administrators could use for effective public relations. Recommendations were made among which were that Vocational school administrators should make effective use of media (Press Release, Radio programmes, paid advert, etc.) in their school public relations, and vocational school administrators should make telephone response lines available for the members of the community to call-in when the need arises.

345-358

Authors: M. Rahman, O. Ahmed

In present days, negative outcomes related to Facebook get huge attention of the researchers. A large group of emerging and young adults are using Facebook. The present study was aimed to investigate the role of Facebook use and Facebook addiction on mental health. This study was conducted on a sample 209 students from Chittagong University who were selected through non-probability sampling design. Results showed that females were spent more time on Facebook than males. Significant correlations existed among Facebook use, Facebook addiction, and mental health. Conditional process analysis revealed that partial mediated relation among these variables. This mediated relation also moderated by gender. Facebook use and addiction both negatively predicted the mental health. In terms of Facebook addiction scores, higher group significantly differed from lower group in Facebook use and mental health.

380-401

Authors: L. Paul, T. Parveen, O. Ahmed, R. Aktar

Due to unavailability of a developed or adapted instrument for statistical anxiety in Bangladesh context, the present study was designed to adapt the Statistical Anxiety Scale (SAS) (Vigil-Colet et al., 2008). Adaptation procedure was done by following guidelines of the International Test Commission (ITC). The translated SAS was administered on a sample of 238 students from the Chittagong University who were selected though non-probability sampling techniques. The internal consistency reliabilities, content validity, and construct validity were determined for assessing the psychometric properties of the Bangla SAS. The item-total correlations, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation coefficients among the SAS and its subscales, Chronbach's Aplhas, split-half reliability, composite reliability suggested that the Bangla SAS would be a psychometrically sound measure to apply in Bangladesh context.

418-434

Authors: E.N. Okwuduba, E.C. Okigbo

A lot of research studies have been conducted on effects of teaching methods on academic performance of students and they proved to be significant. But there is a discordant view on their results. This study uses meta-analytic review to harmonize studies conducted in Nigeria from 1990 to 2010 on effect of teaching method on students' academic performance in chemistry. This quasi experimental review was carried out under six phases namely; collection of the study, coding of the study, determination of inter-raters reliability, setting a benchmark for selecting a study, calculation of effect sizes and carrying out analysis. The required research studies must have statistics descriptions for computation of effect size. Fifty-one research works were sampled and used because they met the benchmark set for selection. Seven classes of teaching method were identified and they include: mastery learning (-0.013), Computer Assisted Instruction (0.146), Instructional Materials (0.208), Problem solving (0.315), Constructivist/concept mapping (-0.203), games/simulation/animations (0.173), student grouping/cooperative learning (0.218). The overall effect size is 0.147. The significant variations in the magnitude of effect sizes were resolved to some extent by application of random-model effect size meta-analytic technique. The major implication of this review is that we generated the most effective method of teaching chemistry.

460-479

Authors: B. Ubong, M. Okpor

Education as a concept can only be discussed in the context of communication. In theory and in practice, education implies transfer of knowledge which in simple terms is about coded information from one party that knows or custodies such information to another party that is the recipient of such information. Technology, seen as materials and as know-how, permeates all aspects of education, from the source (teacher or knowledge pool) to the receiver (student or learner) whether in formal or informal settings. This paper reviews the radio broadcasting system in Nigeria as a tool for mass communication. It presents a technology model for effective communication that can be applied in the specific area of radio broadcasting particularly in the developing country context where other aspects of information and communication technology are fairly rudimentary or grossly inadequate. It makes a case for compulsory Campus radio systems which are at present very few in institutions of higher learning in Nigeria because of the prohibitive cost of purchase, installation, maintenance, as well as paucity of technical personnel.