Relationships between students’ task engagement and learning outcomes in chemistry

 

Orji Nna Sunday

 

Research Article | Published August 2013

Journal of Educational Research and Reviews, Vol. 1(1), pp. 1-8

 

 

Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, P. O. Box 895 Gwagwalada, Abuja. E-mail: nsorji@yahoo.com.  Tel: +234(0)8069259978.

………………………..............……………………………………………………………………........…………

 

View Full Text - PDF

 

To promote Science and Technology at the classroom level, for national growth and global competitiveness, nations are now paying more attention to students’ active participation in science learning. This study investigated science students’ task engagement in relation to their learning outcomes (attitude and achievement) in Chemistry. A stratified sample of 60 students drawn from 10 schools was used in the study. The Student Task Engagement Record, a classroom observation instrument, was used to record students’ on-task and off-task behaviour/engagement during chemistry lessons. At the end of the 6 weeks observation period, the Chemistry Achievement Test and Chemistry Attitude Questionnaire were administered to ascertain students’ chemistry achievement and attitude respectively. The engagement scores of the students were correlated with their achievement and attitude scores using Pearson’s product moment correlation. Students’ task engagement was found to have significant, positive correlation (r = 0.74) with achievement in chemistry; and non-significant negative correlation (r = -0.03) with attitude toward chemistry. It was therefore recommended that strategies for promoting task engagement should be taught and promoted in schools. Both practicing and trainee science teachers should build capacity in fostering engaging learning activities.

 

Keywords: Science Education, engagement, chemistry achievement, learning outcomes.

 

………………………………………………….......................…………………………………………………

Citation: Orji NS (2013). Relationships between students’ task engagement and learning outcomes in chemistry. J. Edu. Res. Rev. 1(1): 1-8

………………..................………………………………....………………………………………………………