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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Several methodologies, tactics, and strategies have been utilized in the teaching of Basic Science in Nigerian classrooms throughout the years to improve delivery of the subject’s contents, ideas, principles, and philosophies. The majority of activities are teacher-centered (lecture method) rather than student-centered (directed discovery approach), which impacts how students grasp the material as well as their overall achievement in Basic Science. Although previous research has revealed that most of the methods, techniques, and strategies used by Nigerian teachers in the classroom to teach Basic Science are not stimulating enough to pique students’ interest and curiosity to ask why, how, where, and when a particular answer or solution is reached. During the course of the lesson, the students are more of passive listeners, which does not build confidence or the ability of the students to engage in rational thinking, thought-provoking conversations, and argument on the entire process of arriving at a solution to the problem. For pupils to be confident and self-sufficient, responsibilities must be assigned to each and every one of them in order for them to understand the significance of every decision and choice made in order to arrive at any feasible solution to a problem. This may be accomplished by teachers offering activities that stimulate students’ interest to participate in critical and rational thinking in order to arrive at a solution while also assisting in the development of the student’s scientific personality.
The concept “reflective thought” was introduced by John Dewey in 1910 in his “How We Think”, a work designed for teachers. Dewey admitted a debt to both his contemporaries in philosophy, William James, and Charles S. Peirce. Dewey’s most basic assumption was that learning improves to the degree that it arises out of the process of reflection. As time went on, terminology concerning reflection proliferated, spawning a host of synonyms, such as “critical thinking,” “problem solving,” and “higher level thought.”
Reflective practice is a disciplined inquiry into the motives, methods, materials, and consequences of educational practice. It enables practitioners to thoughtfully examine conditions and attitudes which impede or enhance student achievement. Reflective teachers are of many things, amongst
(1) Are responsive to the unique educational and emotional needs of individual students;
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(2) Question personal aims and actions; and
(3) Constantly review instructional goals, methods, and materials (Pollard & Tann, 1987).
The paradigm of reflective practice is hardly a new one. In his seminal work, ‘How We Think’, Published in 1909, John Dewey explained the concepts of reflective thinking and teaching….
(Must evaluate the potential solutions to the problem in light of existing information, information that may be incomplete and unverifiable? Reflective thinking requires the continual evaluation of beliefs, assumptions, and hypotheses against existing data and against other plausible interpretations of the data. The resulting judgments are offered as reasonable integrations or syntheses of opposing points of view. Because they involve on-going verification and evaluation, judgments based on reflective thinking are more likely to be valid and insightful than beliefs derived from authority, emotional commitment, or narrow reasoning (Dewey, 1933, 1938). (King and Kitchener, 1) John Dewey and King and Kitchener propose that individuals engage in reflection when they encounter problems with uncertain answers. When no authority figure has an answer, when they believe no one answer is correct, and when the solution cannot be derived by formal logic. The uncertainty or the belief in uncertainty is the essential requirement in this case for reflective thinking to occur. An individual must acknowledge that some problems may not be solved by one absolute truth
THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The overall performance of Nigerian students in Basic Science has not been at its best over the years, owing primarily to the fact that the methods, techniques, and strategies used in teaching the subject are not stimulating and scientific enough, resulting in students’ poor performance in the subject. There is no arguing that the aforementioned variables work against optimal student achievement in Basic Science in Nigerian classrooms. The majority of these approaches spoon-feed pupils answers and solutions to issues while denying them knowledge of the processes that led to the answers and solutions. Furthermore, the majority of class activities are oriented on the teacher rather than the students. Instead of being a mirror of pure knowledge, this will simply make the pupils a shadow of their professors. For students to be more confident in the knowledge they desire to gain, tasks that require rational thought and reflection must be offered to them. As a result, this research will investigate how the Reflective Thinking method affects students’ performance in Basic Science, as well as whether students who are exposed to the reflective practice approach outperform those who are not.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This research project work is to find out the following;
i. To determine the four stages of ‘Reflective thinking strategy’ on overall students’ academic performance in Basic Science.
ii. To establish If ‘Reflective thinking strategy’ and its practices can make students understanding better the principles, concepts and contents of the Basic Science
iii. To identify whether ‘Reflective thinking strategy’ affects students’ academic performance in Basic Science.
iv. To determine whether students who are exposed to the reflective practice approach perform in basic science better than those who are not exposed to reflective strategy.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
v. What are the four stages of ‘Reflective thinking strategy’ on overall students’ academic performance in Basic Science?
vi. Does reflective thinking strategy’ and its practices make students understanding better the principles, concepts and contents of the Basic Science
vii. Does ‘Reflective thinking strategy’ affects students’ academic performance in Basic Science.
viii. Are students who are exposed to the reflective practice approach perform in basic science better than those who are not exposed to reflective strategy.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study on “The effect of Reflective thinking strategy on students’ achievement in Basic Science in Nigeria classrooms” intends to identify the important role the‘Reflective thinking strategy’ plays on students’ academic performance and what the students stand to benefit if exposed to the reflective thinking practice.
This research will also benefit the Education Ministry, Schools and Teachers by offering a teaching method that has been found to involve all levels of Bloom taxonomy and secondly the research will highlight the advantages a reflective practitioner has over a non-reflective practitioner.
On the whole, this research project work will emphatically bring to the knowledge of the public that the teaching of Basic Science is expected to lay a sound basis for scientific and reflective thinking so as to create a radical change in teaching strategy from chalk and talk science teaching to enquiry.
SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study was strictly confined to methods and strategies used in the teaching the subject, its effects on students’ academic achievement and also ways of encouraging students’ to engage in reflective thinking.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering private and public secondary schools in Ikeja, Lagos State in Nigeria.Thus findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for women in other States within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work will impede maximum devotion to the research. Howbeit, despite the constraint encountered during the research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.
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