Background: This study determined the effects of rational emotive occupational health coaching on the management of work stress among academic staff of science and social science education in south east Nigerian universities. Method: A randomized controlled trial experimental design was adopted for the study with a sample size of 63 participants who were randomized into an intervention group (n = 32) and control group (n = 31). Occupational stress index and perceived stress scale were used for data collection. The intervention program was administered for 12 weeks after which posttest was administered and a 2-month follow-up measure followed. Mixed-design repeated analysis of variance was used to determine the within-groups and between-groups effects. Results: The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference between the baseline, and the nonintervention group did not change over time in their management of work stress. However, the mean stress of the intervention group decreased over time than that of the control group. Conclusion: Rational emotive occupational health coaching had significant effects on the management of work stress among academic staff of science and social science education.

The ugly occurrences of security breaches have made the Nigerian populace to be leaving in fear. The most affected are the teaming adolescents of the school‐age who may not have a good sense of their community. Thus, this study carried out the factorial validation of a 36‐item sense of community scale (SoCS) developed by Cicognani et al. since no such study exists in Nigeria. The instrument was adopted and validated. A sample of 357 students in South East Federal Universities, Nigeria, was used for this study using a simple random sampling technique. The instrument's factorial validation was conducted by subjecting the data obtained to factor analysis to determine its validity and reliability. Besides, the principal component matrix with varimax rotation was used to carry out the exploratory and confirmatory factors analyses, while the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and confirmatory factor index (CFI) were used to determine the data model fit. Findings of the study showed that SoCS demonstrated good reliability (0.89) and model fit (RMSEA = 0.041, CFI = 0.951) in the Nigerian context. SoCS is a reliable scale for measuring the in‐school adolescents' sense of community.

Introduction: Textbooks are essential component of the educational system that were heavily utilized by teachers and learners. Basic Science textbook authors should review the language structure and terminologies to enhance the readability of Basic Science textbooks. Purpose:The study aimed at analyzing the adequacy in the readability level of the recommended Basic Science textbooks in use junior secondary schools Enugu State, Nigeria. Methodology:An evaluation research design was adopted for this study. The population consisted of all the 60 recommended Basic Science that were approved for teaching of Basic Science in Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu state, Nigeria. The sample size of this study comprised of 33 recommended Basic Science textbook. Purposive sampling technique was used to draw eleven (11) recommended Basic Science textbooks each from JSS1, JSS 2 and JSS 3. The readability of the textbook was determined using Flesch-Kincaid Readability Formula. The researchers subjected the instrument to content validation by three experts, with internal consistency reliability estimate of 0.92. Microsoft office word 2010 was used to assess the readability. The mean of the readability scores for each Basic science textbooks was determined and interpreted using the Flesh's interpretation readability scores relative to Nigerian schools. Results: The findings of this study revealed that almost all the Basic Science textbooks are adequate and can easily be understood by the students. Recommendations: The researchers recommended that the recommendation of Basic Science textbooks should not be based on the reputation of the publishers and the lobbying abilities but should be based on more objective criteria that relate to the textbook quality with the students as the principal focus.

The study made use of instrumentation research design while item response theory was applied, to develop and validate Basic Science multiple-choice tests. 600 junior secondary school II students consisted of a sample that was randomly selected from 20 government co-education secondary schools in Udi education zone of Enugu State, Nigeria. The study was guided by six research questions. A 40-test item of Basic Science multiple choice test was constructed by the researchers and used to collect data. Three experts subjected the instrument to content and face validation to ensure its validity. Two of them were from the departments of Science education and educational foundations, respectively. A reliability index of 0.85, was realized. Analysis of the data that were generated, was carried out, using the maximum likelihood estimation technique of BILOG-MG computer programming. It revealed that 40-test items with the appropriate indices consisted of the final instrument developed and was used to assess the ability of students in Basic Science. The result of the study confirmed the reliability of the items of the Basic Science Multiple choice questions based on the three-parameter (3pl) model. The findings again revealed that the multiple-choice Basic Science test items were difficult and that there was differential item functioning in Basic Science among male and female learners. Recommendations that were in line with the findings were made, such as that: teachers and examination bodies should adopt and encourage IRT in the development of test instruments used in measuring the ability of students in Basic Science and other subjects.