The major purpose of this study was to determine the pattern of dropout among secondary school students in Delta State. To guide this study, 7 research questions were asked and answered, 3 hypotheses stated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The design of study was Expost facto using the past school attendance registers as the major instrument. The samples of the study consisted of 120 senior secondary schools and 120 vice principals. The collected data were expressed in percentages, and analyzed with t-test statistic. The major findings of this study included: (i) a higher percentage of dropouts in SSI, and a decline in SSII; (ii) a higher percentage of dropouts among females in all parameters; (iii) a higher percentage of dropouts in rural schools; (iv) a higher percentage of dropouts in mixed schools; (v) a higher percentage of dropouts in public schools; (vi) a significant difference on percentage dropouts between male and female single sex schools; (vii) a significant difference on percentage of dropouts between mixed and single sex schools; and (viii) a significant difference on percentage dropouts between schools in urban and rural areas. It was concluded that the single most important factor, which influenced pattern of dropouts, was student's sex.

The major purpose of this study was to find out the conceptions of science teachers about the nature of science. To guide this study, four research questions were asked and four hypotheses tested. The design of the study was descriptive survey and instrument used for data collection was a 22 item questionnaire. The sample of the study consisted of 400 science teachers drawn from senior secondary schools in Edo and Delta states. The data collected were analyzed with simple percentages and Chi square statistics. The major findings of the study included: (i) higher percentage of science teachers selected options which agreed with traditionalist's view on NOS; (ii) of the 22 items, in17 of them a higher proportion of science teachers conceived science from the traditionalist's view as against 5 for the constructivist view; (iii) a significant difference between the proportions of science teachers who opted for either traditionalist's or constructivist's view in all items except item 11; (iv) non-significant difference between the proportion of male and female science teachers on conception of science from the traditionalist's view; (v) significant differences in the proportions of male and female science teachers only in items 6,8,9 and 12 on the conception of science from the constructivist's view; (vi) non-significant difference in the proportions of urban and rural science teachers on conception of science from the traditionalist's view while significant differences were found between them only in items 2,6,10,12 and 17 on constructivist's view; and (vii) non-significant difference in the proportion of NCE, B.Sc (Ed) and B.Sc holders on conceptions of science from the traditionalist's view in all items except in item 17 while significant differences were found between them only in items 4,9,17 and 20 on constructivist's view. It is concluded that this trend in the conception of NOS can only be reversed through a deliberate science teacher preparatory curricula reform to include elements of constructivism.

The intention of this study was to determine how science instructors in the university laboratories spend time on instruction. The study, was guided by three research questions and two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study employed a non-participant observation case study design. 48 instructors teaching lower and higher levels practical courses in Botany, Microbiology, Zoology, Chemistry, Physics, and Geology in Faculty of Science of Delta State University constituted the sample. A behaviour checklist called Science Laboratory Interaction Categories (SLIC) was the instrument used for data collection. A major finding of the study showed that science instructors spend most of the instructional time on; Demonstration of Procedure, Shows, Transmits, Listens and Non-lesson related behaviours resulting in less investigative teaching. Another finding of the study shows that among the six science disciplines the data revealed significant differences for all the instructor behaviours. It was concluded that the observation of what science instructors do in the university laboratories can be a source of valid information on how to improve science education in the universities and science teachers training for other levels of education and institutions.

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