The nature of classroom learning environments created by teachers had been considered very important for learning to take place effectively. This study investigated the effect of creating constructivist and transmissive learning environments on achievements of science students' of different ability levels. 243 students formed the entire study sample, while 146 (70 high and 76 low ability) students took part in the ability groupings. Three research instruments (teaching guides; scholastic ability test and Basic science achievement test), were used to obtain data for which two research hypotheses were tested. The validation and reliability of the instruments were fully established. Results indicate that students in the constructivist environment achieved more. And that the high ability students irrespective of their learning environment achieved more than the low ability students which indicates that learning environments do not have impact on learning ability. However, since the high and low constructivist groups achieved more than the high and low transmissive groups respectively, it is recommended that teachers should create the constructivist environment while paying extra attention to the low ability groups in order to reduce gaps between high and low ability during their basic science classes in Nigeria.

This study on the effects of advanced organizers on attainment and retention of students' concept of gravity in Nigeria was carried out to find out the efficacy of using advanced organizers to teach students the concepts of gravitation, weightlessness and space travels which are topics the students of junior secondary one have not been previously taught. 80 junior secondary one students from two secondary schools in Delta state Nigeria were used for the study. The students were grouped into two; the advanced-organizer and control group.The exercise took place in six weeks. The advanced organizers were given before each of the four lessons to those in the experimental groups while those in the control had no organizers; they were only taught lessons same with the students in the experimental groups. The dependent variables are the students' attainment and students' retention of the concept of gravity while the independent variable are the advanced organizers. Two research hypotheses and two research questions were stated. Using simple descriptive statistics and t-test statistical analysis the two hypotheses were rejected because there were significant differences in the attainment and retention of concepts of gravity by students in favor of the advanced organizer group. Based on the results educational implications and conclusions were stated.

The selection of subjects is a vital incident in the life of the senior secondary school child hence the need for proper guidance and encouragement to boost their interest and perception of science subjects. In this research a total of 180 senior secondary III students (91 boys and 89 girls) were carefully selected from four secondary schools in Delta State Nigeria, for the study. One research question and 4 hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used is the Subject Choice and Perception Questionnaire (SCAPQ). It was discovered that 40.6% of the students studying sciences as a result of personal interest had better perception of sciences than the 32.7%, 20.6% and 6.1%, influenced to study science by parental, teacher and gender factors respectively. Also, there was no significant difference between perception of boys and girls about science subjects. Conclusion and recommendations were made based on the results.

The Curriculum of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) has implications for the Curriculum of the 9-yearBasic Education (BEC) programme in Nigeria. Hence the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE)came up with a vision of producing well motivated teachers with high professional integrity and competence. Boththe in-service and pre-service teachers need to be conversant with the content of the 9– year Basic EducationCurriculum (BEC). Are there implementation synergies in the topics, laboratory exercises and nature of assessmentin the NCE integrated Science and the 9-year basic science curricula as perceived by the in-service and pre-serviceteachers who are recipients of the NCE-integrated science curriculum and who also implement the 9-year basicscience curriculum? 4 research questions and 4 research hypotheses guided this study. A sample of 180 pre-serviceand in-service basic science teachers who are recipients of the new 2012 NCCE Curriculum in Integrated-sciencefrom the South – South Geo-political zones in Nigeria were used. A 4-point Likert scale ’24-item questionnaire’called the Curriculum Implementation Synergy Questionnaire was used to obtain data. A cronbach alpha reliabilityco-efficient of 0.75 was obtained. Results showed that a larger proportion of both pre-service and in-service teachersagreed that there was high level of synergy in both curricula. It is recommended that the few topics and laboratoryexercises not found in both curricula should be added and the present basic science teachers who are not recipient ofthe present curriculum should be trained in line with the present curriculum.

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