A REVIEW OF TIME DURATION IN BIOLOGY EXAMINATION AND ITS ROLE IN STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE

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A REVIEW OF TIME DURATION IN BIOLOGY EXAMINATION AND ITS ROLE IN STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE

ABSTRACT

This study examined the effects of exam length on student performance in Biology examination. Exams tested higher order thinking skills. To test our hypothesis, we administered standard- and extendedlength high-level exams to two populations of non-majors Biology students in secondary schools in Anambra state. We gathered exam performance data between conditions as well as performance on the SSCE Biology examination result. We showed that lengthier exams time led to better performance on assessment items shared between conditions, possibly lending support to the spreading activation theory. It also led to greater performance on the final exam, lending support to the testing effect in creative problem solving. Lengthier exams did not result in lower performance in Biology, although students perceived subjective fatigue. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to assessment practices.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In any school system, academic performance is the priority to students as well as the teachers. According to Cote & Levine (2000) and Singth, Granville & Dika (2002), opined that the factors of academic performance include motivation and time duration have impacted on students‘ achievement particularly in Biology. Since grade is a primary parameter of such learning, if a learner earns high grades it is thought that he/she has learned well while low grades indicate poor learning outcome.

However, many have also found out that several factors contribute to the grades. No single factor can be taken in isolation as predicting grades. It has been an influence of so many factors such as gender, IQ, study habits, time duration, age, year of study, level of parent’s educational attainment, social status, number of children, birth order, etc. In fact, almost all the above environmental, personal and natural factors exert influence on academic performance.

The determinants of academic performance are a recurrent topic in public policy debates on secondary education. One largely unsettled issue concerns the impact of the most essential factors in the educational production, student’s effort and time duration on academic achievement. While many would probably agree that students will not learn unless they put forth some amount of effort, our understanding of the ways time duration impacts on performance as measures by attaining a certain grade in Biology is rather limited. Quantifying the effect of study time on achievement seems important from at least two perspectives i.e from the perspective of the instructor, who creates classroom learning, experiences and measures learning outcomes, and finally from the perspective of the student who seeks to balance competing personal goals.

In recent years, much effort has been dedicated to understanding the parameter affecting success of Biology students in secondary schools of learning. Nonis, Philhours, Syamil, and Hudson (2005) analyzed the personality variables of 228 Biology students attending a medium size AACSB accredited public secondary school. Using a hierarchical regression model, they discovered that self-reported time per credit hour spent on academic performance outside of classroom explains a significant portion of the variation in the semester grade point average (GPA) for senior students, but has no impact on the cumulative GPA. Brookshire and Palocsay (2005) also analyzed the achievement of Biology students in examination, report that overall academic achievement is measured by students’ G.P.A. has a significantly higher impact on achievement than students’ Biology as measured by their time duration scores.

In predicting students’ success, researchers have drawn on results of studies across a broad spectrum of education which concludes that their aptitude, experience, time duration, effort and environment contribute significantly to academic achievement. Some students are nonchalant towards the learning and practice of Biology Education despite the fact that there is availability of qualified and trained teachers to handle the course.

Time duration refers to a specific time a student assigns for himself or herself to study in order to acquire knowledge. It does not really matter whether learners study at the same time each day, whether they shut off the radio or television while on private reading and whether they use supplementary materials in their personal studies. Time duration also includes some external activities that affects the internal process of learning (Rothkopf 1982).

Physiological and physiological factors include anxiety, stress from outside engagement like chores, parental involvement in homework, hunger, lack of care and affection which could have transferred effects on students’ learning. They all agreed that examination time duration affects strong relationship with academic performance of students while other researchers like Owolabi (1996) and Adeyemo (2005) concluded that students’ academic achievement was the outcome of a combination of the study time behaviour and other factors in any course of study. Adeyemo (2005) specifically opined that time duration attitude is an exercise that goes beyond merely reading for pleasure.

Time duration problems that have to do with student’s engagement in home work, assignments, reading and note taking, study period procedure, students’ concentration in examination and teachers’ consultancy services necessitated this study. This study explores the extent, to which examination time duration could solve the achievement lingering problems in Biology Education in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Some observed problems in certain areas in the academic performance of students may owe their causes largely to examine timing. This is when the students do not manage their time properly in examination. They may not come or may delay in coming to school. There may be delay in planning for academic performance postponement of time to do assignment and reading for tests and examination. They may be facing interruptions during the examination hours like receiving lengthy calls, pinging, social networks and mingle with friends. This has some influences on some areas of academic performance especially in the academic performance. Consequent upon these, the study will investigate the effects of time duration in Biology examination on students’ academic performance.

In recent times, performance of secondary school students in Anambra state in national examinations has been declining since 2006. The performance of secondary school students in examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) between the year 2006 and 2008 was examined. The expected performance for a candidate to be considered successful in WAEC examinations is a minimum of five credits in the core subjects of Biology, Economics, English Language, Mathematics and Yoruba.

However, in Anambra state, students’ academic performance has been declining despite the fact that public secondary schools in the state are assumed to have adequate and well trained teachers, well qualified pupils from primary schools, and fairly efficient supervisory system. Thus the factor(s) responsible for the declining students’ academic performance cannot be detected without focused investigation.

The issue of declining academic performance in examinations signifies a critical impediment in any country since education is a major contributor to economic growth.

Quite often, teachers fail to make proper planning of their time, tasks are often not performed according to levels of priority, lessons and events are ill scheduled, and at times

teachers procrastinate on events. All these might have negative impact on the students’ academic performances. Consequently the following question was raised: Is there any relationship between time duration in biology examination and students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Anambra State?

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

1. To examine students performances and examine time duration in Biology examination.

2. To identify the time constraint and exam performance of students in Biology.

3. To examine the effect of time duration in Biology examination and Students academic Performance in Secondary schools.

4. To determine the difference in the academic achievement at a time duration.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. To examine students performances and examine time duration in Biology examination?

2. To identify the time constraint and exam performance of students in Biology?

3. To examine the effect of time duration in Biology examination and Students academic Performance in Secondary schools?

4. Is there any difference in the academic achievement at a time duration?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: There is no significant relationship between students performances and examine time duration in Biology examination.

H1: There is significant relationship between students performances and examine time duration in Biology examination.

H0: The time constraint does not affect exam performance of students in Biology.

H1: The time constraint affect exam performance of students in Biology.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is centered on a review of time duration in biology examination and its role in students’ performance.
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Despite the limited scope of this study certain constraints were encountered during the research of this project. Some of the constraints experienced by the researcher were given below:

i. Time: This was a major constraint on the researcher during the period of the work. Considering the limited time given for this study, there was not much time to give this research the needed attention.

ii. Finance: Owing to the financial difficulty prevalent in the country and it’s resultant prices of commodities, transportation fares, research materials etc. The researcher did not find it easy meeting all his financial obligations.

iii. Information Constraints: Nigerian researchers have never had it easy when it comes to obtaining necessary information relevant to their area of study from private business organization and even government agencies. Nation bureau and statistics finds it difficult to reveal their internal operations. The primary information was collected through face-to-face interview getting the published materials on this topic meant going from one library to other which was not easy. Although these problems placed limitations on the study, but it did not prevent the researcher from carrying out a detailed and comprehensive research work on the subject matter.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Time duration: The number of minutes or hours assigned to an activity to be completed.

Academic Achievement: Students’ effort as measured by school grades.

Time management: Time management is an art and a science. Everybody has to learn how to do it. Some people have a good skill at it but not everybody. Time is a priceless source. Time is the single resources that can’t be changed, can’t be taken back once it is used and is used completely at the appreciation of the owner. No one can control the moving of time but everyone is able to decide how to use it.

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