Language and Education

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Browsing Language and Education by Author "Abubakar, Abbas Babayi"

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    Collaborative and self-directed learning of problem-based learning for Nigerian secondary school chemistry
    (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2016) Abubakar, Abbas Babayi; Arshad, Mohammad Yusof
    Nigeria needs quality chemistry education to produce competent employees who can apply knowledge and skills in real-life situations for national development. Chemistry teachers therefore should practice student-centered learning strategies as being practiced in most developed countries. However, chemistry teaching in Nigerian Secondary Schools generally does not produce students with flexible knowledge and problem solving skills, higher-order thinking skills such as selfdirected and collaborative learning because of expository instructions. Therefore this research investigated students and teachers’ roles in developing collaborative and self-directed learning using a newly developed module of problem-based learning (PBL) based on Barrows Model. A qualitative approach was used and the respondents were two teachers and thirty senior secondary students studying chemistry who were purposively selected from two Senior Secondary Schools in Yola, Nigeria. The students underwent 6 weeks of learning process using the PBL module. Data was collected through observations, interviews and a set of questionnaire after the problem-based learning process. The data were transcribed, triangulated and analysed using content analysis and descriptive statistics. The findings showed that the PBL module encouraged students to undergo collaborative learning, improve knowledge and problem solving skills; including higher-order thinking, communication, teamwork and life-long learning skills. Findings showed that the students could not perform some of the self-directed learning activities on their own. The students and teachers had positive perceptions of PBL as an instructional method. Based on the findings the researcher proposed suitable PBL strategies for teaching and learning chemistry in Nigerian secondary schools.