AN EVALUATION OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT TEST ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF CHEMISTRY STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the study

Examinations and other forms of evaluation are an essential part of the way our educational system is organized. They are carried out in an official capacity as well as in an unofficial one at almost every level of education and serve a wide range of various purposes. Exams and other forms of assessment may be conceived of as serving primarily instructional goals, however this is a somewhat restricted use of the term. They may be used in order to:

v  Assess the level of knowledge attained by students upon completion of a course or study program. Conduct a diagnostic evaluation of the academic accomplishment, progress, and/or learning issues of the pupils.

v  Conduct aptitude tests on the pupils, maybe with the intention of placing them in a different class or teaching set based on the results.

v  Determine the degree to which a certain educational program or curriculum is successful.

The majority of the tests and evaluations that are frequently carried out on a "internal" basis by educators and educational institutions tend to serve one or more of these educational purposes. Other examinations, for example, such as those that are conducted "externally" by the recognized examining boards and certain professional associations, also have a primary educational purpose. This purpose is to evaluate the level of achievement that a student has reached upon completion of their program of study (Richard, 2020). Assessment and examination, which are both forms of evaluation, play an important role, particularly in the decision-making process regarding school curriculum, since their major responsibility is to guarantee that teaching and learning are carried out in an efficient manner (Ijaya, 2021). The process of assessment is a crucial component of education in general and should be ongoing. It serves as the foundation for all of the educational endeavors. The knowledge gleaned through assessments is a critical instrument in the hands of a good educator. At every point in the learning process, it offers the instructor and the student direction, guidance, and protection (Okwudire, 2019).

The method of continuous assessment is an essential part of the National Policy on Education (FME, 2019). This method of assessing and evaluating students is a relatively new addition to the educational system in Nigeria. Its origins may be traced back to the first national curriculum meeting, which took place in Ibadan in the year 1969. Following the publication of the results of that historic conference, a high-powered committee comprised of educationists, university academics, civil servants, industrialists, and intellectuals from various walks of life was established with the mission of studying the report in great detail and presenting recommendations based on its formulation into a new National Policy on Education (FME, 1977).

In 1977, a task group for the implementation of the new policy was established in order to produce a blueprint for the new policy's implementation. Several state task forces that had been established specifically for the purpose of providing input to the Federal Task. The White Paper on the Implementation Task Force, which was published by the Federal Government in 1979, serves as the foundation for what is now known as the new National Policy on Education (FME, 1998). The new National Policy on Education places a strong focus on Continuous Assessment, which is one of the policy's defining characteristics. "Educational assessment and evaluation shall be liberalized by basing them in whole or in parts on Continuous Assessment of the development of the person," states an excerpt from the National Policy on Education (FME, 1998). The National Policy on Education provided the most transparent explanation as to how the 'liberalization' that was wanted might be realized in practice. And the kind of education that would bring about self-realization, improved human relationships, heightened national awareness, and technical advancement in Nigeria (FME, 1998). The new National Policy on Education in Nigeria has issued a directive that Continuous Assessment be implemented at all educational levels for the purpose of evaluating the level of success attained by students. This indicates that every educator, from elementary school to university, should comprehend and implement it in their classrooms. The summative system of assessment was the one that was used prior to the implementation of the Continuous Assessment system. Under this system, students would be evaluated at the end of the term without including any other form of assessment, and this form of evaluation is used to evaluate students' achievements for placement and promotions to upper class. Before the actual WAEC tests, there was a practice test that was given. This result was often used to decide whether students were eligible to write the final test (WAEC), and it was also used to achieve provisional admission into higher institution prior to the publication of WAEC result (Ango,2019). According to Carew (2020), regardless of how well a student performs throughout his or her years of schooling, if a student's performance in the summative type of examination is not good, then the student is considered incapable of advancing further in education. This is true even if the student has performed well in other types of examinations. According to Dodo (2020), "there are even rare examples of suicide as a result of failure in final exams." In light of the arguments presented above, educational institutions including universities and schools decided to use the Continuous Assessment method. When it comes to testing, the Nigerian federal government placed a strong emphasis on the need and significance of continuous assessment. It was mentioned in the National Policy on Education that there is a need for Continuous Assessment in order to integrate all different kinds of assessments. This was done in 1998 by the Federal Ministry of Education. Therefore, continuous assessment signifies an ongoing awareness of the progress of the student over the course of a length of time as well as the overall construction of cumulative judgment. Continuous Assessment, which is also known as "process assessment," not only measures progression but also reveals how far it has come along the path to achieving it. In the field of science, and particularly in the field of chemistry, evaluations need to aim to evaluate the specific attributes that a curriculum or course intends for students to develop. According to Richard (2020), in the field of science (chemistry), characteristics of this kind may be classified into one of the following three overarching categories:

1. Intellectual capabilities and skills, which include the student's capacity to retain, apply, and assess scientific material, as well as the student's capacity to organize and devise experimental studies for the purpose of regularly solving scientific issues. Cognitive talents are the umbrella term used to describe abilities of this sort.

2. Manipulative skills and abilities, including the ability to follow instructions and to make accurate observations, as well as skills in the handling and manipulation of materials and apparatus in the context of scientific investigations; these are referred to collectively as "manipulative skills." In common parlance, these abilities and others like them are grouped together under the umbrella term of psychomotor skills.

3. Qualities that affect students' attitudes and interests in science and the study of science, as well as beliefs and values associated to science, together with ethical judgements and interpersonal connections in the field of science. Affective traits are the common term used to refer to qualities of this nature: It is impossible to place enough emphasis on the role that a student's gender plays on their academic capacity, interests, and achievements. The findings of a number of studies that were carried out over the course of a number of years indicated that there is a considerable difference, not only in the topic that students choose to study but also in their overall performance in scientific and non-science courses. According to Olarewaju (2019), there is a huge gap in the levels of success boys and girls have in their understanding of biological concepts. According to the findings of this survey, boys are more successful than females. Dahiru (2020) has carried out study with the purpose of determining whether or not gender plays a role in the choosing of scientific topics among students in the Katsina Local Government Area. According to the findings of his investigation, the selection of scientific subjects by the Katsina municipal administration does not take into account the candidate's gender.

Adeqive (2020) attributes the difference in the learning ability of boys and girls to the socialization process. Girls are denied experience in problem solving outside of school and pre-school, especially those involving visual activity. This behavior inhibits the development of mathematics and science capability in girls. Adeqive (2020) cites this as the cause of the difference. As a result, the purpose of this study is to create an environment in which young men and women have the same chances to learn about and participate in Continuous Assessment. Academic success in the field of chemistry may be interpreted in a number of distinct ways, depending on the author and the environment in which the interpretation is made. In general, the term "achievements" refers to the attainment of a goal or the demonstration of mastery in a particular skill or body of information. According to Amuset (2019), academic accomplishment may be defined as the amount of information acquired or the level of ability gained in a topic that is often denoted by a test score or by some other method provided by the instructor. On the other hand, Okebukola and Jegede (2020) classified accomplishment into three distinct subfields. These people fall into one of three categories: a. High achievers (the top 75 percent of the population), b. Medium achievers (the middle 55 percent), or c. Low achievers (bottom 25 percent )

According to Musa (2020), academic accomplishment is defined as the quality of the outcomes that students create, which is then reflected in the quality of the test scores that students get. If more C.A. is handed out, it indicates that the students will have greater incentive, and it is believed that this will result in an improvement in their overall success. Students are often motivated to learn via the use of continuous assessment. According to Beard and Seniour (2019), a teacher's understanding of motivation can be summarized as "the urge to work independently either applying oneself to his work, interest in one's task or course he has chosen, the desire for a good qualification and good employment, determination to pass examination or a defined goal which one has set for himself and sustenance of enthusiasm."

As a result, the purpose of this research is to determine whether or not students who are given a greater number of opportunities to demonstrate their proficiency during the semester would do better on the test that culminates the course. In addition to this, the research looks at whether or not there is a significant gap in the accomplishments of male and female students who were both subjected to Continuous Assessment. And lastly, the purpose of the research is to determine whether or not there is a connection between chemistry students' results on the Continuous Assessment and the scores they get on their final test.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Educators in the scientific field have argued for the need of include Continuous Assessment as an essential component of scientific research programs (Hambury, 2019). There are, however, no empirical data to support the effectiveness of the Continuous Assessment system in promoting learning and to show whether or not the performance of students will increase on exposure to more C.A. There are also no data to show whether or not there is a correlation between the amount of C.A. students are exposed to and their grades. Because C.A. has the ability to inspire students to continue their education. According to Vroom (1984), accomplishment is a byproduct of both one's drive and their talent. According to him, an individual's behavior is determined not only by their capabilities, but also by the degree to which they want to participate in certain activities and the degree to which they anticipate that they would do so. When pupils are aware that they will be tested, it encourages them to put forth their best effort. As a result, one of the primary goals of this research is to determine whether or not the cumulative impact of students having participated in a number of Continuous Assessments is noticeable on the end test. More evaluation leads to more motivation, which in turn leads to improved success, however human behavior may sometimes be unpredictable. The student may experience greater levels of stress as a result of the many assessments.

It has been shown in a number of studies that there are variances in learning styles that are connected to gender (Jegede, 2019, Mari, 2020 and Ajagun, 2018). This study includes participants of both sexes and subjects them to the same instructional and evaluative methods. As a result, every precaution necessary has been made to eliminate any gender bias that may exist in the treatment process. This study endeavor also attempts to determine whether or not there are any differences in how the Continuous Assessment is administered to male and female students. What is not known to a sufficient degree is whether or not the results on the Continuous Assessment are consistent with the scores on the test. According to the findings of Odili's research (2019), some of the scores on the Continuous Assessment are not consistent with the results on the examinations since they exhibit very few or no significant relationships. Ihiegbulem, (2020) did some research and discovered that there is a positive association between Continuous Assessment and examination results. The degree of this relationship was determined to be quite high and considerable. As a result, one of the reasons for doing this research is to establish whether or not there is a connection between the Continuous Assessment and the results obtained on examinations. There is a problem with correlating Continuous Assessment with actual examination scores, for example; it is not uncommon to find a student having very high score in continuous assessment and extremely low score in the final examination. One of the reasons for this is the problem with correlating Continuous Assessment with actual examination scores (Hassan, 2020). It is anticipated that the outcomes of this research would shed light on all of the issues that have been raised.

1.3    Objectives of the Study

The general objective of the study is to evaluate continuous assessment test on the academic performance of chemistry students. In view of the above, the following research questions were formulated to guide the conduct of the study.

i.          To examine the frequency of administering continuous assessment test among chemistry students

ii.        To find out the attitude of chemistry students toward continuous assessment test

iii.      To investigate correlation between continuous assessment test and academic performance of chemistry student.

1.4       Research questions

The following questions have been prepared for the study:

i.          What is  the frequency level of administering continuous assessment test among chemistry students?

ii.        What is the attitude of chemistry students toward continuous assessment test?

iii.      Is there a correlation between continuous assessment test and academic performance of chemistry student?

1.5     Significance of the Study

The main aim of an academic research is to add to the existing knowledge due to the fact that problems are identified and solutions are provided, hence improvement is always expected. The result of this research therefore, is expected to provide an insight on the sustainability, applicability and effectiveness of continuous assessment in Nigerian schools. Continuous assessment is administered at every level of education from primary schools to university; however there is no empirical data to support its effectiveness in enhancing performance. This research is of significance to the teachers, as it will provide empirical data that would show the number of continuous assessment that could be administered in a semester to give optimum performance by students. It will also provide teachers with skills and techniques in organization and administration of continuous assessment. There are sampled C.A questions which would serve as a guide for further questions.

Teachers always seek for a continuous assessment score that correlate very high with final examination so that the performance of the students in the final examination can be predicted.

This study is significant to the academic community as it will contribute to the existing literature.

1.6      Scope of the Study

The study will examine the frequency of administering continuous assessment test among chemistry students. The study will also find out the attitude of chemistry students toward continuous assessment test. Lastly, the study will investigate correlation between continuous assessment test and academic performance of chemistry student. Hence this study will be delimited to Osun State.

1.7       Limitation of the study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. Insufficient funds tend to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire, and interview), which is why the researcher resorted to a moderate choice of sample size. More so, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. As a result, the amount of time spent on research will be reduced.

1.8       Definition of terms

Continuous assessment: the evaluation of a students progress throughout a course of study, as distinct from by examination.

Academic performance: the measurement of student achievement across various academic subjects.

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