Browsing by Author "Alphonce, Richard"

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    National examinations as a tool for promoting development of higher order cognitive skills among students in Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2011) Alphonce, Richard
    This study was conducted to examine the extent to which National Examinations (NEs) in Tanzania, namely FTSEE and CSEE, assess students’ learning achievement in Higher Order Cognitive Skills (HOCS) in Biology after the introduction of the 2005 Competence Based Curriculum (CBC). The study also sought teachers’ opinions about the effectiveness of NEs in promoting the development of HOCS in the students; and also determined teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the influence of these exams on teaching and learning practices. The study was conducted in 10 secondary schools from Dar es Salaam and Coast regions from where 24 biology teachers and 184 Form II and IV students responded to the questionnaire. The FTSEE and CSEE biology examination papers were subjected to content analysis. The findings revealed that 89% and 65% of the questions in FTSEE and CSEE respectively assessed Lower Order Cognitive Skills (LOCS) while only 11% and 35% of the questions in FTSEE and CSEE respectively assessed HOCS. It was found that NEs are considered to be the ultimate goal for both teachers and students and that these exams influence selection of content, approaches as well as effort and time devoted in teaching and learning. The findings further revealed that teachers believe that if changes can be made in the examinations to address the 2005 CBC objectives, NEs are a potential tool to promote HOCS in students. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the FTSEE and CSEE have been encouraging surface learning in the schools. However, given the value attached to these exams, they can be used to promote HOCS among students in the schools if emphasis is shifted to assessing HOCS. It was recommended that NECTA should set all NEs to measure HOCS for the attainment of the 2005 CBC objectives. It was also recommended that teachers should be trained on how to construct questions which demand students to demonstrate achievements in HOCS. Lastly, the researcher recommended a study to be conducted to investigate into how student perform on HOCS-demanding questions.