Functionality of Environmental Education Content covered through the Secondary school Geography Curriculum in Kenya

Wamutitu Joseph Mworia, Bhattacharya G.C. and Githaiga Pauline W.

This paper focuses on secondary school geography as a discipline that can make a significant contribution towards the teaching of environmental education (EE). The implementation of environmental education programme in Kenya is hampered by a wide range of constraints, including the placement of limited content of EE in the school geography curriculum, inadequate resources and organizational constraints such as trained environmental education teachers. The status of EE in Kenya is such that EE themes and messages are introduced in the formal school curriculum and housed in the carrier subjects such as geography. Content analysis of the secondary school geography curriculum was carried out with the assumption that if environmental education themes were well covered through the secondary school geography curriculum in certain ways, students would acquire somewhere along the course (Form 1–4), the requisite objectives of environmental education. The status of environmental education content covered through the secondary school geography curriculum (syllabus) in terms of functionality of the content was determined by analysing the secondary school geography curriculum (syllabus) against the guiding principles of environmental education. This was found to be of average status (47.94 %) but below 50 %. In arguing for a stronger commitment to the teaching of environmental education, the paper acknowledges that there exists a big gap in geography curriculum towards enhancement of functionality of environmental education content covered through the secondary school geography curriculum in Kenya. There is therefore need to review the secondary school geography curriculum in order to accommodate more functional themes of environmental education.

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How Efficient are Students with Mild Mental Disabilities in learning Word Processing Skills

Dashti Fatimah A.

The study aims at investigating the efficiency of students with mild mental disabilities in learning word processing computer program skills. Their attitudes towards learning the word processing program and the assistant teachers’ attitudes towards the execution of the study were also investigated. Fifteen students with mild mental disability participated in the study; their IQ rated between sixty and seventy five Stanford Beanie test report. They were eleven boys and four girls. They were trained with Microsoft word (fifty skills in total) for three successive academic years, an hour a week. The students were assessed with a practical test after a number of skills. On an observation sheet the researcher checked each skill to see whether the student finished it or asked for help. The results showed that students with mild mental disabilities were able to learn word processing skills and they showed positive attitudes toward learning word processing. The teachers showed as well positive attitude toward teaching word processing to students with mild mental disabilities. The results had given incentives to teachers to teach more computer skills to students with mild mental disabilities.

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Sources of Examination Anxiety among Final Year Students of University of Ilorin, Nigeria

Ajiboye Samuel Kolawole, Ojo Olubukola James and Saidu Abubakar Bukola

Examination anxiety, a common phenomenon among students of tertiary institution (most especially the finally students), is characterized by feelings of severe apprehension, uneasiness, nervousness, fear and tension which often predispose them to academic failure in particular and health hazards on the other hand. This study therefore investigated sources of examination anxiety among final year students of University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The descriptive survey method of research was adopted for the study while the simple random sampling technique was used to select 600 respondents that participated in the study. The instrument used to gather the required information was questionnaire type titled “Sources of Examination Anxiety Questionnaire (SEAQ)”. It has two sections (A and B). Section „A‟ sought the demographic information of the respondents while „B‟ has four sub-sections containing five items each. The measure of central tendency and t-test statistics were used to analyze the data gathered for the study. The findings revealed that emotion is the major source of examination anxiety among final year students of tertiary institutions. The respondents were different in their sources of examination anxiety based on gender but similar based on mode of entry. It was recommended that guidance counselors, curriculum planners and seasoned educational administrators should be adequately involved in students‟ affairs and in formulating academic calendar for tertiary institutions.

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Rise and decline of Rhetoric in the European education

Casulo José Carlos de Oliveira

In this article are discussed the major marks of the Rhetoric´s historic route as an integrant discipline of education for the European cult. Its birth is presented in ancient Greece of referring particularly Plato and Aristotles, it should be noted, then, their transformation into Oratory in the Roman civilization and recalling Marcianus Capella, Comenius and the Napoleonic Lyceum, which respectively in medieval, modern and contemporary times, helped to substantiate the educational importance of rhetoric and install it into the school European curriculum. As to this last aspect is exemplified with the essential marks of what incidentally, occurred in the Portuguese teaching between the 16th and 19th centuries. There is, finally, the decline of contemporary Rhetoric and an attempt to its rehabilitation by Chaim Perelman and to a lesser extent, by the Portuguese pedagogue Álvaro Ribeiro. We conclude presenting two possible explanatory hypotheses of this contemporary decline of Rhetoric.

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An Analysis of Progress towards achieving EFA Goal 6 – The Barbados Experience

Marshall Ian and Jackman Grace-Anne

As the 2015 EFA deadline looms, it is critical that signatories to the Dakar Framework for Action assess their progress with respect to the six articulated goals. This article reviews Barbados’ growth, challenges and next steps in achieving Goal 6 which addresses the improvement of the quality of education. Overall, Barbados has made excellent progress in reducing its pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs). In addition, through a major policy initiative, the Education Sector Enhancement Programme (ESEP), over 70 % of schools have benefited from an upgrade of existing school plants and the integration of Information Communication Technology (ICTs). Notwithstanding these gains, to achieve quality education for all, measures must be enacted to restrict the revolving door of untrained, temporary teachers, improve student performances in English and Mathematics and establish a consistent set of data collection procedures that will strengthen our ability to monitor Barbados’ progress, both at a countrywide and International level.

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