Hosea Abalaka Apeh

This study explored the influence of family violence on the Maladaptive Behaviours of Secondary School Students in Kogi State, Nigeria. The design for this study is correlational research design. The population of the study consists of 29,570 students in secondary schools in Kogi State, Nigeria. A sample of 378 respondents was selected for this study. Stratified random sampling procedure was used in selecting the students. The instrument for data collection was the family violence and characteristics of Maladaptive Behaviour Questionnaire (FVMBQ). The FVMBQ is a 24-item instrument designed along a modified four-point Likert scale. The questionnaire was validated by a team of experts in the Faculty of Education, University of Abuja. The reliability of the instrument was established via a pilot test conducted using the test-retest method of reliability, which yielded the reliability (r) value of 0.86. The data collected was analyzed using mean, standard deviation and linear regression. The study found incidences of family violence and maladaptive behaviour and also revealed that family violence significantly predicts maladaptive behaviour of secondary school students in Kogi State. It was recommended among others that parents must develop the right attitude of love, trust, tolerance and patience towards their children; parents need to step in before sibling rivalry turns into abuse and teachers should provide a caring, compassionate, supportive environment for the school child to rebuild trust that has probably been destroyed by an abuser at home.   Key words: Adolescents, family violence, maladaptive behavior, students.

The study investigated teacher's job stress as a psychological predictor of senior secondary school teachers' effectiveness in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Nigeria. The study employed a descriptive survey design. One hundred and sixty-eight participants (principals and teachers) were drawn from the sampled schools. Two self-designed instruments namely: Teachers' Job Stress Scale (TJSS) and Principals' Assessment of Teachers Instrument (PATEI) were duly validated and tested for reliability were used to obtain information from the participants. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Regression and t-test). The study revealed that teacher's effectiveness was poor and job stress low. There was negative and no significant relationship between teachers' job stress and effectiveness. Thus, increase in stress may not lead to increase in teaching effectiveness. There was also no gender difference in job effectiveness and str...

The need to seek for innovative teaching methods to enhance the interest of mathematics low achievers necessitated this study. This study examined the effect of differentiated instruction on low achievers’ interest in mathematics based on gender. The sample size for the study consists of 66 males and 80 females identified mathematics low achievers. The researchers used multi-stage sampling technique. Mathematics Interest Rating Scale was the instrument used in collecting data. The pre-test and post-test data were analyzed using mean, standard deviations and Analysis of Covariance.  Results revealed that the use of differentiated instruction in teaching mathematics low achievers in primary school increased their interest in mathematics than conventional method. Influence of gender on interest of mathematics low achievers is significant. The interaction effect of instructional strategies and gender on mathematics interest of low achievers is not significant. The study provided empiric...

This study explored the role of age and gender in the critical thinking skills of trainees of Police institutions in Nigeria. The design adopted for this study was a descriptive survey design. The population of this study was 14,320 police trainees enrolled in various police training institutions in Nigeria. The random proportionate sampling strategy was used to select 375 respondents from the six (6) police training institutions comprising both male and female trainees. The instrument used to collect data for this study was the “Owolabi Critical Thinking Test (OCTT) (2011)” which is a standardised test. The reliability of the OCTT was established at 0.71 using the Cronbach’s alpha. Three research questions and two null hypotheses were raised to guide the study. In this study, mean scores and percentages were used for the analysis of the research questions. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test. The findings showed poor critical thinking ability among...

The study was on the effect Brain-Based Learning Strategies on the academic achievement of secondary school students in Abuja, Nigeria. The pretest post-test Quasi Experimental Research design was used with a sample of 142 Senior Secondary School Students drawn from two schools. Two intact classes were randomly selected from each school. Data for the study was sourced using the Economics Achievement Test (EAT). The hypothesis was tested at a significant level of 0.05 using ANCOVA. The findings revealed a significant difference in the academic achievement with mean difference of 15.82 in favor of the Experimental Group. The study concluded that Brain-based learning strategies have significant effect on students’ academic achievement as the result indicated that the effect of the treatment, (brain-based learning strategy) was significantly positive on students’ academic achievement in Economics. The study recommended that teachers should adopt the Brain-based learning strategies in te...

This study was carried out to discern the relative effectiveness of open distance instruction delivery mode as compared to conventional (face-to-face) instruction delivery mode by understudying the academic performance of students enrolled in the University of Abuja, (a dual-mode university in Nigeria) from 2004-2008. Using the descriptive survey research method, students’ academic performance records for four academic sessions were collected and analyzed using mean scores, standard deviations and t-test statistical analysis technique. The findings indicate that there were significant differences between the academic performance of students in conventional education and open distance education delivery modes. Students of conventional education programmes appear to perform better than their open distance education counterparts. This was contrary to many researches on distance education which indicated a finding of no significant difference between the two delivery modes. The findings...