The development and evaluation of a science course in Kuwaiti secondary schools

Al-Qattan, Mousa Mohammad (1988) The development and evaluation of a science course in Kuwaiti secondary schools. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate a science course in accordance with Modularised Individualised Instruction (MII) principles in Kuwaiti secondary schools. The evaluation was made in terms of MII effects on: (i) The first-grade pupils' overall achievement and lower and higher cognitive achievement. (ii) Pupils' attitudes towards science. In addition to this overall assessment, the influence of districts in which the schools were found, the sex of pupils, their nationality, and their overall previous achievement level were also assessed. The processes of designing, teaching, and evaluating MII that were used in the study based on some philosophical and psychological principles of individualised instruction, analysis of various forms of systems of individualised instruction, and on relevant research studies. Before undertaking the main study, individualised instructional modules and evaluation instruments were developed and a pilot study was undertaken. The main study was carried out in order to assess of the effectiveness of MII compared with traditional instruction TI. The sample for the main study consists of 497 pupils and 16 teachers distributed in 16 secondary schools in the capital, Hawalli, Jahra, and Ahmadi districts. The sample was divided into two groups. Experimental (MII) group of 246 pupils and eight teachers, and control (TI) group of 251 pupils and eight teachers. Both treatment groups were administered pre/post, overall achievement and overall attitude tests, the teachers' and pupils' behaviour was observed during the experiment, and MII teachers' and pupils' opinions on MII were obtained. Six major instruments were developed to collect data for this study: an Overall Achievement Test (OACHT); an Overall Attitude Test (OATT), a Teachers' Observation Schedule (TOS), a Pupils' Observation Schedule (POS), a MII Teachers' Questionnaire, and a MII Pupils' Questionnaire. In order to solve the problem of this study 25 hypotheses were set up and tested. The major findings of this study indicated that: (i) MII was significantly effective in producing overall achievement, and lower and higher cognitive achievement in the first-grade pupils at secondary schools in Kuwait compared with TI. (ii) Both MII and TI were not effective in producing favourable attitudes towards science in the pupils. A remarkable decline was observed in their attitudes. (iii) District, sex, nationality, and pupils' overall previous achievement level had influence on pupils' overall achievement, lower and higher cognitive achievement, and on their overall attitudes under MII and TI.

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