THE IMPACT OF TASK SIZE ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' BIOLOGY PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1             BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Education is connected to an individual's well-being and chances for improved living and plays a critical part in the development of human capital. It ensures the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable individuals to increase their productivity and quality of life, thereby enhancing a country's economic growth (Saxton, 2000). For educators, instructors, parents, and researchers, the quality of students' performance or success remains a key focus since it is meant to make a difference both locally and worldwide. Academic accomplishment refers to how far a student, instructor, or institution has succeeded in achieving or meeting their educational objectives. According to Oguneye (2009), it is the result of the teaching-learning process, which involves behavioural changes, knowledge gains, and other elements of the learner's growth (Oguneye, 2009). It is a metric for how much academic information a student learns in a given amount of time. Students' performance, according to Linn (2006), is the state of subject-matter, knowledge, understandings, and abilities at any given time. The most frequent metric of accomplishment is a student's performance on achievement exams in academic subjects such as reading, language arts, math, science, and history. Academic attainment, however, is dependent on a child's surroundings and settings, the quality of schools and teachers, and a variety of other elements, as policymakers are aware (Cunningham, 2012). According to Wong (2002), there is only one way to achieve student success, and the research is very specific. The instructor, and what he or she knows and can accomplish, is the most important component in influencing student performance. According to him, the most essential aspects in determining students' performance are teacher preparation and skill. According to Cawelti in Wong (2002), research on the methods and programs used in schools has shown that classroom management abilities may significantly boost student accomplishment. Classroom Management Techniques, Time on Task, Behavioral Classroom Techniques, Tutoring, Early Childhood Program, and Parental Involvement are some of the practices that have significantly increased student success. Many people believe that the primary focus of schools should be academic preparation for students; that classroom teachers are primarily responsible for students' academic achievement (Darling, 2000); and that schools should efficiently and effectively organize themselves to achieve that task by Carnine (Hummel, 2009). Others argue that a more comprehensive strategy should win out. Efforts along these lines could be dubbed "school re-visioning" because they advocate for schools to focus on a much broader range of desired outcomes (e.g., cognitive processing skills, emotional and social awareness and skills, moral character development). These approaches are based on Gardner's (Huitt, 2009) research, which found that intellectual ability and academic achievement account for only about a third of the variance in adult success. Educators are required to teach learning goals or instructional standards at each grade level, according to Bruner (2004), and these standards are similar to a "to do" list that a teacher must use to guide instruction. According to Elder (2004), a number of factors influence the quality of students' achievement or performance. These variables may be found both inside and outside of the educational system, and they can be classified as student factor, family factor, peer factor, and classroom or school factor. He went on to say that "task," which is a type of assessment, is one of these classroom factors. A task is a piece of work completed or undertaken, particularly one that is done on a regular basis, albeit reluctantly or with difficulty. It's a task that has to be completed within a certain amount of time. According to Frankweiler (1991), a task is a piece of work that has been assigned, must be completed, or poses a challenge. It usually refers to work that is imposed on you by someone in authority or in an unpleasant situation. What do you mean by a "real-world" task? As postulated by McColskey (2000), a few examples of generic kinds of tasks that have students using information in ways that go beyond just recalling or recognizing correct information include the following: Leading a group to closure on an issue, Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data about the success of a program,  product or event, Researching both sides of a controversy and reporting it objectively, Developing criteria for rating the quality of a product, proposal, or recommendation. Many adult work environments include such responsibilities. The importance of a task is extremely significant for science students since it allows them to learn via practice. Students must demonstrate skills and competencies that are realistically representative of those required for success in adult task. Tasks are worth repeating and practicing because they encourage students to put what they've learned into practice rather than simply recalling or recognising knowledge. A task is one that demands a learner to utilize their knowledge or abilities to create a product or accomplish a task. Memorizing a formula, according to this definition, is not an authentic task; but, utilizing the formula to address a practical problem is (Wisconsin Education Association Council, 1996). Mustapha's adman (2002), Learners can utilize scientific equipment to build fundamental manipulation abilities and perform investigation or inquiry tasks, as well as develop the problem-solving attitude required for future science study. As a result, task size refers to how big or small a given task is. Assessment is the process by which a teacher obtains information about a student's achievement in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of learning by assigning work (tasks) to them in the form of homework, projects, tests, classwork, attendance, interviews, research, and other methods (Adaramaja, 2005). Assessment, according to Adaramaja, should be continuous, systematic, comprehensive, cumulative, and guidance oriented in order to achieve the goal. The National Policy on Education (revised 2004) stated that education assessment should be based on continuous assessment of the learner's progress in whole or in part. Assigning "tasks" is important in the educational process because it affects students' academic performance. Teachers at our Nigerian schools provide tasks to students, but the procedure is fraught with difficulties. According to Owolabi (2009), assessment is plagued by issues such as a lack of resources for standardizing assessment or tasking, overcrowding in classrooms, and so on. Unethical behavior by teachers while administering assessments or assigning tasks, a lack of task-giving norms, acclimating to change, and a lack of funding During a teaching practice exercise in 2013, the researcher conducted a series of evaluations (given tasks) and was confronted with issues such as student absenteeism, poor student and teacher morale, and parents' misunderstanding of the value of giving tasks to students.

1.2              STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The National Policy on Education emphasizes the relevance of task on students' academic success and requires that a learner's final grade in any course of study take into consideration all of their performances over time. The issue of giving tasks to pupils and how it impacts their academic progress has to be addressed. As a result, the purpose of this study is to determine the impact of task size on students' Biology accomplishment in the Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria.

1.3             OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study's goals are to determine:

i.the level at which students are handed Biology tasks.

ii.the degree of achievement in Biology among pupils.

iii.The impact of task size on secondary school biology students' performance.

1.4             RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i.What is the level at which students are handed Biology tasks?

ii.What is the degree of achievement in Biology among students?

iii.What are the impacts of task size on secondary school biology students' performance?

1.5             SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The goal of this impact is to see how task size affects secondary school students' success. Teachers, students, educational policymakers, and researchers will all benefit greatly from the findings. The study will assist teachers in improving the validity and reliability of "tasking" exercises while keeping in mind that it has an impact on students' academic performance. Because assessment (tasking) has an impact on students' academic performance, it will help them build interest and commitment. The study will assist educational policymakers in making changes to present patterns in the practice of giving tasks to students, as well as identify areas for additional research for academics. The research will also add to the corpus of information about task size and its impact on student performance.

1.6             SCOPE  OF THE STUDY

This study talks about the impact of task size on secondary school students biology performance. And it is specified in Lapai Local Government area of Niger State.

1.7         DEFINITION OF TERMS

Task size is described as a measurement of how much, or how little, a task is.

Students Performance: The state of students' subject-matter knowledge, understandings, and abilities at any given time is referred to as their performance. It's a metric for students' task performance.

Effect is defined by the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary as "a change that someone or something creates on someone or something else."

Tasking: The act of assigning assignments to students is known as tasking.