International Journal of Pedagogy, Policy and ICT in Education

Perceived Effects of Beginning Economics Teachers’ Personality on the Students’ Learning of Economics in Ghana

Opoku Ernest — 2024-04-04

The study examined the perceived effects of Economics teachers’ content knowledge of economics on students’ learning of Economics in the Tamale metropolis. In this study, we employed the survey design. The results showed a statistically positive and significant association between teachers’ content knowledge and students’ achievement in Economics. It indicates that teachers’ content knowledge may have an effect on student achievements in Economics. The study also revealed a statistically positive and significant association between teachers’ attitude and students’ achievement in Economics. Thus, the variation in students’ learning of Economics is caused by teachers’ approach or methodology. Again, the results of the study showed that there is a significant association between teachers’ academic qualification and students’ achievement in Economics. Hence, teachers’ qualifications may have positive or negative effect on students’ learning of Economics. The study observes that the approach to teaching Economics has a direct positive effect on the students learning of Economics. In view of this, the researcher recommends that Ghana Education Service (GES) should inscribe in their code of ethics behaviors which align with appropriate traits that enhance the teaching and learning of Economics at the senior high schools in Ghana.

Effect of Gamification on Secondary School Students’ Performance in Computer Studies

Boniface Ngaruiya — 2024-04-04

This article investigated the effects of using gamification on students' performance in Computer Studies using a quasi-experimental approach. The study targeted twelve secondary schools with computer laboratories, internet connectivity, and students taking Computer Studies as an examinable subject in Murang’a County, Kenya. The Solomon Four Group, Non-equivalent Control Group Design, was employed in the study. A total of 142 Form Three Computer Studies students from four secondary schools with internet connections were purposively sampled. The computer studies class in each of the five schools were randomly assigned to either Experimental or Control groups. The experimental groups (E1 and E2) utilized gamification in their teaching and learning, while the control groups (C1 and C2) used the conventional teaching and learning methods for five weeks. The differences between the pre-test and post-test group means were analysed using a t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results indicated that the students in the experimental groups outperformed those in the control groups in the post-test. Based on these findings, it was concluded that gamification has the potential to raise students’ performance and should be investigated more widely to take a role in modern computer pedagogy, even in a developing country. There is a case for including gamification in the pedagogy curricula of future computer science teachers.