A CRITICAL SURVEY OF TASK SIZE AND ITS EFFECT ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOLOGY

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 (Cunningham, 2012). It enables the development of information and skills that enable individuals to boost their productivity and quality of life, hence enhancing a country's economic prosperity (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, it is the result of the teaching-learning process, which involves behavioural changes, knowledge gains, and other elements of the learner's growth (as cited in Idowu & Esere, 2009). It is a metric for how much academic information a student learns in a given amount of time. Students' achievement, according to Linn (2006), is the state of subject-matter, knowledge, understandings, and abilities at a given point in 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 just one approach to create student success, and the study is quite 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 influencing students' accomplishment are teacher preparation and expertise.

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 of students; that classroom teachers are primarily responsible for students' academic achievement (Darling-Hammond, 2000); and that schools should efficiently and effectively organize themselves to achieve that goal by Engelmann and Carnine (as cited in Huitt, Huitt, Monetti, & Hummel, 2009). Others argue that a more comprehensive strategy should win out. Efforts along these lines may be dubbed "school re-visioning" since they advocate for schools to focus on a much broader spectrum of desired outcomes (e.g., cognitive processing skills, emotional and social awareness and skills, moral character development). These approaches cite Gardner and Goleman's (Huitt et al, 2009) study, which found that intellectual capacity and academic accomplishment account for just roughly one-third of the variance in adult success.

Educators are obligated to teach learning goals or instructional standards at each grade level, according to Bruner (2004), and these standards are comparable to a "to do" list that a teacher must use to direct instruction. According to Crosnoe, Johnson, and Elder (2004), a variety of factors influence the quality of learners' attainment 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 evaluation, is one of these classroom elements.

A task is a piece of work completed or accomplished, particularly one that is done on a regular basis, perhaps reluctantly or with difficulty. It's a task that has to be completed within a certain amount of time. According to Konigsburg and Frankweiler (1991), a task is a piece of labor that has been assigned, must be completed, or poses a problem. It generally refers to labor that is placed on you by someone in power or in an uncomfortable situation.

What do you mean by a "real-world" task? According to McColskey and O'Sullivan (2000), a few instances of typical types of activities that require students to use knowledge in ways beyond than memorizing or identifying accurate information include: leading a group to a conclusion on an issue, Data on the success of a program, product, or event is collected, analyzed, and interpreted. unbiased reporting on all sides of a debate, and conducting research on both sides of a debate. Creating criteria for judging a product's, proposal's, or recommendation's quality.

Many adult job contexts have such responsibilities.

Tasks are particularly useful for science students because they allow them to learn via experience. Students must display abilities and competences that are actually representative of those required for adult success in their everyday lives. Tasks are worth repeating and practicing because they encourage pupils 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 activity; 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 little a certain task is.

Assessment is the process through which a teacher collects information on a student's accomplishment in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of learning by assigning work (tasks) to them in the form of homework, projects, exams, classwork, attendance, interviews, research, and other methods (Adaramaja, 2005). Assessment, according to Adaramaja, should be continuous, systematic, thorough, cumulative, and advice focused in order to achieve the goal. The National Policy on Education (updated 2004) stated that education evaluation should be based on ongoing assessment of the learner's progress in whole or in part.

Assigning "tasks" is important in the educational process since 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 uniformity of assessment or tasking, overcrowding in classrooms, and unethical behavior by teachers while delivering assessments or assigning tasks. Lack of task-giving rules, adaptation to change, and financial constraints.

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 children.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The National Policy on Education emphasizes the relevance of task on students' academic attainment and requires that a learner's final grade in any course of study take into consideration all of their performances throughout time (Huitt et al, 2009). 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 effect of task size on students' Biology accomplishment in the Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria.

1.3   Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study are to find:

1. the level to which students are assigned task in Biology.
2. the level of students’ achievement in Biology.
3. effect of task size on secondary school students’ achievement in Biology.

1.4   Research Questions

1. What is the performance of Biology students given low or high task size?
2. What is the level of students’ achievement in Biology?

1.5      Research Hypothesis

Ho1: There is no significant effect of task size on secondary school students’ achievement in Biology.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This research work is aimed at determining the effect of task size on secondary school students’ achievement. Its results will be of great importance to teachers, students, educational policy makers and researchers. The study will help the teachers to improve both the validity and reliability of “tasking” exercises being conscious that it affects the students’ academic achievement.to students, it will help them develop interest and commitment owing to the fact that assessment (tasking) has effects on their academic achievement. The study will help educational policy makers to make adjustments in the current trends in the practice of assigning task to students; and to scholars, it will suggest areas for further research. The research work will also contribute to the body of knowledge about task size and its effects on students’ achievement.

1.7 Scope and Limitation of the Study

The level to which students are assigned task and how it affects their academic achievement is call for concern. Therefore, the concern of this study is to determine the effect of task size on secondary school students’ achievement in Biology in Ushongo Local Government area of Benue State.

This research work should have covered more extensive areas of study but due to constraints such as limited time and financing among others, the researcher has restricted the study to two (2) secondary schools in Ushongo Local Government area.

1.8  Operational Definition of Terms

Task size: defined as a measure of how much or less, big or small a particular task is.

Students’ achievement: is the status of subject-matter knowledge, understandings, and skills at one point in time. It is a measure of the performance of students over task.

Effect: oxford advanced learner’s dictionary defines effect as a change that somebody/something causes on somebody/something else.

Tasking: the act of assigning tasks to students.

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