CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the study

Psychometrics is defined as a field of study related with the theory and techniques of psychological measurement, which comprises the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits and educational measurement. It is mainly concerned with the construction and validation of measurement instruments like questionnaires, tests, and personality assessments. Psychometrics deals with two main tasks, which include; the construction of instruments and the procedures for measurement, and the development and refinement of theoretical approaches to measurement.Significant psychometrics characteristics are the difficulties, discrimination and distracted indices which have been discovered in test items, based on the performance of candidates responding to the items. Given the importance attached to Basic science,performance of students has become a thing of deal because of the possibility that a lot of students will not be self-employed and self-reliant when they leave school. The importance of junior secondary school students’ academic test and basic education examination performance predictors have been emphasized by many researchers who pointed out that student attitudes and interests could play a substantial role among students studying basic science. One of the main reasons for testing students in schools is to give rise to scores which are on many occasions used in making important decisions such as selection, promotion and certification. Based on scores from students tests, schools decide who are to be promoted, external examining bodies also through this means decide who are to be certificated, higher institutions etc decide who are to be admitted. At junior secondary school level, test scores are majorly the scores used to make judgment on the competence/or skills for basic education certification and admission into senior secondary school, among others. Since the decisions made based on scores of students are very important to the students, parents, guardians and the public, the scores should reflect the most accurate estimates of abilities, competencies and skills.

Basic science is a close in to teaching of science in which concepts and principles are presented such that the fundamental unity of scientific concepts without any predilection to the compartmentalized Science is expressed. It is a subject which encircles all science subjects, namely Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics, therefore, is a subject that is needed in all branches of science, applied science and social science. The subject is also geared towards helping students to grow the basic understanding of the Nigerian business system and its role in the economic society of the country. It provides students with the ability, courage and skills to be gainfully employed upon completion of their programme as well as prepare them for setting up their small business as entrepreneurs. The subject implants into students, at their early age, the worthwhile values as value orientation, employment generation and wealth creation that are needed for an entrepreneur and the workers in the business environments to succeed. Due to the relevance of this subject, no student should be denied of the proper grasp and learning of Basic Science especially at the junior secondary level. Diverse difficulties facing the teachers and external examiners on how to assess students and to obtain scores with free and fair evaluation as well as reducing difficulty are too numerous to mention. Ebube in the year (2010) placed special importance on fair and equitable treatment of examinees that is similar or equal with their actual performance on the test they took. On this premise, teachers embrace different techniques of teaching; they also embark on constant students’ assessment to motivate students to study hard.

After generating and developing test items, the administered tests are marked and thee overall scores produced are used to judge the competencies, achievement, skills of the each student without giving heed to the response pattern of the students to the items of such items in relation to the students’ character traits. The main purpose of standardized tests and basic education certification exam is to provide a means of measuring a group of examinees’ skills that is as fair and objective as possible. This evaluation of test scores may also lead to a decision to leave a student from some academic programmes at senior secondary school level. It is therefore important that a standardized test scores provide a fair and equitable evaluation of the skills and ability that it purports to measure.

1.2. Statement of the general problem

The poor academic performance of junior secondary students in Nigeria has become a household problem in that it has led to a host of several problems both within the educational sector and outside it. The poor academic performance of students in basic science some say may have been attributed to the lack of effectiveness of teachers in the field others argue that it has been as a result of the inability of students to read. Whatever the problem may be, the poor performance in basic science has grossly affected the educational sector in making a laughing stock among educationally developed nations in Africa let alone in the advanced countries. as the saying goes that technology drives the world, the consistent poor performance of students in basic science may spell doom for the country’s future since the youths are the leaders of tomorrow.