Educationist canvasses incorporation of virtual tools in teaching, learning

AN educationist, Mrs Oluwakemi Famuyide, has disclosed that students’ academic performance can improve in examinations if changes are made to how they take notes.

Speaking at the in- service training ( INSET) of the school, Famuyide, who is the elementary school principal at Greensprings, Anthony Campus, said the current way of writing lengthy notes make it a daunting task for students to read during examinations.

She therefore proposed the incorporation of visual tools that make note- taking shorter and easy to read for students.

“It has been observed that one major challenge that students face during exam period is that they find it difficult to read and assimilate their lengthy notes. Some students are unable to adequately cover all the topics during revision, which will likely result in poor grades, especially when the omitted areas are set as questions in the examination,” she stated.

To motivate students to cover all lesson areas in order to improve their performance in examinations, Famuyide said schools should teach their students how to use visual tools when taking notes.

These tools, according to the principal, should be graphical symbols such as lines, points, and arrows that help to link information and knowledge together.

By using them, she said students are able to write shorter notes, as well as use visual representations to note the main points from a topic, thereby making it easier to recall, if necessary.

Mrs Famuyide, however, pointed out that visual tools are part of the Thinking School teaching methodology that is currently being adopted by Greensprings School.

She said: “These tools have been very helpful in guiding students across all categories of the school, to understand how they know what they know. It has also helped students excel in both internal and external examinations.” Although not all schools can become a “Thinking School”, Famuyide stated that schools could improve on their students’ academic excellence by teaching them the use of graphical symbols to link information and knowledge together.

Thinking Schools are schools accredited by Thinking Schools International ( TSI). The schools take an explicit, evidence- informed, and whole- school approach to develop pupils’ cognitive capability and intelligent learning behaviours. Greensprings is the first Thinking School in Nigeria.

STAKEHOLDERS in the education sector have canvassed improved security presence in schools through creation of a special joint force, comprising police, civil defence corps and army.

They urged the Federal Government to urgently withdraw security personnel attached to politicians and redeploy them to schools where they could be more useful.

They lamented that the increased cases of abduction of students from the northern region was aimed at discouraging western education.

The proprietor of Holy Vine International Academy in Ado Ekiti, Mr Ibitoye Adeleye said with the spate of abduction in schools, Federal Government should declare security emergency in schools across the country.

Adeleye said government should be proactive and not reactionary in matters concerning security of school children.

“I suggest that in the short run, government should withdraw security personnel attached to politicians and redeploy them to schools. In the long run, government should create a special joint security team comprising the police, army and civil defence corps to guard schools. Mr Oguntuase Charles, a parent who resides in Oke Ureje in Ado Ekiti described abduction of students as part of plans to rubbish western education.

Charles said since Boko Haram terrorists have declared western education as a sin, their attack on schools was aimed at further strengthening their stance.

“The leadership of the country must do more than condemning the acts. It is time to provide security for these children. The President should act before bandits scare parents from sending their wards to school.

Another parent, Mr Ogundana Rotimi, a businessman, said government’s inaction on insecurity was fueling further abduction.

He urged government to take census of schools in the country to determine the number of security personnel needed to guard them.