Mental Ability of Junior Secondary School Students in Basic Technology Multiple Choice Objective Test in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined mental ability of Junior Secondary School Students in Basic Technology in Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design. The purpose of this study is to compare the mental abilities of junior secondary school students in basic technology in terms of age, sex and types of school (Urban and Rural). Two hundred students were selected from the target population in three senatorial districts of Ondo State using multi-stage sampling technique. Thirty multiple-choice objective test items were drawn from past questions in Junior Secondary School Basic Technology and administered on the selected students. One research question was raised, three hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha level. Data collected were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. Results of the analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between the performance of students between the age of 12-13, 14-15, and 15 years plus on basic technology multiple choice test. Also there was no significant difference between the performance of male and female students on basic technology multiple-choice test. Despite the fact that there was no significant difference between students performance in term of age, the mean value revealed that students at tender age (12-13 years) performed better than their counterparts who are older in age in basic technology multiple choice test. It was recommended among others that learning of basic technology and any other related subjects should commence from early stage of human development.