Instrument for Assessing Students Carpentry Skills in Technical Colleges in Nigeria

Abstract

The study developed and validated Carpentry Skills Assessment Instrument (CSAI) for technical college students based on Simpson’s theory of skill development using instrumentation research. The study was carried out in Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger states of Nigeria. The study was delimited to three out of 26 technical colleges and also 15 out of 420 students. The instrument was subjected to face, content validation and factorial validity. Face validation was carried out by three experts from the Department of Industrial and Technology Education, Federal University of Technology, Minna. The content validation was carried out by the 36 carpentry teachers using a table of specifications which was constructed based on Simpson’s 1972 model of psychomotor domain where 106 items were retained. The 106 validated items were subjected to factorial analysis where five items were discarded. A pilot study produced reliability coefficient of 0.87 using Cronbach Alpha statistics. The developed Carpentry Skill Assessment Instrument was trial tested in assessing 15 students of carpentry in three technical colleges. Nine teachers of carpentry and joinery (research assistants) were involved as raters, (three in each school). The raters observed and assessed students while carrying out a Carpentry Work Sample Practical Test (CWSPT) during the trial testing. Mean, Standard Deviation, Factorial Analysis and Spearman correlation technique (rs) were used to answer the research questions. The results revealed that 14 tasks clusters with 101 corresponding skill items and 13 practical skills were found valid and relevant for inclusion in the Carpentry Skill Assessment Instrument. The Carpentry Skill Assessment Instrument produced internal consistencies that ranged from 0.55 to 0.68 and an overall reliability of 0.64. Based on these results, it was recommended that the external examination bodies (NABTEB, NECO and WAEC) should integrate CSAI items in their examination of carpentry students, and that seminars and workshops for teachers on how to make use of the developed Carpentry Skills Assessment Instrument be organized by examining bodies.