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The present situation in Nigeria involves students of fine arts, a practical-oriented subject, being exposed to poor methods of teaching with consequent poor performances. This study examined the extent to which the use of a computerised graphics package could make the classroom technology-oriented and affect the performance of learners. This is predicated on the theoretical frameworks of constructivism and Gagne's learning theory. The research design is the pretest-posttest control group design. The research instruments are the Graphic Design Achievement Test designed from the Revised Minnesota Paper Form Board Test and CorelDraw 10. They were administered to 60 junior secondary school students selected using stratified random sampling. The results show a significant difference in the performance of students exposed to the computerised graphics package as those exposed to the computerised graphics package performed significantly better in graphics than those exposed to the conventional teaching methods. (Contains 2 tables.)

The study determined how students assess the various components of their science laboratory environment. It also identified how the laboratory environment affects students' learning outcomes. The modified ex-post facto design was used. A sample of 328 randomly selected students was taken from a population of all Senior Secondary School chemistry students in a state in Nigeria. The research instrument, Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI) designed and validated by Fraser et al. (Sci Educ 77:1-24, 1993) was administered on the selected students. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and Product Moment Correlation. Findings revealed that students could assess the five components (Student cohesiveness, Open-endedness, Integration, Rule clarity, and Material Environment) of the laboratory environment. Student cohesiveness has the highest assessment while material environment has the least. The results also showed that the five components of the science laboratory environment are positively correlated with students' academic performance. The findings are discussed with a view to improving the quality of the laboratory environment, subsequent academic performance in science and ultimately the enrolment and retaining of learners in science.

This paper examined the representation of women in leadership positions in education in South-West Nigeria. It looked at the problems encountered by such women and the quality of their administration, Primary and secondary data were collected from 20 tertiary institutions, 122 secondary and 120 primary schools. A 20-item questionnaire was administered to 615 students, parents and alumni of these institutions and a second questionnaire to 48 women heads of institutions and departments to gather information on gender and leadership. The study showed that there is male domination of leadership in the tertiary institutions. About half of the secondary schools are headed by women while primary schools have more female heads than males. Schools headed by females were generally considered better managed than those by males. However women were found to face various problems as leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]