自工業革命以降，資本主義驅動著經濟與社會不斷前進，市場經濟所創造的交易效率幾乎滲透了人們生活的方方面面。但是使人類引以為傲的資本主義卻也創造了日益嚴重的貧富差距與自然環境的破壞，廠商犧牲了利害關係人的利益，極大化股東的利益，這促使我們開始思考是否有不同的方式可以同時創造合理的利潤，也同時善待組織的利害關係人？Fauchart 和 Gruber (2011) 所提出的使命型創業家很可能是一個新解，使命型創業家以改變社會為己任，期待藉由自身組織來改變社會與環境問題。然而，是什麼樣的原因促使使命型創業家出現？且使命型創業家是如何透過商業模式在使組織賺錢的同時增進利害關係人之效益？為了回答這個問題，本研究欲透過Shane (2000) 的前期經驗理論、使命型創業家之自我認同、利社會動機理論，與 Porter 和 Kramer (2011) 的共享價值理論來檢視個案公司。本研究選擇綠然能源作為研究個案，綠然能源是全台灣第一間由美國B Lab認證的B型企業 (B Corp)，成立已有四年的時間，且已經開始獲利，此外，綠然能源之共同創辦人再加入此事業前，皆擁有豐富的商業經驗與獨特對社會與環境的生命體驗。研究者透過質性研究方式，以半結構式訪談、實地觀察法和次級資料搜集進行研究，以探究前期經驗、自我認同與利社會動機對個案公司創辦人之影響，以及個案公司如何發展出具有共享價值之價值主張。最後本研究提出以下發現，使命型創業家之自我認同、利社會動機與前期經驗是其創業行為的核心，並且這將影響組織發展共享價值之價值主張，而團隊成員豐富的前期經驗也有助於組織辨識機會，發展具共享價值之商業模式。 / After Industrial Revolution, Capitalism drives human society and economy forward constantly. The efficiency that market economy creates, has almost penetrated into every level of our daily lives. However, the powerful Capitalism has also done severe damage to environment, enlarging the gap between the rich and the poor. These phenomena cause us to think is there any possible a firm can earn a reasonable profit and treat its stakeholders well at the same time? The research on missionary entrepreneur of Fauchart and Gruber (2011) may become a solution to the problem we are facing. The missionary entrepreneur considers contributing to a better world is critical to them and it is their responsibility to do act for the social & environmental cause. Yet what makes one become a missionary entrepreneur? And, how does missionary entrepreneur develop a business model to solve the social & environmental problem and make profit as well? To answer these questions, the study aims to analyze the case company with the prior knowledge theory of Shane (2000), the self-identity of missionary entrepreneur (Fauchart & Gruber, 2011), prosocial motivation, and creating shared value (Porter & Kramer, 2011). The study takes DOMI as the case company, because DOMI is the first one certified B Corp in Taiwan. 4 years after DOMI was founded, now the company has already made profit from its business. Additionally, the co-founders all have diverse and multiple business and entrepreneurial experience. Plus, all of them had unique experience of social & environmental problems. The research is done by qualitative research method, and the research data is collected through semi-structured interview, field observation and secondary data analysis. In the end, the study shows that diverse prior knowledge of organization members will help organization recognizes opportunity. Besides, prior knowledge, self-identity, and prosocial motivation influence the missionary entrepreneur behavior, which can also enhance organization to create shared value in its value proposition.

Since the Namibian independence in 1990, the education system has undergone some major revamping which involved the adoption of social constructivist perspectives in the teaching and learning of sciences. This learning theory acknowledges learners’ background prior knowledge as valuable tools in the effective construction of science concepts during lessons. A corollary is that the socio-cultural circumstances of learners might negatively influence the way learners construct new knowledge in the science classroom if they are not taken into consideration. This study was thus prompted by the need to understand how trainee science teachers engage with prior everyday knowledge and experiences, so as to enhance the conceptual development of biological concepts. The study was qualitative and it was underpinned by an interpretive paradigm with some elements of action research. Science trainee teachers at Katima Mulilo, Unam Campus were used as research participants. The techniques used to gather data included document analysis, brainstorming, observation, audio-visual, microteaching and semi-structured interviews. The results of this study showed that the changes that occurred during microteaching practices of the four trainee teachers involved in the study reflected their professional development in this approach. However, it emerged that prior everyday knowledge can be both a barrier and enabler to the construction of meaningful teaching and learning; hence its oversight may lead to instructional failures. The findings also indicated that selected platforms are essential to enable trainee teachers to incorporate prior everyday knowledge and experiences into the teaching of Western science. However, larger scale study should be conducted in order to deepen the understanding of the topic.

Les études diagnostiques correspondent à l’ensemble des études cliniques qui ont pour objectif l’évaluation d’un nouveau test diagnostique. Dans la démarche d’évaluation, l’étape centrale est l’évaluation de la performance du nouveau test par estimation de sa sensibilité et de sa spécificité. De manière classique, la performance du nouveau test est évaluée par comparaison à un test de référence supposé parfait, appelé un « gold standard » qui permet la connaissance du statut réel de chaque sujet vis-à-vis de la pathologie étudiée. Cependant, dans de très nombreuses situations cliniques, différentes difficultés existent : l’absence de gold standard parfait, l’impossibilité de réalisation du gold standard à tous les sujets, la dépendance des résultats des tests réalisés, la variabilité de la sensibilité et/ou de la spécificité du test en fonction de certaines conditions de réalisation, la multiple réalisation du test dans le temps ou sa multiple interprétation.Une revue méthodologique systématique a été effectuée pour faire l’état des lieux des méthodes d’inférence bayésienne disponibles dans les études diagnostiques et de leur utilisation en pratique. Le focus sur les méthodes bayésiennes a été retenu du fait de leurs avantages théoriques contrastant avec leur relative sous-utilisation dans le domaine médicale. Actuellement, de nombreuses méthodes ont été proposées pour répondre à ces différentes difficultés, avec des développements très complexes en cas de combinaison de plusieurs difficultés dans une même situation. Nous avons ainsi pu établir une cartographie des combinaisons de méthodes disponibles. Cependant leur utilisation en clinique reste encore limitée, même si elle est en augmentation ces dernières années.En pratique, nous avons été confrontés à la problématique du diagnostic de pneumopathie à Pneumocystis jirovecii (PJ) (champignon ubiquitaire opportuniste responsable de mycose profonde chez les patients immunodéprimés). Dans ce projet, nous disposions des résultats de quatre techniques de PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) différentes mais sans gold standard, avec la difficulté supplémentaire de dépendance conditionnelle entre les tests du fait du principe commun à l’origine de ces quatre tests. Deux développements ont été réalisés en parallèle pour répondre à cette problématique : d’une part, un travail sur les méthodes d’élicitation des informations a priori adaptées spécifiquement aux études diagnostiques, et d’autre part, un travail de mise en œuvre d’un modèle statistique adapté à la problématique de quatre tests dépendants en l’absence de gold standard. En l’absence de données informatives dans la littérature, l’élicitation des a priori, étape obligatoire pour l’utilisation des méthodes d’inférence bayésienne, est réalisée par l’interrogation d’experts du domaine. Notre travail a consisté en une adaptation des méthodes existantes, disponibles dans le domaine des essais cliniques, spécifiquement aux études diagnostiques pour obtenir des a priori informatifs. Cette méthode a été appliquée à notre cas des PCR diagnostiques pour PJ. L’estimation des performances diagnostiques des tests en l’absence de gold standard repose de manière efficiente sur les modèles à classes latentes. Trois modèles ont été développés pour le cas de deux tests diagnostiques : un modèle à indépendance conditionnelle, un modèle à dépendance conditionnelle à effets fixes et un modèle à dépendance conditionnelle à effets aléatoires. Nous proposons dans cette thèse une adaptation de ces trois modèles à la situation de quatre tests diagnostiques avec une formulation des paramètres permettant une interprétation clinique des covariances entre les tests dans un souci de transmission des méthodes de la théorie à la pratique. Une application et une comparaison de ces modèles ont été faites pour l’estimation des sensibilités et spécificités des quatre techniques de PCR à PJ en utilisant les a priori informatifs obtenus auprès des experts. / Diagnostic studies include all clinical studies the aim of which is the evaluation of a new diagnostic test. In the evaluation process, the main step is the evaluation of the performance of the new test i.e. its sensitivity and specificity. Usually, the performance of a new test is assessed by comparison to a test of reference which is supposed to be perfect, i.e. a "gold standard", and specifies the actual patient’s status for the disease of interest (“Diseased” or “Not-Diseased” status). However, in many clinical situations, different pitfalls exist such as (i) a gold standard is not available, (ii) the gold standard is not applicable to all patients, (iii) a conditional dependence exists between test results, (iv) the performance of a test is not constant and depends on the conditions of achievement of the test, (v) the tests are repeated in time or by several machines or read by several readers, together with multiple interpretation of the results. A systematic methodological review has been performed to inventory all Bayesian inference methods available in the field of diagnostic studies and their use in practice. The focus on Bayesian methods was based on the theoretical advantages of these methods contrasting with their relative underutilization in the medical field. Finally, several interesting methods have been proposed to address methodological issues of diagnostic studies, with very complex developments when several issues were combined in the same clinical situation. We propose to map the development methods and combinations that have already been done or not. However, their clinical use is still limited, although it has increased in recent years.In practice, we met the problem of the diagnosis of pneumonia due to Pneumocystis jirovecii (PJ). PJ is an ubiquitous opportunistic fungus leading to deep mycosis in immunocompromised patients. In this study, the results of four PCR (polymerase chain reaction) assays were available, but without any gold standard, and the supplementary difficulty of conditional dependence between tests because the four tests were based on the same principle. Two works were performed in parallel to address this issue: on one hand, an adaptation of methods to elicit prior information specifically in diagnostic studies, and on the other hand, the implementation of specific Bayesian statistical models adapted to the context of four-dependent tests in the absence of gold standard. When informative information is not available in the literature, the elicitation of priors, the mandatory first step of a Bayesian inference, is carried out by registering experts’ beliefs in the field. Our work consisted in an adaptation of existing methods, available in clinical trials, specifically for diagnostic studies to obtain informative priors. We then applied this method to our four PJ PCR assays. Estimation of the diagnostic test performance in absence of gold standard is efficiently based on latent class models (LCM). Three LCM were developed for the case of two diagnostic tests: a simple LCM assuming conditional independence between tests, a fixed effects LCM and a random effects LCM providing an adjustment for conditional dependence between tests. We extended these three models to a situation where four diagnostic tests are involved and proposed a formulation that enables an interpretation of between tests covariances in a clinical perspective in order to bind theory to practice. These models were then applied and compared in an estimation study of the sensitivities and specificities of the four PJ PCR assays, by using informative priors obtained from experts.

De nombreux chercheurs ont déjà souligné l’importance de préparer les étudiants à la mobilité académique (Abdallah-Pretceille, 2003 ; Jackson, 2013) notamment pour faire face à l’ère hypermoderne actuelle (Aubert, 2004). Par ailleurs, les diverses terminologies de référence en ce qui concerne le nouveau paradigme des mobilités (Urry, 2007) et le concept de compétence interculturelle, justifient ce travail de doctorat. Le cadre théorique sur lequel nous nous appuyions est l’ « interculturalité renouvelée » (Dervin, 2012). Les compétences interculturelles sont ainsi définies en tant que distance performée vis-à-vis des discours sur l’Autre qui émergent pendant les rencontres. Six groupes-centrés ont été organisés pour deux groupes de participant (étudiant dans un Institut d’Études Supérieures à Hong-Kong) et une formation, pré-mobilité académique à l’interculturalité renouvelée, a été mise en place afin d’en analyser l’impact sur le discours des participants. Les théories de l’énonciation et l’approche du dialogisme ont été les apports méthodologiques qui nous ont permis d’observer les voix rapportées et leurs concrétisations prosodiques dans le discours des participants (Martin & White, 2005) avant et après l’expérience de mobilité. Nous nous sommes efforcés d’observer dans le discours des participants l’espace dialogique disponible à la rencontre et à la reconnaissance de la voix de l’Autre. Si les résultats semblent indiquer une augmentation du nombre de voix rapportées dans le discours des participants, suite à la mobilité académique, d’autres mises en place de recherches semblent nécessaires afin d’étudier l’impact d’une préparation pré-mobilité sur l’hétéroglossie. / Numerous scholars have already stressed the need to prepare students prior to academic mobility (Abdallah-Pretceille, 2003; Jackson, 2013, for example) in order to face hypermodernity (Aubert, 2004). As per the new mobilities paradigm (Urry, 2007), this implies considering individuals at the centre of political and institutional issues. Furthermore, the multiplicity of terminology of references towards academic mobility, and intercultural competences, justifies this research. The theory, for this doctoral dissertation, applies “renewed interculturality” (Dervin, 2012), a move away from a culturalist approach. Intercultural competences are therefore defined as a stepping back from discourses on the Other that may emerge during encounters. In order to collect the data, six focus groups have been organised with two batches of students from a Higher Education Institution in Hong-Kong, an “education hub” (Dervin & Machart, 2014) that is striving to be competitive particularly in increasing the number of incomingand outcoming students. Training and education to interculturality have been implemented prior to academic mobility in order to observe the impact on participants’ discourses before and after the mobility. Theories of enunciation and dialogism represent the methodology allowing us to compare and analyse the reported voices in the participants’ discourse and their prosodic realisation (Martin & White, 2005) before and after the experience of academic mobility. I have attempted to observe the dialogic space available to welcome the Other during encounters in the participants’ discourse. The results seem to underline the increased number of reported voices in participants’ discourse after study abroad, but as the space opened for negotiation is instable and depends on the interlocutors and the voices addressed, consequently, further research appears necessary to study the influences of a preparation prior to mobility on the contraction or expansion of heteroglossia. All in all, this doctoral dissertation aimed to renew preparation for mobilities in an academic setting that emphasises on the well being of lifelong learners.

Dans le cadre des enjeux actuels du droit à la ville et à la qualité de vie, l'aménagement urbain constitue un outil pertinent qu'il convient de façonner en ce sens. Notion pivot de l'urbanisme opérationnel, aucune définition complète ne figure pourtant dans les textes, et les multiples références à l'aménagement dans l'ensemble des branches du droit n'ont fait qu'embrumer davantage les contours de l'aménagement urbain. L'étude du code de l'urbanisme, des débats parlementaires et de la jurisprudence conduit à désigner l'opération d'aménagement urbain comme sa matérialisation concrète. Distinct de l'aménagement du territoire et transcendant la frontière public-privé, l'aménagement urbain désigne les opérations de travaux visant un projet urbain d'intérêt général portant sur un quartier ou du moins sur un lieu de vie. Elle constitue dès lors un instrument local de choix au service de la qualité de vie. C'est pour cette raison qu'un régime juridique de droit commun, qui serait applicable à toute opération d'aménagement urbain, doit être élaboré. De sa conception à sa réalisation, ce régime permettrait de concilier les considérations purement économiques de cette activité avec les exigences modernes de garantie d'un cadre de vie de qualité. / In the context of current issues pertaining to the right to the city and to quality of life, urban development is a relevant tool which should be adapted. As a pivotal notion of operational urban planning, no complete definition yet exists for urban development. Furthermore, the multiple references to development in corpus juris obfuscate the notion. After examining the code de l’urbanisme, parliamentary debates and case law, it is evident that urban development operation should be considered as the materialization of urban development. Distinct from land settlement operations and overcoming the public-private border, urban development can be defined as works of general interest focused on a district or at least a place of life. Consequently, it represents a local tool appropriate to quality of life, which is why general regulations, applicable to every urban development operation, must be elaborated. From conception to realisation, these regulations make it possible to reconcile strictly economic parts of this activity with the modern requirements of a quality living environment.

The policy and practice of RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) remains a contested area in the higher education sector. While a growing body of research on RPL has become available, little is known about the quality assurance dimensions of this policy and its current expression in higher education practice. Accordingly, this study seeks to provide a comprehensive and detailed portrait of the manner in which RPL is implemented in the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria. The central question is does the RPL system that is in place at this institution meet national and international requirements for quality and quality assurance? If not, what are the reasons and how can the faculty improve its RPL practice? The research sub-questions addressed are the following: <ul> <li> What is the quality of the inputs used to design the RPL that is in place in the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria?</li> <li> How does the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria assess RPL candidates for their prior learning? </li> <li> What is the effect of the output of the RPL system on client satisfaction?</li></ul> A mixed methods research design was used for this study. A single Faculty (Education) was selected as the data collection site, to reveal the deeper and nuanced impact of the process of implementation of the RPL programme. A semi-structured interview schedule administered to the senior managers of the faculty was to elicit information on how the RPL system was conceptualised and designed. This process included the Dean (Faculty of Education); Head of Department (Curriculum Studies); Head of Department (Educational Management, Law and Policy Studies); Director (Centre for Evaluation and Assessment) and the Director (Centre for Joint Science, Mathematics and Technology Education). To determine whether there is a link between what the Quality Assurance Unit of the university promotes and application of such principles and procedures at service delivery level, an interview with the Director of the QA Unit was done. Other interviews involved students (undergraduates and postgraduates); the non-academic staff and lecturers within all the departments of the faculty, to determine whether they knew or were aware of RPL related activities in the faculty. An observation tool was constructed to examine the quality of the assessment process, which involved RPL learners, assessors, evidence facilitators, verifiers, moderators and RPL administrators. A questionnaire was administered to RPL learners involved in the assessment process to determine their satisfaction with the output of the RPL programme. Lecturers who participated in the RPL assessment process were interviewed to determine their experiences. Finally, an observational checklist was used to determine quality indicators at macro (administrative) and micro (academic) levels. The data was analysed using pattern matching, discrepancy, content and interpretational analyses methods. The research findings presented are in the form of a “thick” narrative on the quality of RPL implementation, that is, what the faculty should do to improve or strengthen the current system, and a portrayal of how the RPL programme truly operates. The findings indicate that a relatively good system of RPL provisioning is in place in the Faculty of Education, with a few areas of concern (weaknesses). The major problem is that this system is not benefiting the majority of people it was intended for. The system is “selective” and “exclusionary” in nature. There are clear procedures and processes for RPL assessment, which are adhered to strictly by faculty assessors. The RPL system that is currently in place is satisfactory to those who were assessed for prior learning during the period 2003-2006 and unsatisfactory at the level of the lecturers who participated in the assessment process. Most of them indicated that RPL is an add-on activity to their workloads, with very little incentives from management. To those who were not part of the assessment process, but were assumed to have received information from the faculty, the findings indicated that they knew very little about RPL and how it is being assessed in the faculty. From the client’s perspective, most (eighty four percent) said if they knew how this system operates in the faculty, they would want to be assessed for their prior learning. An extensive examination of the RPL practice in the Faculty of Education gave useful insights on the quality of RPL provisioning. Future research needs to concentrate on evaluations on how RPL is implemented in the other faculties of the university. Second to this, is to begin to provide answers as to what causes full-scale implementation of RPL problematic in the higher education sector, to provide empirical data to policy makers for decision-making purposes. Thirdly, to provide solutions towards the sustainability of the RPL system in the higher education sector, there is a need to do studies on the cost-effectiveness of RPL implementation. / Thesis (PhD (Assessment and Quality Assurance in Education and Training))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Curriculum Studies / PhD / unrestricted

Science has been perceived as difficult to learn because of its nature and the methods by which it is usually taught. Most first-year science students entering higher education in South Africa today come from disadvantaged teaching and learning backgrounds. These students bring different “knowledge, skills or abilities” into the learning process. This knowledge, referred to as prior knowledge – or what the student already knows – is the single most important factor influencing learning (Ausubel, 1968). It is on the basis of this influence of prior knowledge on learning that the focus in this study is on understanding its manifestation in learning. Prior knowledge has both facilitating and inhibiting effects in learning. However, the focus in this study was only on inhibiting effects of prior knowledge on learning. To better understand prior knowledge qualitative methods (interview, observation, document review and the prior knowledge state test) were used. The aim was to specifically establish how students used their understanding of selected acid-base concepts and processes to construct understanding and to generate meaning of new concepts and/or knowledge. The study managed to highlight important aspects of the quality of prior knowledge and their manifestation in learning. The findings generally indicated that: <ul> <li>The quality of the knowledge that students possessed was in most instances incomplete. That is, in their description of concepts, students preferred to use summary and informal descriptions without understanding the meaning of the concepts they were describing.</li> <li> The quality of knowledge (e.g. incomplete knowledge) affected their ability to construct understanding and/or generate meaning as this knowledge was insufficient to access for the construction of scientifically valid meanings of concepts.</li> <li>The quality of students’ knowledge impeded their ability to reflect and/or to be aware of the knowledge they possessed. This made it difficult for students to access knowledge and to restructure it in order to construct new knowledge or prevent errors in their learning.</li> </ul> The study culminated in the development of a framework that may in future be used to assess prior knowledge and enhance meaningful teaching and learning based on the quality of students’ prior knowledge. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

On its own, the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is not a solution to either inequalities or unemployment, but it is an important strategy to address access to education and training for those previously excluded (SAQA, 2003a, p. 31) This study deals with the search for valid and sustainable mechanisms for the implementation of the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in South Africa. Some of the elements that facilitate implementation include stringent quality criteria and common benchmarks that build trust in the process and ensures the protection of the integrity of the system. In an education and training system, which is subject to intense change, RPL has an important contribution to make to the opening up of access to education and training for individuals previously denied the privilege. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Curriculum Studies / Unrestricted

We study how to perform effective Bayesian inference in high-dimensional sparse Factor Analysis models with a zero-norm, sparsity-inducing prior on the model parameters. Such priors represent a methodological ideal, but Bayesian inference in such models is usually regarded as impractical. We test this view. After empirically characterising the properties of existing algorithmic approaches, we use techniques from statistical mechanics to derive a theory of optimal learning in the restricted setting of sparse PCA with a single factor. Finally, we describe a novel `Dense Message Passing' algorithm (DMP) which achieves near-optimal performance on synthetic data generated from this model.DMP exploits properties of high-dimensional problems to operate successfully on a densely connected graphical model. Similar algorithms have been developed in the statistical physics community and previously applied to inference problems in coding and sparse classification. We demonstrate that DMP out-performs both a newly proposed variational hybrid algorithm and two other recently published algorithms (SPCA and emPCA) on synthetic data while it explains at least the same amount of variance, for a given level of sparsity, in two gene expression datasets used in previous studies of sparse PCA.A significant potential advantage of DMP is that it provides an estimate of the marginal likelihood which can be used for hyperparameter optimisation. We show that, for the single factor case, this estimate exhibits good qualitative agreement both with theoretical predictions and with the hyperparameter posterior inferred by a collapsed Gibbs sampler. Preliminary work on an extension to inference of multiple factors indicates its potential for selecting an optimal model from amongst candidates which differ both in numbers of factors and their levels of sparsity.

This study investigated the effects of chemical concept understanding level on students’ achievement in biochemical topics (photosynthesis, respiration, diffusion and osmosis, carbohydrates, protein, fats and enzymes) in some selected secondary schools in Delta State of Nigeria. The study made use of mixed method research approach. Quantitatively, the design of the study was quasi experimental non-randomized pre-test and post-test control group design. A case study Embedded Design was adopted to take care of the qualitative aspect of the mixed method study. Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (K-R20) was used to calculate the reliability coefficient of the test. The internal consistency of reliability co-efficient was calculated to be 0.76 that made the instrument to be accepted as reliable for the study. The population of this study consisted of all senior secondary (II) biology students in the twenty (25) local government areas of Delta State of Nigeria. Six secondary schools randomly selected from the three senatorial districts of the State were used for the study, with three (3) schools for experiments specially taught with emphasis on both ideas (concepts) and skills, problem-based interactive learning ensuring concept connections and the other three (3) for control groups. Intact classes were used for both groups. The intact sample was made up of five hundred and ninety two (592) students for the quantitative study; while two teachers and four students were purposively sampled for the qualitative aspect of the study. Four (4) research questions were raised and answered and four (4) null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The research instruments used were the Test of Students Understanding of Chemical Concepts (TOSUCC), Biology Achievement Test (BAT) which measured achievement in biochemical topics and Interview Schedules for both teachers and students. The quantitative data collected were analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) for the hypotheses and mean ratings for the research questions; and the qualitative data were analysed by coding and themes generation and interpretations. Findings show that the experimental group performed better than the control group in the biochemical topics. An effect size of Cohen`s d equal to 0.996 was determined from the mean scores and standard deviations of the experimental and control samples for the study. Therefore, the experimental group had better achievement because determined effect size seemed large enough in favour of the treatment group. No significant interaction effects of gender and location on students` level of achievement in both experimental and control groups were established by the study. The teachers in particular should use the outcome of this study to improve on their teaching, emphasizing on concept understanding in their teaching and prior learning/knowledge or pre – requisite concepts. This is because certain chemical concepts are required before the teaching of the main topics (Biochemical topics in this case). In other words, this study recommends that secondary school biology and chemistry teachers should teach for concept understanding, topics that are related to the new topics before teaching the topics. / Science Education / Ph. D. (Science Education)