Teacher Attitudes toward and Perceptions of Student Performance on the Design Component of the Caribbean CXC Examination

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) is a regional examining body that provides examinations for secondary and postsecondary students in Caribbean countries. The CXC administers the mechanical engineering technology examination for secondary students in the Caribbean, which includes Barbados, Tr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of industrial teacher education Vol. 41; no. 3
Main Authors Crossfield, Philbert J, Daugherty, Michael K, Merril, Chris
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published National Association of Industrial and Technical Teacher Educators 2004
Subjects
Caribbean
Design
Engineering Technology
Foreign Countries
Jamaica
Low Achievement
Performance Based Assessment
Questionnaires
Secondary School Students
Secondary School Teachers
Teacher Attitudes
Tests
Jamaica
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) is a regional examining body that provides examinations for secondary and postsecondary students in Caribbean countries. The CXC administers the mechanical engineering technology examination for secondary students in the Caribbean, which includes Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, Antigua/Barbuda, Belize, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts/Nevis. After conducting appropriate examinations, the CXC awards certificates to successful students. As one of the compulsory technical subjects in the Caribbean, students completing the mechanical engineering technology curriculum complete an examination once per year. A compulsory question on the engineering design component of the curriculum comprises 40% of the final score on this examination, and this compulsory design question has proven to be a continuing problem for students taking the examination. The purpose of this study was to identify teacher attitudes toward and perceptions of student performance on the design component of the CXC Mechanical Engineering Technology examination. While the overall performance of students on the CXC Mechanical Engineering Technology Examination has been favorable since the test was initiated in 1991 (76% of the candidates obtained passing grades), the candidates continue to perform poorly on the design component of the examination. These poor results on the design portion of the examination prompted an investigation to isolate teacher perceptions concerning student performance. Therefore, the problem for this study was to investigate why candidates taking the design component of the CXC Mechanical Engineering Technology Examination continued to perform poorly on the test. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)
ISSN:0022-1864