Instructional Materials Utilization And Teaching Effectiveness In Basic Science Among Primary School Teachers

Instructional Materials Utilization And Teaching Effectiveness In Basic Science Among Primary School Teachers

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the Study

There has been an increasing attempt by educationists and psychologists over the years to look for ways of enhancing the educational achievement of pupils, many studies have been carried out to show that among other things, the use of instructional materials enhance pupils’ effectiveness in Basic Science.

Ekanem (2001) has shown that the use of instructional materials assists teachers to make their lesson explicit to learners. These instructional materials can be combined with any other teaching methods to ensure effective learning, pupils tend to remember more of what they see than listening without seeing, hence develop good attitude for the lesson, attitude according to Ojo (2007) is defined as a relatively long-lasting organization of a person; belief and behaviours towards other people, situations or objects, or negatively; an attitude has led pupils to admire and study a subject as positive while those that lead pupils to dislike it portray a negative attitude (Udom, 2001).

Eneh and Nkang (2001) in postulation theory of cognitive development has shown that pupils in primary schools function of the concrete operational stage of mental development, one of the characteristics of pupils at this stage of development is that they hardly remember except taught.

In concrete form, it is when the learning experience is made in concrete form that pupils can remember what they learn, one way of making learning experience concrete is by using instructional materials.

Obot (2000) showed in a separate study that when instructional materials are used in teaching, the motivation of pupils is enhanced by generating participation in the lesson, motivation therefore through the use of suitable instructional materials play an important role in pupils’ learning effectively in Basic Science, it increases the attention and interest as well as little or no learning takes place.

Miller (2003) similarly in teaching science to pupils things that are too far can be brought nearer to them in drawing or photographs, also events and processes which cannot be observed either because they are too fast or too slow can be made clearly observed through the use of instructional materials.

Generally, pupils are excited and eager to learn those concepts that would have been difficult for them to understand if instructional materials were not used. Ekong (2003) considered instructional materials as indispensable instructional components that improve the productivity of teachers in their instructional role performance. The role of instructional materials in the teaching/learning a process according to Ekong (2003) includes:

-      Making learning experience integrative and interactive

-      Making instructions easy to understand

-      Stimulating pupils and sustaining interest

-      Encouraging pupils’ active participation rather than being passive listeners etc.

The teachers must make proper use of relevant materials that are suitable for both the learners and the lesson objective, the situation calls for devotion and commitment in planning, selection, and delivery of instructions. Well-Prepared instructions could be destroyed by non-availability or improper utilization of learning materials by the teachers, according to Boniface (2002) utilization of instructional materials in teaching association with the function of the teachers as the manager of the instructional process is important for the teachers to arrange the mechanics of the presentation and also plan to make the materials meaningful to the pupils, they outlined the utilization

procedures that the teachers should follow and summarize them as previewing the materials, preparing the environment, preparing the audience and finally, presenting the materials, regrettably, instructional materials in teaching in most cases are limited or completely lacking, which lead to effective performance on the part of the teachers.

Again, the few available ones are sometimes not utilized in basic science and learning process to become effective. It is on the basic of these that it becomes necessary to investigate the extent to which instructional materials are utilized by teachers to facilitate pupils’ learning effectiveness in Basic Science in primary schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

1.2   Statement of the Problem

The act of teaching is fundamentally concerned with passing ideas, skills and attitude from the teacher to the learners in Nigeria for example, experience has shown that spoken words done in the communication of ideas are grossly ineffectively and inefficient in producing desired learning outcomes. According to Effiong (2014), every year, when the results of public examination are released, there has been a mass failure in Basic Science that pose a serious problem of science cannot be taught effectively without the use of relevant instructional

materials to make the learning practical. On the foregoing scholars like Ekong (2014) have emphasized the effect of instructional materials on teaching and learning according to them, we learn and remember 10% of what we learn, 40% of what we discuss with others and as high as 80$ of what we experience directly or practice. However, the question here is does the utilization of instructional materials influences teaching learning effectiveness in basic science among primary schools, attempt to find answer to this question and more summarizes the entire problem of this study.

1.3   Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of instructional materials utilization of teaching effectiveness in Basic science among primary school teachers in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area, specifically, the study intends to:

i.             Investigate the influence of audio-visual instructional materials utilization on teaching effectiveness in Basic Science among teachers in primary schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area.

ii.            Examine the influence of models instructional materials utilization on teaching effectiveness among teachers in primary schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area.

iii.          Investigate the influence of durability of instructional materials on teaching effectiveness in basic science among teachers in primary schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area.

1.4   Significance of the Study

The findings of the study will make teachers realized that children at primary school age learn easily through the use of instructional materials priority in the primary schools. The findings of this study will give information to all stakeholders in education on the benefit of instructional materials.

The findings of the study will be important to other researchers by educating her on her relevance of the instructional materials in science teaching and learning. The findings of the study will be useful to the pupils by enabling them to acquire greater knowledge, attitude, and skill through the use of instructional materials in the teaching-learning process in the classroom. The findings of the study will serve as reference materials to both pupils and teachers in their future researches.

1.5   Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

1.           To what extent does instructional materials utilization influence teacher’s classroom management in Basic Science class in primary schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area?

2.           To what extent does instructional materials utilization influence teacher-pupils relationship in Basic Science among teachers in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area?

3.           To what extent does instructional materials utilization influence lessons presentation in Basic Science among teaches in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area?