UTILIZATION OF IMPROVISED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF BIOLOGY STUDENTS
ABSTRACT
This study was designed to find out the effect of the utilization of improvised instructional materials on the academic performance of biology students in Ukanafun Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State. This study was guided by two null hypotheses. A quassi experimental research design was adopted for the study. Five intact classes from five secondary schools in Ukanafun Local Government Area were used for the study. The Biology Achievement Test (BAT) produced by the researcher and validated by the supervisor consisted of twenty (20) multi-choice items that test the academic achievement of the students. The test was directly administered to the students by the researcher with the help of their Biology teacher. The data was collected and analyzed using independent t-test analysis method. It was revealed that utilization of instructional materials significantly influence the performance of students in Biology. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that students should be taught Biology using appropriate instructional materials to enhance their academic performance.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The influence of instructional materials in promoting students’ academic performance and teaching and learning in educational development is indisputable. The teaching of Biology in Nigerian secondary schools needs to be properly handled. The materials used by teachers to teach and drive home their subject points at the primary and secondary school levels of our education system is incontrovertibly a paramount important issue in practical classroom interaction and successful transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the learners. Instructional materials are materials which assist teachers to make their lessons explicit to learners. They are also used to transmit information, ideas and notes to learners Ijaduola (1997). Instructional materials include both visuals and audiovisuals such as pictures, flashcards, posters, charts, tape recorder, radio, video, television, computers among others. These materials serve as supplement to the normal processes of instruction. Poor academic achievement in Biology could be attributed to many factors among which teacher’s strategy itself was considered as an important factor. This implies that the mastery of Biology concepts might not be fully achieved without the use of instructional materials. The teaching of Biology without instructional materials may certainly result in poor academic achievement. Franzer, Okebukola and Jegede (1992) stressed that a professionally qualified Biology teacher no matter how well trained, would unable to put his ideas into practice if the school setting lacks the equipment and materials necessary for him or her to translate his competence into reality
Adebimpe (1997) and Daramola, (2008) however noted that improvisation demands adventure, creativity, curiosity and perseverance on the part of the teacher, such skills are only realizable through well-planned training programme on improvisation.
Instructional materials are essential and significant tools needed for teaching and learning of school subjects to promote teachers’ efficiency and improve students’ performance. They make learning more interesting, practical, realistic and appealing. They also enable both the teachers and students to participate actively and effectively in lesson sessions. They give room for acquisition of skills and knowledge and development of self- confidence and self- actualization. Olumorin, Yusuf, Ajidagba and Jekayinfa (2010) observed that instructional materials help teachers to teach conveniently and the learners to learn easily without any problem. They asserted that instructional materials have direct contact with all sense organs.
Agwagah (2000) had noted that Biology teachers in most cases do not use instructional materials in their Biology classroom, so most of the Biology concepts are taught abstractly. This may be because some of the Biology teachers believed that instructional materials to be used for teaching these Biology concepts are not in existence. Even when they are available, there is this complain of lack of money by the Biology teacher. This may be one of the factors responsible for students’ continuous failure in public Biology examination in Nigeria.
Instructional materials are the devices developed or acquired to assist or facilitate teachers in transmitting an organized knowledge, skills and attitudes to the learners within an instructional situation, (Nwachukwu, 2016).To be precise, an instructional material are educational resources used for illustrating the content of instruction, thereby making learning more concrete and less abstract. The sequence in which learners encounter materials has direct effect on the achievement of the task. In providing closer experience to real instructional material enhances acquisition and retention of factual information. Instructional materials not only provide the necessary concrete experience but also help students integrate prior experience.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
One of the major problems facing education sector in Nigeria is the low level of the performance of secondary school students in both local and standardized examinations. It has become a great concern for researchers, educators and all education stake-holders over the years. It was observed that students usually fail in examinations owing to improper teaching methods and lack of essential teaching aids for instructional delivery. (Afolabi, 2009). This study therefore deemed it necessary to look specifically into the contributions of instructional materials to academic achievement of secondary school students in Social Studies.
The act of teaching is fundamentally concerned with passing ideas, skills and attitude from the teacher to the learner. In Nigeria, for example experience has shown that spoken words alone in the communication of ideas are grossly ineffective and inefficient in producing desired learning outcomes. On the foregoing, scholars like Mutebi and Matora (1994) have emphasized the effect of instructional materials utilization on teaching and learning. According to them, we learn and remember 10% of what we hear, 40% of what we discuss with others and as high as 80% of what we experience directly or practice. However, the questions here are: does the use of instructional materials really influence students’ academic performance? Is teaching effectiveness enhanced by the use of instructional materials? Could students’ learning be advanced by the use of instructional materials? Finding answers to these questions and more summarizes the entire problem of this study.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study is to investigate into the Effect of Improvised Instructional Materials on Biology Students’ academic performance in Ukanafun Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State. Specifically this study seeks to:
- Investigate whether there is any difference in the academic performance of Biology students taught with improvised instructional materials and students taught with original instructional materials
- Find out the differences on the academic performance of Biology students taught with instructional materials (improvised or original) and those taught without any instructional materials at all.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The use of instructional materials gives the learner opportunity to touch, smell or taste objects in the teaching and learning process. Consequently, knowledge passed unto the students at different levels of educational instructions should be well planned and properly allied with relevant instructional materials for clarity and comprehensibility. Hence the significance of this study to the students, teachers, curriculum planners, educational system and the society at large. To the students, the effective use of instructional materials would enable them to effectively learn and retain what they have learnt and thereby advancing their performance in the subject in question. This is because according to Nwadinigwe (2000), learning is a process through which knowledge, skills, habits, facts, ideas and principles are acquired, retained and utilized; and the only means of achieving this is through the use of instructional materials.
The study would help enhance teachers’ teaching effectiveness and productivity. This is in line with assertion of Ekwueme and Igwe (2001) who noted that it is only the teachers who will guarantee effective and adequate usage of instructional materials and thereby facilitate success. Consequently a teacher who makes use of appropriate instructional materials to supplement his teaching will help enhance students’ innovative and creative thinking as well as help them become plausibly spontaneous and enthusiastic. Oremeji (2002) supportively asserts that any teacher who takes advantage of these resources and learns to use them correctly will find that they make almost an incalculable contribution to instruction. He further says that instructional materials are of high value in importing information, clarifying difficult and abstract concepts, stimulating thought, sharpening observation, creating interest and satisfying individual difference.
The study is also significant to the educational system and society at large. This is because when teachers solidify their teaching with instructional materials and the learners learn effectively, the knowledge acquired will reflect in the society positively. Students will be able to understand the functioning of the economy, interpret government’s economic policies and activity and perform economically better in the choice of life and work.
UTILIZATION OF IMPROVISED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF BIOLOGY STUDENTS
Originally posted on June 2, 2021 @ 1:03 pm
