ABSTRACT: The main purpose of the study was to examine Instructional Techniques and Academic Achievement in Home Economics in Secondary Schools in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area. To this end, the work provided the background of the study through the detailed introduction offered in chapter one, three research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study, purposes and significance of the study were stated. Relevant terms were defined for clear understanding of terms. A detailed literature review was overview at developing appreciation on the previous study done in this area. Its essence was to show how the instructional techniques. On students’ academic achievement of students in Home Economics is important in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area. A structured achievement test was used as an instrument for data collection from a chosen population and specific sample size.
The study conducted an analysis of the responses from the instrument using independent t-test method of data analysis. The results of the findings indicated that there is a significance between the effect of instructional techniques academic achievement of students in Home Economics in Junior Secondary Schools since the calculated t-value was greater than the critical value of 1.98 at 0.05 level of significance under 118 degree of freedom.
Instructional Techniques and Academic Achievement in Home Economics in Secondary Schools
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Stakeholders all over the world strike for quality education of children. First of all, there is a need to define quality education so that one can differentiate it from less-preferred education. Similarly, there are many educators and researchers who have debated that there are some school variables which influence the students’ achievement in particular. According to Coleman (2003), minimal role is played by the schools as far as the students achievement is concerned because it is independent of their background as well as societal factors. In the other hand, a few researchers suggest that factors like teaching and instructional techniques, class size and space (Glass 2001), the teachers qualification (Ferguson 2004), the schools size and space (Haller, 2004), and a few more variables play a vital role in what the students learn in general.
Research points out that quality instructional techniques is tend to necessary be student centered. It aims to help most and for all students learning. Therefore, focus should not only be pedagogical skills, but also leaning environment that must address the students’ personal needs. Students should also be aware as to why they are working so that they are able to relate to other students and receive help it required. As a result, great emphasis has been laid on “teaching/instructional techniques” by many educators. In the same way, there is a need of elaborating the term “teaching/instructional technique”. Globalization has influenced each and everyone’s life quality, successful and effective leaning actually depends on several factors e.g. calculability and selection of instructional resources, staffing quality, nature and its level, teachers’ teaching methods, professional development implication us a system, and also the supports of parents and administration.
Therefore, an instructional technique along with teachers’ pedagogical skills is important for quality education (Johnson, 2007). According to Alton-lee (2004), the teachers should align their professional experiences with their teaching practices and pedagogical in order to benefit their students. Agreeing to Alton-lee, these days one of the major roles of the teachers is to ensure that the content delivered has achieved the learning objectives, which can be considered a key challenge. Despite the years of teaching experience, there is always a room for improvement and innovation for the teachers to adopt as per their requirement. Demands and needs change time to time so the teachers should also undergo professional and personal development to benefit both, the students and themselves as well, both are the learners. There is no age limit for leaning, it depends on pointiest and awareness only.
All the educationist are well familiar with the fact that all the learners have a different learning style, whereas the problem lies in catering to all of them with an effective teaching strategy. Students learn in different way as per their capabilities, some learn by seeing, hearing, reflecting, modeling, reasoning and drawing etc (Felder, 1998). With an agreement to Felder, similarly there are different teaching styles as well. Some give lectures, some discuss the topic, some make their students work in groups, some use technology, some use textbooks and many more. But the main purpose behind these efforts is to help students grasp content knowledge and align them with the real world scenario.
Teaching strategies vary from one age group to another. None of the method is the best. It depends on the leaning style of students. Primary pupils take more interest in the activities performed in the class. In-class exercise work the best for this age group. Visual and auditory aids improve leaning and tertiary levels, lectures, projects, field work, group exercises and peer reaching are the most suitable strategies to help them.
Home economics can also be referred as domestic science or home science is a field of study that deals with the relationship between individuals, families, communities, and the environment in which they live. It has a strong his tonic relationship to the field of human ecology and since the 1960s a number of university level home economic programs have been renamed human ecology. It very important subject in secondary school curriculum and in human life (Lee, 2009).
Therefore, great emphasis has been laid on the teachers to use effective teaching strategies and method for improved learning by many researchers and educationist but on the other hand, one must also understand that the amount of students’ learning in a classroom also depends on their prior preparation. Teachers should prepare mental set through rapport with students before they start teaching. With the passage of time, the importance of instructors’ teaching style is being spread and the teachers are taking initiative to improve their teaching strategies for students’ improved learning by getting enrolled in some programmes while help their reflect upon their teaching practice and improving them as per requirements. With these, the study would go a long way to look at the teaching/instructional techniques and its effects on academic achievement of students in home economics.
Instructional Techniques and Academic Achievement in Home Economics in Secondary Schools
1.2 Statement of Problem
Poor academic performance of students on home economics and, food and nutrition increases yearly (WAEC, 2010). Most of the teacher think that they can improve their reaching practices through developing sound knowledge of content that needs to be taught and delivered (Hill and Crevola, 2003). This is a major drawback in many schools. The teachers lose focus on their teaching strategies and they assume that the learners face difficulties because the content (what needs to be taught and delivered) is complicated or not of their interest, instead of realizing the fact that the teaching strategy (how to reach and deliver) should be more effective and as per their requirement and better learning opportunity for the students.
According to Deppeler (2000), it is a fact that the teachers hardly get any time to reflect on their daily practices. They believe that delivering the content which has been planned for a specific day and subject is the basic necessity, neglecting all the teaching strategies and the fact that how to teach (method) determines the extent to which the learners will achieve what (content) is been taught. Also, some teachers are least bothered about knowing if the students learned or it was impossible for a student to grasp the basic concept even, and it is out of question for them (teachers).
Originally posted on October 24, 2021 @ 7:47 pm
