Abstract: The study examined School Facilities Utilization and Students’ Academic Performance in Economics in Secondary Schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area. The population for the study consisted of 2938 Senior Secondary two (SS2) students in 9 public secondary schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area. To achieve the objectives of the study, two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated. One hundred Economics students were randomly selected from four selected public secondary schools in the area. Economics Achievement Test (EAT) was used as the instrument for data collection and independent statistical method was employed in analyzing the data collected.
Findings revealed that there is a significant difference in the academic performance in Economics among students taught using library facilities and those taught without using library facilities and that; there is a significant difference in the academic performance in Economics among students taught using computer laboratory facilities and those taught without using computer laboratory facilities in secondary schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area. Based on the findings of the study it was recommended that library and computer laboratory facilities should be used in teaching concepts in Economics in secondary schools as to improve academic performance of students, interest and participation in the subject; and seminars, workshops and symposium should be organized to train Economics teachers on how to use library and computer laboratory facilities in teaching Economics.
School Facilities Utilization and Students’ Academic Performance in Economics in Secondary Schools
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Schools are established for the purpose of teaching and learning. It is also more important that the teachers and learners are properly accommodated to facilitate the teaching and learning process. There has been an increasing attempt by educationists and psychologists over the years to look for ways of enhancing educational outcome of learners as well as output. Many studies have been carried out to show that among other things, school facilities enhance teaching and learning effectiveness in social sciences.
Ekanem (2011) has shown that the school facilities assist teachers in making their lessons explicit to learners. Eneh and Nkang (2011) in postulation theory of cognitive development have shown that learners in schools function at the operational stage of mental development, one of the characteristics of the students at this stage of development is that they hardly remember what they learn except taught in concrete form. It is when learning experiences are made in concrete form that learners can remember what they learn and one way of making learning experiences concrete is by teaching the students with school facilities such as, library, computer laboratory and sporting facilities among others.
Akinfolarin (2013) identified school facilities as the major factor contributing to the teaching and learning effectiveness in the school system. These include equipped laboratories and libraries. Different studies conducted by Ayodele (2010) and Vandiver (2011) showed that a positive relationship exists between utilization of facilities in schools and academic performance of students. Similarly, Miller (2012) asserted that the teaching of social sciences could be made easy and interesting for students if the facilities such as laboratory facilities and library facilities in the school are available and utilized in the teaching and learning process. It is also noted that a well prepared instruction could be destroyed by non-utilization or improper utilization of school facilities by the teachers.
According to Boniface (2012) utilization of computer laboratory and library facilities in teaching assists the teachers as the manager of the instructional process in the arrangement of the mechanics of the presentation and also in planning the whole instructional process and limited or completely absence of these facilities could pose a serious problem in the teaching of social sciences. Again few available ones are sometimes not utilized in the teaching-learning process making teaching to be in effective.
It will be against this background that it will becomes necessary to investigate the extent to which school facilities such as laboratory and library facilities influence the academic performance of students of Economics in secondary schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area.
School Facilities Utilization and Students’ Academic Performance in Economics in Secondary Schools
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The act of teaching is fundamentally concerned with parsing 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 ineffective and inefficient in producing desired learning outcomes.
Every year, when the results of public examinations are released, there has been mass failure in Economics. On the fore-going scholars like Ekong (2014) have emphasized that 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 question is could the mass failure be attributed to lack of school facilities to be used by teachers during the teaching and learning process? And could the utilization of library facilities and computer laboratory in schools influence the academic performance of students in Economics. Finding answers to these questions and many more will summarizes the entire problem of this study.
