Abstract: The study examined Activity Method and Pupils Academic Performance in Basic Science in primary schools. To achieve the objective of the study, two research questions and hypotheses were formulated. Two hundred Basic Science pupils were randomly selected from ten selected public primary schools in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area. Basic Science Performance Test (BSPT) 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 of pupils taught Basic science using activity method of teaching and those taught using conventional method of teaching.
Also, that males scored slightly higher than the females but when subjected to a t-test there was no significant difference in there is a significant difference in the academic performance of pupils taught Basic science using activity method of teaching. Based on the finding of the study, it is recommended that:-Government should provide quality and quantity materials for effective activities during Basic Science classes, because scarcity of some of the materials that cannot be improvised by the teacher, lead to inadequate class activities in schools during Basic Science teaching.
Activity Method and Pupils Academic Performance in Basic Science
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The teaching of basic science in Nigerian primary schools needs to be properly handled. The strategies methods and materials used by teachers to teach and drive home their subject matter at the secondary school level of our education system is in controvertibly a paramour important issue in practical classroom interaction and successful transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the learners.
Basic science as the largest diversity of science has prompted the acquisition of specialized skills and knowledge, enhance some special career opportunities and enable one to live a meaningful life (Coley and Cradler, 2010). Considering its fundamental characteristics and importance, basic science is today a standard subject of instruction at all levels of our educational system. It is the only core science subject at junior secondary school certificate examination (JSSCE) whose study is very relevant to man’s successful living.
Akindele and Araoye (2009) opined that exposure to basic science education offers the learners wide range of relevance to all aspects of life. As an academic subject, basic science is quite popular to all level of Nigerian education; it has a larger relevance to the learners’ environment than any other subject and its prepares the children to the exciting world of science as well as preparing them for the study of higher sciences like Basic Science, Physics and Chemistry.
Basic science involves a lot of activities and these activities, if carried out in an effective manner can develop skills like team-working, communication , design , leadership, project management, problem-solving, reflection and life-long learning in the learners. These activities, if based on the real life experiences, may help pupils to apply the same in their practical life and hence prepare pupils for future life. This activities-based learning environment should be provided by the teacher as a facilitator, motivator, guide and a coach not a sage on the stage which may lead to pupils’ motivation as the motivation of pupils is linked with the activities which pupils engage themselves in activities.
Hake, (2008) argues that pupils’ motivation by engaging them in interactive-activities is an effective and useful method for teaching complex concepts. Hake highlights the importance of different activities related to the concepts being presented to them in the basic level of science as the learner examines learning requirements and thinks how to solve a problem in hand.
The development of the nation depends on the manipulation of materials and the pupils are not expected to learn about the content by memorizing rather the pupils are expected to learn about the process to solve the problem as they go towards the solution of the problem, they also learn about the content. It is against this background that this study attempts to examine the extent to which activity method of teaching could influence secondary school pupils’ performance in basic science.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The act of teaching is fundamentally concerned with passing ideas, skills and attitudes from the teachers to the learner experience has shown that spoken words alone in the communication of ideas are grossly ineffective and inefficient in producing desired learning outcome.
The mass failure recorded in basic science which according to the chief examiners report that out of 1,104,13 pupils who registered for the examination in the First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) in Akwa Ibom state only 571,006 obtained pass in Basic science. (Ekong, 2016) the reason for this could be ascribed for the fact that there are topics in basic science that pose serious problems of comprehension to pupils these topics cannot be taught effectively without relevant instructional method.
Activity Method and Pupils Academic Performance in Basic Science
On the forgoing, scholars like Meitei and Matora (2014) have asserted that the famous saying of Confucius about the success of the pupils’ learning is given below: “Tell me, and I will forget, Show me, and I may remember, Involve me, and I will understand.” According to Chickering & Gamson (2015) “pupils must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves”. This motivated the researcher to carry out this study in order to investigate whether there is any effect of using activity method on pupils’ academic performance in Basic Science in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area.
