Influence of visual materials utilization on academic performance of students
ABSTRACT
The study was carried out to examine the Influence of Visual Materials Utilization on Academic Performance of students in secondary school students. Two research hypotheses were set to guide the study. The population of the study consist of three thousand forth two students constituted the population for the study. A sample size of two hundred (350) students was selected for the study. The study adopted quasi-experimental design was employed in the study. The main instrument for data collection in the study was Biology performance Test (BPT). The data generated was analyzed using independent T-test. The results showed that visual materials and utilization influences the students’ academic performance of Biology in the area of study.
Influence of visual materials utilization on academic performance of students
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Visual communication is the most effective way of passing information because the human mind possesses things in image (Brown, 2017). Visual aids/materials arouse the interest of learners and help the teacher to explain the concept easily.
Visual instructional resources are of very vital to the teaching of any subject in the school curriculum. It has been defined as learning resources associated with objects which are visible to learners, used to impact or help in a learning activity (Iynnade 2014 as cited in Chong 2016). Learning involves the acquisition of new knowledge, ideas skills, values and experience which enables the individual to modify his/her actions. Learning is a gradual process and presenting learning concepts to learners must be done to appeal to students of varied interest and abilities, moving from known to
the unknown and encouraging active class participation (Abdu-Raheem 2016 as cited in Akpan and Onoh 2017). For learning to be effective, there is need for the utilization of education inputs.
These materials are of great benefits to the teachers as it makes instructions very easy and help to make learning objectives clearer to the learners (Onagilgha and Nnajiofor, 2016). Visual materials are resources capable of captivating students’ interest, stimulating their desire in learning and making them participates in the lesson effectively. (Matthew and Almat 2013 as cited in Kaswa 2015), asserted that visual materials helps in making learning concrete and real and allow the students to participate in the learning process. Example of visual materials are television, instructional projectors, charts, images real object etc. are designed to impact information to students in the educational process. According to Nsa, (2013) as stated in Nsa and Udo 2013); that development of cognitive and psycho-productive competence in learners has a lot to do with utilization of visual materials.
The utilization of visual materials plays an important role in the teaching and learning process an equally improves the academic performed of the students. With the use of charts projectors, pictures chalkboard filmstrips among other are major factors for academic success.
Teachers are expected to device ways of improving the interest and achievement in science and science-related disciplines. No nation can afford to neglect science education at any level of education and hope to thrive in any field of human endeavour. Science education is vital for useful living in any society. It is at the Centre for producing resources necessary for socioeconomic, scientific and technological development needed for advancement of any nation (Olatoye & Adekoya, 2017).
The utilization of instructional materials are in exhaustible in line with the teachers level of creativity and resourcefulness. Visual learning aids are designed to facilitate learning process. The effectiveness of the visual information is concerned with cognitive learning and retention more so, the performances criteria of visual learning materials are mainly focused on comprehension retention and recall (Fidanboyil 2014, as cited in Kasilia and Mulwa and Kamwaria 2017) also the use of visual materials aids in teaching cam motivated the students and re-enforce the subject content.
There are many different types of instructional materials available these days, we have Visual aids, Audio aids and Audio-visual aids. Visual aids are the ones that appeal to the sense of vision. Examples are pictures, photos, models and charts. Audio aids involve the sense of hearing example of such aids are: radio, tape recorders, audio files and mp3.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The continuous record of students’ poor attitudes towards the study of Biology is a serious problem in the Nigeria educational system, most especially at the secondary school level. Many factors have been blame for this among them is unavailability and utilization of instructional materials in the teaching of Biology. It has become a great concern for researchers, educators and all educational stake-holders over the years.
The act of teaching is fundamentally concerned with passing ideas, skills and attitude from the teacher to the learner. From the researchers’ experience as students, it can be stated that spoken word alone in the communication of ideas is grossly inadequate for learning outcomes. It was on this background that t he researcher was interested to carry out the research in other to determine whether the utilization of visual materials influence the academic performance of students in biology.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The study sought investigates visual material utilization and academic performance of students in Biology. To achieve the above general purpose, the study specifically sought to:
- Examined the difference in the academic performance of students when instructional charts are utilized in the teaching of Biology.
- Determine the difference in the academic performance of students when instructional realia are utilized in the teaching of Biology.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The study on the effects of using visual materials utilization on student’s academic performance in Biology in secondary schools was expected to be of significance to the following:
The study will help young academicians in the field of education by finding research gaps by conducting more researches in field of education.
Also the study will help the government understand and so plan in advance in relation to the provision of visual materials in public secondary schools.
The study will increase awareness of the magnitudes of the problem by showing suggestions on how to improve visual materials in public Secondary Schools.
Finally it was further expected that the concerned authorities at district, regional and national level would address the problem seriously by providing adequate teaching and learning materials such as science apparatus to community secondary schools in order to achieve quality education.
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study:
- There is no significant difference in academic performance of students taught Biology with instructional chart from those taught Biology without instructional charts.
- There is no significant difference in academic performance of students taught biology with instructional realia from those taught biology without instructional realia.
Influence of visual materials utilization on academic performance of students
1.6 Limitation of the Study
The limitations for this work were that of time duration since the period of the research was during the researcher’s engagement in other academic work. Also, lack of finance as well as lack of reference materials was also the challenges that were faced in this study.
1.7 Delimitation of the Study
There are many factors affecting the academic performance of students in Biology in secondary schools, but this research work was restricted to visual materials utilization and academic performance of students in Biology in public secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area.
1.8 Definitions of terms
The following terms were defined as used in the study.
Visual materials: there are materials used in the teaching process that helps learners to see clearly the concept been taught.
Academic performance: this refers to the outcome of learning activities in the school system. In this study, it refers to student scores or grades in Biology test or examination.
Students: They are those who are taught by the teacher and they constitute a greater number of users.
Biology: Is the study of life (plants and animals).
Realia: These are real objects from real life used to improve students understanding of the concepts taught in the classroom.
