ABSTRACT: The study investigated Utilization of Instructional Materials and Pupils Academic Performance in Social Studies in Primary Schools in the study area. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted in the study. Two research questions and two hypotheses were postulated to guide the study. Two hundred (200) respondents formed the sampled size of the study. The Social studies Achievement Test (SSAT) was the instrument for data collection. Findings revealed that there is a significant difference in academic performance of pupils taught using charts and word Puzzle and those taught without the utilization of charts and word Puzzle in Social studies in primary schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that teachers should use charts and word Puzzle instructional materials in the teaching of Social studies as this will help to arouse Primary school pupils’ interest towards the learning of Social studies.
Utilization of Instructional Materials and Pupils Academic Performance in Social Studies in Primary Schools
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Teaching and learning materials are crucial to any successful teaching and learning process worldwide. This is because these resources aid the teacher to effectively transfer the content to the preschool learner, Karaka (2013) and Fabian (2015). In Nigeria, primary schools are the recipient of the innocent innate children as they transit from home to school. As they move to school, they need to adapt to the new environment which they must meet a conducive atmosphere right from home to school.
Among the fears which tend to enhance children to like schooling are teaching and learning materials where children learn new experiences (Rolleston, 2012). These materials tend to assist children to open up in many areas which lead to holistic learning. He noted that when children are exposed to various teaching and learning resources, they tend to be active and involved in the learning process. Therefore it is worth noting that preschool teachers can testify that teaching become easier with such materials, Mwonga and Wanyama (2012).
Learning and teaching is the concern of a trained teacher but learning is a complex process. It can however be defined as a change in disposition, a relatively change in behaviour over-time and this is brought about by experience. Learning can occur as a result of newly acquired skill, knowledge, perception, facts, principles, new information at hand (Adeyanju, 2012). According to Agun (2013), learning can be reinforced by the teacher with instructional materials of different variety because these learning aids stimulate, motivate as well as capture learner’s attention for a while during the instructional process.
Moreover, instructional materials refer to the human and non-human materials and facilities that can be used to ease, encourage, improve and promote teaching and learning activities. The vile of instructional materials in teaching includes: making instruction more powerful and in mediate, speeding up learning by saving time through scientific mode of instruction, inspiring pupils to be curious in learning, serving as a source of finding answers to questions. It helps to raise learning from verbalization to practical aspect of teaching and learning, makes teaching and learning interesting, easy and amusing, it brings clarity and creates recognition that allow pupils have a realistic hand and a total knowledge of the subject and also improve the competence of learners and makes learning more meaningful to pupils.
Kay (2008), opined that instructional materials stimulate the pupils’ desire to learn. It makes learning available to a wider audience, controls the pace of learning, promotes better understanding and helps to overcome physical difficulties in presenting the subject content.
In a study by Okunrotifa (2007) examples of instructional materials to include visual aids, audio aids, audio-visual aids, real objects and many others. The visual aids are designed materials that may be locally made or commercially produced. They come in form of wall charts, illustrated pictures, pictorial materials, puppets and models. There are also audio-visual aids. These are teaching machines like radio, television and all sorts of projectors with sound attributes.
Akanbi (2012) specifically notes that whenever teachers teach with some instructional materials, their pupils get more stimulated because the learning aids used make the learners (pupils) to become more attentive. In addition, pupils positive attitude towards the subject generate more interest for the lesson the teacher teaches. As a result, pupils participate better in class activity. This in-turn enhanced academic performance of pupils in class in primary school.
In the opinion of Agun (2013), there is need for teachers to utilize instructional materials (visual, audio and audio-visual) for effective delivery of lessons effectively in the classroom especially in Primary classroom. Consequently, the decline in economy of the country makes it very important that teachers should utilize instructional materials especially resources available within the local environment to teach. This is because most government educational institutions cannot afford to provide imported materials; hence, there is need for teachers and their pupils to also improvise teaching and learning resources. This can enhance effective teaching and learning thus improves academic performance of pupils in any subject.
Audio-visuals mean something related to sound and visual or light. They include printed materials and their audio equipment. Audio-visual material can be categorized into audio instructional materials and visual materials. Audio include Radio, Audio tape/cassette, Compact Disc, Telephone, etc. Visual material can be identified by grouping them into two ways 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional projectiles and non-projectiles.
Audio-visuals are a combination of audio media packages and even computer programmes. Some cannot be treated without the equipment for using them as projectors, televisions, receiver, microreader, record player, photocopying machine, camera with accessories etc. They can also exist in some other forms as slides of computer screens, down leading of computer search, interactive video disc which requires the image storage medium, a monitor or receiving inputs. Its use as instructional materials for Primary children helps to retain interest of the learners during the delivery of lessons in the classroom (Green and Brain, 2015).
However, as put forward by Fred, (2014) visual such as charts, textbooks, pictorials, models and graph instructional materials when utilize in teaching children makes teaching/learning relatively cheaper than the imported or standard resources, because they are easily available for use by teachers. With these background and more, the study examine the utilization of instructional materials and pupils academic performance in social studies in Primary schools.
Utilization of Instructional Materials and Pupils Academic Performance in Social Studies in Primary Schools
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Pupils’ continuous poor achievement in social studies is a persisting problem and concern to parents, government, stakeholders and teachers. Thus, it has been described over the years there exist the problem of pupils’ low achievement in public schools. It is observed that pupils fail because they lack skills (writing and reading skills) to respond to test items in social studies. These skills could only be imparted through effective teaching and the use of instructional materials. This raises a question in the researcher’s mind, could the use of instructional materials influence the academic performance of pupils in primary schools?
This motivated the researcher to investigate the influence of utilization of instructional materials on pupils’ academic performance in social studies in Primary schools. This will help in finding solution to the problem of persistent failure in the subject.
