IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULT TEACHING-LEARNING TOPIC IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TECHNICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM
IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULT TEACHING-LEARNING TOPIC IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TECHNICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM (A CASE STUDY OF ENUGU EDUCATIONAL ZONE, ENUGU STATE)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
In Nigeria some of the junior secondary schools offer Technical Education as one of the subject contained in the school curriculum. The work is an attempt to identify the difficult teaching –learning topic in junior secondary school Technical Education curriculum in Nigeria.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Some of the junior secondary school Technical Education topics are science related. And according to Eze (2006) said that science is a subjects that has been found to be feared and disliked by a lot of pupils ad students. According to Eze (2000) also asserted that mathematics is core subject in that both primary and secondary school in Nigeria but amazing it has become a masquerade and students fail mostly the science subjects in public examinations, some even drop them without understanding that they are basis of strong foundation in science.
There is no doubt that the teacher real battle is concerned with training of the total child and the application of knowledge in his daily life. The teacher are therefore faced with the problem of resource materials the textbooks. Kamalana (1971) observed that the quality of textbooks suitable for Nigeria school have not improved but the teachers are better placed to select teaching materials from the books that are available to them. Some of the problems confronting science education include: difficulty of attracting and retraining qualified science teachers as well as the inadequate library facilities in science subjects. This is why Agogo (1988) stated that science teacher is a legacy of the past but that it is rather getting worse due to the explosive expansion of the primary and secondary education in Nigeria today. As the thirst for western education grew among Nigerians, more subjects were introduced into the school system. These change were eminent and timely for Nigerians to develop scientifically and technologically. The teachers shortage is a snag to achieving. This objective, Aleyiderio (2000:23) observed that is regrettable that the teaching profession is still saddle with a vast army of professionally unqualified staff and that greater shortages, especially in some crucial subject areas have continued to plague the educational system. Yet no educational system can rise above the quality of its teachers, said in Nwuche and Odo (2007) according to the National policy on Education (2004:8). Education shall continue to be highly reeled in the national development plans because education is the most important instrument of change, any fundamental change the intellectual and social outlook of any society has to be proceeded by an educational revolution. This, the same document, the NPE (2004) give the major aims of secondary education as: (a) Preparation for useful living within the society (b) preparation for higher education. i) It gives the specific objective to include: opportunity for education of a higher level, irrespective of sex, social, status, religious or ethnic background.
The fact that pupils fail to understand science and thereby perform poorly in junior secondary Technical Education does not mean, they are “dullards”, but to some underlying factors which might not be unconnected with the teachers teaching style content and concept difficulty as perceived y the both teachers and pupils. So the interest of the learners towards a particular subject will affect their achievement. Those who develop negative interest in science will invariably perform poorly too. Some pupils even act on wrong information passed to them by their seniors that “science is difficult to learn”. This usually affects the achievement level of the students and this is why Akpan (1986) informed that even though science is skill foreign to African and it should be taught with caution. It means that teachers have to be better oriented about teaching as a profession
1.2 Background of the Study.
Background of this study is to identify the inherent factors and concepts that affect the achievement of students in Technical Education. Such factors include; student’s misconception and preconception in Technical Education, difficult and alternative conception in Technical Education, difficulties with abstract concepts, conceptual changes method at college level. Academic achievement of Technical Education students and influence of study habits, psychological factors on academic achievement.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
This study intends to make known the various abstract concepts in Technical Education and how they affect the academic achievement of students in senior secondary schools. It also stresses the abstract and highly conceptual nature of Technical Education which makes students perceive Technical Education as a difficult subject. The study will also look into the general slow pace of the effects and affective characteristic of students and the academic achievement in Technical Education and how it’s likely to affect the production of teaching profession competency in Technical Education.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study is to identify difficult concepts in Technical Education and their effects on the academic achievement of students’ in secondary schools in Enugu metropolis. This purpose is further down into the following objective for the study:
- To explore the concepts in Technical Education which students perceived as difficult,
- To investigate into the students conceptual difficult and how it affect their academic achievements.
- To examine whether or not the difficult concepts perceived by students influence the students interest towards the study of Technical Education and
- To investigate whether or not the students’ gender differences have significant influence on their perception of difficult concepts in Technical Education.
1.5 Significance of the Study
Over a number of years, many of the difficult areas in Technical Education were subjected to systematic study to identify the point of difficult and to seek common factors among the nature of these difficulties.
The present study however generates data on come concepts perceived as difficult in Technical Education and their effect on academic achievements of students.
The study also generates information on whether or not the difficult concepts perceived by students improved their achievements and ability to solve higher order question in Technical Education. Curriculum designed will utilize this information to enrich the curriculum for teachers’ preparation at secondary level of our educational system.
1.6 Research Questions
The following research questions were raised in the study
- What concepts in Technical Education do students in this study perceived difficult?
- Do the concepts perceive difficult influence the academic achievement of the students?
- Does conceptual difficulty influence the interest of students towards the study of Technical Education?
- Are the significant gender differences in students’ perception of the difficult concepts in Technical Education?
1.7 Hypothesis
The following null hypothesis was formulated in this study.
- There is no significant differences in the students perception of difficult concepts in Technical Education
- Conceptual difficulty has no significant influence on the academic achievement of students
- Difficult concepts in Technical Education have no significant influence on the interest of students towards studying Technical Education.
1.8 Scope and Delimitation of the Study
The outcome of this study may not be hundred percent (100%) valid for generalization because some inhibiting factors that serves as limitation to this study. However, the study has been designed to cover large proportion of students in senior secondary schools, but the timeframe and resources requires were hindrances. To make for a manageable representative sample, the study was limited to the students of some selected secondary schools in Enugu metropolis. This work also covers some concepts proved difficult in physical, inorganic, organic environmental and practical Technical Education.
In view of the possible limitations arising from response and non-response errors, the researcher may not be able to guarantee 100% accuracy of the response.
IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULT TEACHING-LEARNING TOPIC IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TECHNICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM (A CASE STUDY OF ENUGU EDUCATIONAL ZONE, ENUGU STATE)
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IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULT TEACHING-LEARNING TOPIC IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TECHNICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM
IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULT TEACHING-LEARNING TOPIC IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TECHNICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM (A CASE STUDY OF ENUGU EDUCATIONAL ZONE, ENUGU STATE)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
In Nigeria some of the junior secondary schools offer Technical Education as one of the subject contained in the school curriculum. The work is an attempt to identify the difficult teaching –learning topic in junior secondary school Technical Education curriculum in Nigeria.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Some of the junior secondary school Technical Education topics are science related. And according to Eze (2006) said that science is a subjects that has been found to be feared and disliked by a lot of pupils ad students. According to Eze (2000) also asserted that mathematics is core subject in that both primary and secondary school in Nigeria but amazing it has become a masquerade and students fail mostly the science subjects in public examinations, some even drop them without understanding that they are basis of strong foundation in science.
There is no doubt that the teacher real battle is concerned with training of the total child and the application of knowledge in his daily life. The teacher are therefore faced with the problem of resource materials the textbooks. Kamalana (1971) observed that the quality of textbooks suitable for Nigeria school have not improved but the teachers are better placed to select teaching materials from the books that are available to them. Some of the problems confronting science education include: difficulty of attracting and retraining qualified science teachers as well as the inadequate library facilities in science subjects. This is why Agogo (1988) stated that science teacher is a legacy of the past but that it is rather getting worse due to the explosive expansion of the primary and secondary education in Nigeria today. As the thirst for western education grew among Nigerians, more subjects were introduced into the school system. These change were eminent and timely for Nigerians to develop scientifically and technologically. The teachers shortage is a snag to achieving. This objective, Aleyiderio (2000:23) observed that is regrettable that the teaching profession is still saddle with a vast army of professionally unqualified staff and that greater shortages, especially in some crucial subject areas have continued to plague the educational system. Yet no educational system can rise above the quality of its teachers, said in Nwuche and Odo (2007) according to the National policy on Education (2004:8). Education shall continue to be highly reeled in the national development plans because education is the most important instrument of change, any fundamental change the intellectual and social outlook of any society has to be proceeded by an educational revolution. This, the same document, the NPE (2004) give the major aims of secondary education as: (a) Preparation for useful living within the society (b) preparation for higher education. i) It gives the specific objective to include: opportunity for education of a higher level, irrespective of sex, social, status, religious or ethnic background.
The fact that pupils fail to understand science and thereby perform poorly in junior secondary Technical Education does not mean, they are “dullards”, but to some underlying factors which might not be unconnected with the teachers teaching style content and concept difficulty as perceived y the both teachers and pupils. So the interest of the learners towards a particular subject will affect their achievement. Those who develop negative interest in science will invariably perform poorly too. Some pupils even act on wrong information passed to them by their seniors that “science is difficult to learn”. This usually affects the achievement level of the students and this is why Akpan (1986) informed that even though science is skill foreign to African and it should be taught with caution. It means that teachers have to be better oriented about teaching as a profession
1.2 Background of the Study.
Background of this study is to identify the inherent factors and concepts that affect the achievement of students in Technical Education. Such factors include; student’s misconception and preconception in Technical Education, difficult and alternative conception in Technical Education, difficulties with abstract concepts, conceptual changes method at college level. Academic achievement of Technical Education students and influence of study habits, psychological factors on academic achievement.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
This study intends to make known the various abstract concepts in Technical Education and how they affect the academic achievement of students in senior secondary schools. It also stresses the abstract and highly conceptual nature of Technical Education which makes students perceive Technical Education as a difficult subject. The study will also look into the general slow pace of the effects and affective characteristic of students and the academic achievement in Technical Education and how it’s likely to affect the production of teaching profession competency in Technical Education.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study is to identify difficult concepts in Technical Education and their effects on the academic achievement of students’ in secondary schools in Enugu metropolis. This purpose is further down into the following objective for the study:
1.5 Significance of the Study
Over a number of years, many of the difficult areas in Technical Education were subjected to systematic study to identify the point of difficult and to seek common factors among the nature of these difficulties.
The present study however generates data on come concepts perceived as difficult in Technical Education and their effect on academic achievements of students.
The study also generates information on whether or not the difficult concepts perceived by students improved their achievements and ability to solve higher order question in Technical Education. Curriculum designed will utilize this information to enrich the curriculum for teachers’ preparation at secondary level of our educational system.
1.6 Research Questions
The following research questions were raised in the study
1.7 Hypothesis
The following null hypothesis was formulated in this study.
1.8 Scope and Delimitation of the Study
The outcome of this study may not be hundred percent (100%) valid for generalization because some inhibiting factors that serves as limitation to this study. However, the study has been designed to cover large proportion of students in senior secondary schools, but the timeframe and resources requires were hindrances. To make for a manageable representative sample, the study was limited to the students of some selected secondary schools in Enugu metropolis. This work also covers some concepts proved difficult in physical, inorganic, organic environmental and practical Technical Education.
In view of the possible limitations arising from response and non-response errors, the researcher may not be able to guarantee 100% accuracy of the response.
IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULT TEACHING-LEARNING TOPIC IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TECHNICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM (A CASE STUDY OF ENUGU EDUCATIONAL ZONE, ENUGU STATE)
Attached Files