EFFECT OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE INSTRUCTION ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

This study was carried out to empirically determine whether students who become aware of instructional objectives of agricultural science instruction perform significantly better in a post test on subject matter covered by the objectives than students who are unaware of the instructional objectives. Five research questions were developed and answered in consonance with the purposes of the study. Five null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance and 1 and 350 degrees of freedom. Quasi- experimental design  was  adopted  for  the  study  using  non equivalent control groups design involving pre-test, post-test design. The instrument used for data collection was Agricultural Science Achievement Test (ASAT) and lesson plan. Findings  from   the   study   indicated  that   there   was   no significant difference in the mean pretest score between the experimental and control groups. This implies that the two groups had the same initial academic abilities. Students who had prior knowledge of specific objectives of agricultural science scored higher in post-test than those who had no prior knowledge of specific objectives. The treatment therefore, had a positive effect on the experimental group result in an increased academic gain. It was therefore recommended that Nigerian Educational Research and Development council (NERDC) should consider review of curriculum for agricultural science with a view to always expose students to specific objectives before agricultural science instruction. Workshops conferences and seminars should be organized by Ministries of Education and related government agencies to enlighten agricultural science teachers and improve their knowledge on how   to   expose   students   to   specific   objectives   before instruction.

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Agriculture is  one  of  the core subjects offered at  the senior secondary school level in Nigeria. Agriculture, according to Ifeanyieze (2002) is an art and science of raising crops and animals as well as processing and marketing of agricultural products, for  man  and  industrial uses.    The  author  went further to state that agriculture covers: Cultivation of land to produce crops, Raising animals for meat, milk and other purposes, Processing of agricultural products (plants and animal produce), Storage and Marketing of these products. Akinsanmi (1999) opined that agriculture covers not only the cultivation of the soil and the feeding and management of crops and  livestock but also the  preparation of  plant and animal products for use by man and the disposal of these products by marketing.

The teaching and learning of agricultural subject matter to students is termed agricultural education.   The philosophy of   agricultural  education   is   in   line   with   the   National

philosophy on agriculture for self reliance.  This may explain why the provision of teachers, talented with a balanced approach between theory and practice of agriculture for academic and occupational pursuits is of paramount importance. The National curriculum on agriculture for senior secondary schools (Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), (2007) stated that the senior secondary school agricultural science curriculum is desired to address the challenges of the philosophy of agricultural education with the National philosophy on agriculture.   The objectives of agricultural education at the secondary school level according FRN, (2007) include the following:

–       to afford students the opportunity to acquire skills to earn a living

–       to introduce interested students to occupational entry level in agriculture;

–       to develop the interest of the secondary school students in soil conservation and conservation of some other natural resources;

–       and to teach secondary school students how to produce and market farm commodities profitably.

The National curriculum on Agriculture as stated above outlined the following branches of curriculum emphasis in agriculture; general agriculture, crop science, animal science, agricultural economics and extension, soil science and agricultural engineering.

The same document (FGN, 2007) went further to state the following as among the objectives to be achieved in teaching agriculture at senior secondary level of education: to have  in  depth  knowledge  of  the  limitation  of  land  tenure system operation in a given locality; to discuss the different farming systems which are practiced in a given country; to explain the different methods of conserving and managing soil; to identify   different farm machineries, uses and their maintenance operations; to explain the governments role in agricultural development and to identify the different irrigation methods operating in a given locality among others.

To   achieve   the   above   stated   objectives   of agricultural  education  and  general  agriculture,  good

agricultural science  instruction  should  be  encouraged and pursued.

An instruction is the act of educating, training and moulding the character and attitude of an individual towards a desired goal.    Balough, Chigwong, Dakun, Jacob and Odewumi (2004) stressed that  the  act  of  “instruction is  a highly skilled professional activity which involves curriculum design, exposition of information and knowledge through diversified teaching strategies and use of variety of instructional aids to get the message across to the learner”. The complexity of  instruction is  indicative of the fact that instruction should not be given by anybody and as such prospective teachers should be given adequate theoretical and practical preparation before being pushed into the classroom to fumble with the realities of actual teaching experiences.

A good teacher should, therefore, plan for a good lesson by stating good instructional objectives which should be achieved at the end of the lesson.  To achieve the objectives of the lesson at the end of a successful classroom instruction, different  instructional  approaches  should  be  used  by  the

teachers. The foregoing is also applicable to the teachers of agriculture.

Onwuka (2000) stated that instructional objectives are those objectives which the learners should attain by the time they complete any given instruction.  Falk (1999) in his own opinion, stressed that instructional objectives are what a successful learner should be able to do at the end of any segment of instruction.     The author further noted that educational objectives have been variously referred to with such nomenclature as behavioural, specific, performance, learning, enabling as well as terminal objectives.

Anderson and Frenud in Anigbakpu (2001) noted that it is  only  when  objectives are  behaviourally stated  that  it  is possible to objectively evaluate the outcome of instruction. This by implication highlights the need to state the objectives in observable terms.   It is now imperative that instructional objectives are means of achieving accurate measurement of instructional outcome as well serve as a guide for preparation of effective instruction by teachers. In stating the instructional objectives,  teachers  should  make  sure  that  the  terminal

objectives must be behaviourally stated; the audience has to be identified; the condition under which the terminal behaviours is  expected to occur has to be  stated and the degree of performance for accepting the terminal behaviour has to be set.  Stating good instructional objectives is indeed one of the first steps in planning a good lesson.

Olaitan (2003) observed that stating good instructional objectives is of great importance in enhancing instruction.  He stated that good instructional objectives guides classroom activities – both of the teacher and the students, instructional content, media and other related activities necessary for instruction.

Olaitan and Agusiobo (1991) noted the following as the importance of stating good instructional objectives;

It helps to enhance effective teaching and learning through the logical arrangement of what to teach;

It guides the teacher in arranging his teaching in a sequential manner to help the learner; and recognizes the individual differences of the learner as well as helps to make provision for it; It encourages the learner to develop his interests, abilities and capabilities to optimum level at his own paces and helps the teacher to identify  areas  within  a  course  where

learners are having difficulties and more emphasis is required. Moreover, it gives room for easy assessment of learning outcomes and teachers teaching effectiveness. (P.42)

Bishop (2000) suggested that there is need to adopt certain teaching methods, approaches and techniques for the achievement of the educational goals.  The teaching methods and approaches according to him are as follows;  Lecture or telling methods of teaching, Discussion method, project method, Exploration (inquiry, Discovery, Lab/activities), Question and answers, text book method and guided discovery method among others. Apart from the methods so enumerated above, other teaching techniques have been found to improve agricultural sciences instruction (Olaitan, 2003). Such techniques according to the author includes; use of example, demonstration and planned repetition. It has been discovered that the above approaches can improve students performance (Olaitan, 2003).

Mkpa (2001) used project method from the teaching methods, to determine the effect of behavioural objectives on achievement and retention in History and found a significant

difference in their mean achievements in favour of those exposed to behavioural objectives in history before actual classroom  instruction.  Anigbakpu  (2001)  also  studied  the effect of prior knowledge of instructional objectives by pupils on their cognitive achievement in primary science and found out  a  significant  difference  in  their  mean  achievement  in favour of the pupils who have prior knowledge of instructional objectives in primary science.

Thornburg (2005) investigated the effectiveness of prior exposure to performance objective as a technique for improvement of students recall and retention in a fourth grade vocational Fine and applied Arts course.     He found no significant difference between those groups exposed to behavioural objectives and those groups not exposed to behavioural objectives on either immediate post-test scores or retention test scores obtained after a thirty day interval.

There exist differences in the views of the authors above on whether exposure to knowledge of specific objectives, can improve the academic achievement of students in art subjects, sciences  and  vocational  subjects.  Could  the  situation  of

exposing students to behavioural objectives before instruction improve the students performance in agriculture? There is the need for such investigation to determine the effect on students performance and for a decision to be taken in that regard especially in a different environment and culture.

Statement of the Problem

Evidence (WAEC Examiner Report, 2007) has shown that (achievement) performance in agricultural science examinations has been progressively poor.  Several authorities Onu (2006) and Ugwu (2007), have blamed the poor performance on teaching procedures and techniques adopted by teachers of agriculture in teaching the subject.   In other areas of learning, a number of instructional procedures or strategies have been identified to facilitate learning and improve students performance.  Such approaches include the debate on whether providing learners with statements of instructional  objectives  before  the  actual  classroom instruction can facilitate learning and improve student academic performance.  Mkpa (2001) and Anigbankpu (2001) have conducted research studies to investigate the possibility

of enhancing students learning outcomes of subject matters by providing them with the instructional objectives covering the subject matter before actual classroom instruction and found that such technique improves students performance in history and  primary  science  respectively.  Thornburg (2005)  in  his writings suggested that a number of pre-instructional procedures cannot facilitate learning, and investigated the effectiveness of prior exposure to performance objectives as a technique for improvement of students recall and retention in a fourth grade vocational Fine and applied Arts course.   He found no significant difference in the students performance unlike the study by Mkpa, (2001) and Anigbaukpu, (2001). Based on the findings of such studies, it is difficult to advance a precise statement of the effect of providing learners with instructional objectives prior to instruction on their learning of the subject matter covered by the objectives.   It is therefore necessary that more research studies be carried out in various subject areas like agriculture to investigatage the effectiveness of prior knowledge in instructional objectives by learners in facilitating their learning abilities of the subject matter covered

by the objectives in secondary school agriculture for a precise statement on the effects on learning of providing learners with instructional objectives prior to instruction to be made. Such evidence is necessary from different environment and cultures. Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to empirically determine  whether  students  who  become  aware  of instructional objectives of agricultural science instruction perform significantly better in a post test on material covered by the objectives than students who are unaware of the instructional objectives.

Specifically, this study sought to:

1.     Determine the academic achievement scores of students taught agricultural science when exposed to instructional objective before  instruction and  when  not  exposed to instructional objectives of the lesson during agricultural science instruction.

2.     Determine  if  gender  of  students  can  influence  the performance  of  students  through  pre  knowledge  of

instructional objectives before instruction on agricultural science instruction.

3.     To compare the level of retention of learning of boys and girls taught agricultural science if the students had prior knowledge of specific objective before instruction (as instructional approach) or not exposed to specific objectives before instruction on agricultural science lesson.

4.     Determine  the  interaction  effect  of  gender  and  the instructional approach on students academic achievement in agricultural science.

5.     Determine  the  interaction  effect  of  gender  and  the instructional approach on students level of retention of concepts in agricultural science.

Significance of the Study

The findings of  this  study would  be  beneficial to the following; teachers of agriculture, curriculum planners, students and administrators.

The findings of this study would be of importance to the teachers of agriculture in that the finding of the study would

assist agricultural science teachers to appreciate the need to adopt suitable instructional methods in teaching agricultural science   in   secondary   schools.   It   would   also   provide agricultural science teachers an alternative method of teaching agricultural science, for easier understanding by students.

Also, the findings of this study would be of great importance to the curriculum planner, because they would develop curriculum that would incorporate new teaching techniques that would facilitate learning by the students.

Moreso, the findings of this study would be useful to the students of agricultural science because it would help them to be active in the classroom and participate actively. It would also  improve  academic  performance of  agricultural science students.

Furthermore, the findings of this study would be of great value to administrators because the result of the study would help them in organizing conferences, workshops and seminars on new innovations in teaching learning.

Research Questions

The  following  research  questions  were  formulated  to guide the study:

1.     What are the mean achievement scores of students who had prior knowledge of specific objectives of agricultural science instruction and those taught agricultural science without exposing them to specific objectives before agricultural science instruction?

2.     What  are  the  mean  performance of  male  and  female students who had prior knowledge of specific objectives before instruction on agricultural science instruction?

3.     What are the comparative mean scores of boys and girls taught agricultural science when specific objectives were known before instruction and when the specific objective of lesson were not known in the test for retention of learning?

4.     What is the interaction effect of gender and instructional techniques on students mean achievement in agricultural science?

5.     What  interaction  effect  has  gender  and  instructional techniques on students mean retention of learning in agricultural science instruction?

Hypotheses

The  following hypotheses were  tested at  0.05  level of significance

HO1 There is no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students who had prior knowledge of specific objectives of agricultural science instruction and those taught agricultural science without exposing them  to  specific  objectives  before  agricultural science instruction.

HO2 There is no significant difference between the mean performance of male and female students who had prior knowledge of specific objectives before instruction on agricultural science instruction.

HO3 There is no significant difference between the mean scores of  boys  and  girls  taught  agricultural  science  when specific  objectives were  known  before  instruction and

when the specific objectives of lesson were not known in the test for retention of learning.

HO4   There  is  no  interaction  effect  of  treatment  given  to students taught with instructional techniques and their gender with respect to their mean scores in agricultural science achievement test.

HO5   There  is  no  interaction  effect  of  treatment  given  to students taught with instructional techniques and their mean scores in agricultural science retention of learning test.

Scope of the Study

This study is restricted to Obollo-Afor Education Zone of Enugu State. It focused principally on effect of prior knowledge of specific objective of agricultural science instruction on students’ academic performance.

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