EFFECT OF VISUAL INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS IN SOCIAL STUDIES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Educational instructional resources are the asset which facilitate the attainment of educational objectives and make the process of teaching and learning smooth and effective at the school level. These instructional resources include people, resources, finance, time and so on (Ndayelechi, 2013). Visual instructional resources are any-thing that helps the teacher to promote teaching and learning activities in social studies.They include printed resources, pictures, diagram, maps and charts, filmstrips and slides, pencils, pen, cartoons, model and anythingotherthan can aid the teacher’s effectiveness (Fageyinbo, 2004). Visual instructional resources are educational input of vital importance to the teaching of any subject in the school curriculum. Appreciation of visual instructional resources would help the teacher and learner to achieve specific objectives. Okam, (2007) was of the opinion that educators must be prepared to display the function in terms of helping them to develop readiness for using these resources and encouraging appropriate learner participation in the use of these resources during classroom work. Many teachers of Social Studies are not used to visual instructional resources in their teaching and learning. Jibrin, (2013) Associated this to poor method of teaching, improper use of visual instructional resources, rote learning and lack of proper knowledge and skills of classroom instruction. Visual aids will not be of much use in the classroom unless teachers take care to use them to teach the learners, because they help learners to promote greater understanding of the experience. Students poor academic performance may persist if appropriate measures, such as, integrating of visual instructional resources in junior secondary schools are not made. Social Studies as a school subject has over the years occupied an important position in the school curriculum. The Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria categorized Social Studies as one of the core subjects in Junior Secondary School curriculum (National; Policy on Education, 2004). The subject has been recognized as effective tool for citizenship education in Nigeria. It is also a subject that equips the learners with critical skills to attempt to tackle problems of man. The Federal Ministry of Education’s (2007) Nine Year Basis Education Curriculum for Social Studies has overall objectives of enabling students to develop a sense of solidarity and sharing based on a sense of security in one’s own identity; inculcate the right type of values and develop the capability to recognize the many dimensions of being human in different cultural and social contexts. Social Studies education is very important in transforming the teachers and the students to acquire desirable attitude, wider experience, and unique methodology, to be useful member in the society.

One of the methods of teaching Social Studies is lecture technique where the teacher talks while students listen and take notes. Lecture is usually a formal talk prepared and organized by the teacher (Harry, 2004). Lecture techniques are used in presenting information and facts to students. The procedure is simple, the teacher does most of the talking and students listen. The students are passive listeners. It is agreed, however, that in order for lecturing to be effective, there must be communication between the teacher and students. The teacher should organize his/her lecture in such a way that students take an active role in the learning process. In lecture technique students are not given opportunity to participate and demonstrate what they have learnt.

Visual instructional resources can be seen as the resources necessary to aid the teacher using lecture method and help students to learn effectively. Visual resources are all teaching and learning resources that appeal mainly to the sense of sight or vision, which are known as visual instructional resources (N.T.I, 2000). Visual instructional resources in the teaching and learning process are anything that can serve as an object of stimulus for students. Visual resources form a very important part of the method of teaching in our junior secondary schools. studies have been carried out on the relevance of visual resources for teaching and learning situation; it has been accepted that where it has been applied, learning has become greatly stimulated and students appear to have developed keen interest in teaching learning process.

The National Policy on Education (2004) enunciated that in accepting education as instrument of change, it has set up, among other things on education resource centre where emphasis is paid to visual aids. It is emphasized that, a teaching plan is incomplete without showing comprehensive form of visual aid to be used. Social Studies which is interested in everything about man in relation to all aspects of his environment relies on instructional resources. The subject incorporates all aspects of reforms and innovations geared towards the sustenance of man’s environment, which can be illustrated such visual instructional resources are to transmit information in the teaching and learning process, and Students learn more and retain better what they have been taught and saw with visual instructional resources. There are several inherent advantages in the use of visual instructional resources in teaching and learning Social Studies. First, they help to promote and improve the effectiveness of communication of ideas by the teacher to the learners. Second, they enable the learners to learn through more than one sense thereby making learning more useful and permanent. Third, they also aids students with defects and minimize teacher’s domination of the lesson. Fourth, they serve as firsthand information to the learners(Abdullahi, 1997). They also encourage active participation among learners. Visual aids can also promote student – student interaction, teacher-student interaction. Visual aids also save teaching time as they require short time to present large students. They can be used to stimulate student questions.

Visual resources ensure the application of classroom oriented communication techniques.

In spite of the objectives and benefit of Social Studies in the school curriculum, the teaching of the subject is characterized with conventional method of teaching which always lead to ineffective learning and poor attitude of students toward the subject (Abdullahi, 1997). It was assumed by most teachersthat Social Studies pedagogy does not require any visual resources for illustration purposes.As long as many teachers are not utilizing teaching aids in classroom, surely students’ poor academic performance would persist and educational objectives will not be achieved. Visual instructional resources are essential at all levels of education. In the light of this, research intends to ascertain the effects of visual instructional resources in teaching of Social Studies education in Junior Secondary Schools in Yobe State. This is with the view to disclose and open up the relevance of visual resource in teaching and learning social studies.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Learning is more permanent when learners visualize resources in the teaching and learning process. Visual aids that is relevant to teaching and learning by a qualified Social Studies teacher. They are the starting point and a foundation for attaining effective interaction between teacher and students in Social Studies classroom. This is because the success or failure of Social Studies lesson depends on the choice and utilization of effective teaching technique by the social studies teacher.

There are complaints and accusation that teachers of Social Studies are still accustomed to traditional techniques of teaching especially the lecture techniques despite the visual instructional resourceshave been found to be effective in interaction between teacher and the students as revealed by some researchers like Obeka, (2013). These teachers – centered techniques of teaching Social Studies are characterized and largely criticized for shifting interest and creativity in students thereby limiting academic performance among Junior Secondary School students. Under this arrangement, the teacher is the disseminator of knowledge, the knower of the answers to all questions who less often than not allow students inputs in the teaching and learning. Also, it hardly encourages students to engage in practical and creative learning activities during the teaching and learning process. Therefore, there is the need to use visual instructional resource to see if there will be improvements in their academic performance in Social Studies.

The problem of this study hinges on effect of Visual Resources in teaching and learning of Social Studies among Junior Secondary Schools students in Nguru universal basic education inspectorate zone. Moreover, the extent of the effect based on gender is another issue that concerns the study. This is with the effort to highlight the effectiveness of visual resources over other class room technique such as lecture method as a contribution towards the development of knowledge and learning in the study area, and Nigeria at large.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are to:

1. Determine the effect of Visual  Instructional  Resources on academic performance of
2. Investigate the effect of Visual Instructional Resources on male and female academic performance of JSS students in Social Studies in Yobe State.

• Examine the effect of Visual Instructional Resources and Lecture Method on Male JSS students’ academic performance in Social Studies in Yobe State.

1. Investigate the effect of Visual Instructional Resources and Lecture Method on Female JSS Students’ academic performance in Social Studies in Yobe State

1.4         Research questions

The following research questions were formulated to direct this study:

1. Is there any difference in the mean academic performance scores of students taught Social Studies using Visual Instructional resources and those taught using Lecture Method?
2. Is there any difference in the mean academic performance scores of Male and Female students taught Social Studies using Visual Instructional resources in Yobe State?

• What is the difference between the mean academic performance score of male JSS students taught Social Studies using Visual Instructional resources and those taught using Lecture Method in Yobe State?

1. What is the difference between the mean academic performance scores of female JSS students taught Social Studies using Visual Instructional resources and those taught using Lecture Method in Yobe State?

1.5                 Research Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were postulated to be tested at p <0.05:

1. There is no significant difference between the mean academic performance scores of students’ taught Social Studies using Visual Instructional resources and those taught using Lecture Method in Yobe State.
2. There is no significant difference between the mean academic performance scores of male and female students taught Social Studies using Visual Instructional resources.

• There is no significant difference between the mean academic performance score of male JSS students taught Social Studies using Visual Instructional resources and those taught using Lecture Method in Yobe State.

1. There is no significant difference between the mean academic performance score of femaleJSS students taught Social Studies using Visual Instructional resources and those taught using Lecture Method in Yobe State.

1.6         Significance of the Study

This study, titled Effects of Visual Instructional Resources on Academic Performance of Junior Secondary Schools Students in Social Studies”, in Yobe State, would be of enormous benefits to an array of stakeholders in education. It shall be helpful to social studies teachers, students, school administrators as well as curriculum developers. Information from this study would help social studies teachers to improve their teaching effectiveness through the use of visual instructional resources as effective for instruction. For the Social Studies students, the benefits derivable from the study are numerous. It is hoped that the use of visual instructional resources for teaching Social Studies would enhance the academic performance of students; there would be every tendency that learners would not forget easily what they see and thereby makes students become productive members of the society.

Curriculum developers shall benefit from thefindings of this study, by providing them with an insight into the effectiveness of visual instructional resources in achieving maximum result with resources and therefore.They will seek for them to enhance teaching-learning process. Visual instructional resources(V.I.R) have a wide range of applicability indifferent levels. The study will expose this fact to educators in different field of study, academic training and research activities including workshops and seminars which in turn, shall result in improving academic performances of students.

The study would be of great importance to the school administrators of JSS who are the key implementers of the curriculum by realizing their role in ensuring the effective implementation of Social Studies curriculum. It would also provide information on the method used by the teachers that are relevant to teaching and learning of Social Studies in Junior Secondary Schools in Yobe State.

Finally, the study would be of great importance to the Social Studies teachers of JSS who are the key implementers of the curriculum by realizing their roles in ensuring the effective implementation of social studies curriculum. It is highly essential to use V.I.R in the teaching-learning process. Curriculum developers, school administrators, teachers, students are the people that are highly concerned in ensuring the use of V.I.R and they will surely benefit from the findings of this research.

1.7         Scope of the Study

The scope of this research was limited to the effect of Visual Instructional Resources on academic performance of JSS in Nguru Universal Basic Education Inspectorate Zone, Yobe State. The Zone consists of Nguru, Machina, and Karasuwa local Government areas. This limitation is done considering the number of JSS available around the Nguru. The population of this research work covers male and female students of JSS of Nguru Universal Basic Education inspectorate zone. The research focused on determining the performances of social studies students taught using visual and those taught without visual resources, the effect of Visual Instructional Resources on the performances of male and female social studies students in Nguru Universal Basic Education inspectorate zone among other variables.

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