Effects of Map on Attitude and Achievement of Senior Secondary School in Jos South Local Government Area Plateau State Nigeria
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of map in achievement and interest of secondary school students.
Specifically, the study investigate
- Effect of map and lecture methods on students’ mean achievement scores
- Effect of map and lecture methods on students’ mean interest scores
- Influence of gender on mean achievement scores of students
- Influence of gender on mean interest scores of
- Interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on student mean achievement scores
- Interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on student’s mean interest scores
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Concept of Teaching and Learning
To support the learner’s acquisition of the desired knowledge, skill, and values and to provide the learner with the appropriate feedback, the teacher engages in the systematic activity of teaching (Oforma, 1994). All of the activities teachers participate in or carry out with the intention of bringing about a certain change in the learner are referred to as teaching (Ezekannaya, 2007). The Schreyer Institute (2010) defines teaching as an academic process that inspires students to learn in ways that have a long-lasting, significant, and positive impact on how they think, act, and feel. It is a process that raises students to a level where they learn profoundly and remarkably due to the teachers’ influence. Therefore, the contact between the teacher and the student regarding the subject in a particular situation can be referred to as teaching. Teaching occurs someplace, in a particular setting. A teacher never instructs in a vacuum. The environment has an impact. When someone is being taught, the teacher is attempting to impart knowledge. While learning cannot happen without a teacher, teaching cannot happen without pupils. Without a teacher, a lot of learning occurs, but it is considered learning rather than teaching. Before an action is deemed to as teaching, there must be a medium and a subject about which there may be a structured and ongoing discussion.
These experts (Nzeribe and Sawa, 2002; Davis, 2001) contend that teaching is both an art and a science, depending on the context. Effective teaching, they claimed, requires a high level of creativity, and as a science, instruction focuses on ways to Organize student-teacher contact in a systematic manner. Making educated professional decisions about teaching requires both scientific information and a clear sense of how to use it. In fact, the term “teaching” is frequently used to refer to the actual teaching process that occurs in the classroom (Nzeribe, 2002). The two are complementary aspects of one another in education.
Learning is a term that refers to the process of acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, habits and attitude. Learning is a relatively permanent and measurable change in behaviour through experience and instruction. From the psychological point of view, Ngwoke (2004) referred to learning as a process which causes a change in behaviour of an individual which results from experience or interaction between the individual and his environment. Learning can also be defined as the acquisition of new behaviour. Learning according to the cognitive learning theorist is a process of constant organisation, restructuring and reorganisation of perception into a meaningful whole,( Nnachi 2007).
Learning is both a process and the end product. As a process it refers to how attitudes, skills, knowledge, understanding and capabilities are acquired and retained. In the process of learning, behaviour is initiated for the first time, modified or completely changed. Trial and error, imitation modeling and insightful learning are some ways learning takes place. As a product, learning refers to the permanent acquisition and habitual use of newly acquired knowledge and experience, hence referring to any relatively permanent change in behaviour or knowledge resulting from practices, Onyemerekeya in (Nzeribe, (2002). The students’ change in behaviour otherwise known as learning, takes place when a learner/students is exposed to different learning experiences or instructional objectives (Nnachi, 2007). These instructional objectives or learning experiences are presented to the students through instructional methods known as teaching methods.
Methods of Teaching Science
A teaching method is a process and a way of imparting knowledge, skills, and values that are implied in the purposes and goals of teaching (Onyemerekeya, 1998). According to Obodo (1990), a teaching method is an approach, process, or stance that a teacher takes when explaining a subject to a student. The strategies, procedures, or systems employed by the teacher to guide the pupils’ learning are known as teaching methods. In teaching and learning activities, instructional strategies play a significant role. They are crucial tools that the teacher uses to carry out his fundamental teaching duties. These techniques likewise mainly consist of statements of learning goals, activities that are directed toward those goals, and information sharing between teachers and students. The best way to describe a teaching approach is as the types of guidelines and techniques employed throughout education (Wikipedia, 2009). Teachers must be adaptable and ready to change their ways to better suit their students while choosing their teaching strategies. Effective teaching strategies are significantly responsible for students’ performance in the classroom. The scientific teacher can use a variety of teaching techniques to help students learn (Saskatchewan, 2010). When faced with this variety, it is crucial that he or she understands the benefits and drawbacks of each technique as well as how to employ it properly in light of these established facts. However, it should be noted that the success or otherwise of any method employed depends on certain factor amongst which are the physical realities of the school, the teacher’s method of approach and choice of material. Teaching methods are classified into two namely:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
Introduction
In this chapter the design of the study Area of the study, population of the study, sampling and sampling techniques, instruments for data collection, validation of instruments, reliability of the instrument, experimental procedure, control of extraneous variable, and method of data analysis are presented and discussed.
Design of the study
A quasi-experimental design, specifically non-equivalent control group design was employed. The design is considered appropriate for the study because intact classes were used to avoid disruption of normal class lesson.
The design is presented below:
Population of the Study
The Population of the study comprise all year two senior secondary school (SS11) Students in Jos South local Government Area of Plateau State numbering three thousand three hundred and nineteen (3319) as at 2013/2014 academic session in 30 secondary schools. (Source: Post Primary School Management Board, PPSMB, Jos South Zone). At this age of secondary school, students are generally between 16 and 18 years of age and would have reached the formal level of recognition and expected to be able to reason abstractly. Also they would have completed two years of science education on one or all of the core sciences and are expected to be scientifically literates.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF R RESULTS
This chapter presents the analysis of the data collected in line with the research questions and hypotheses that guided the study.
Research Question One: What is the relative effect of map and lecture methods on students’ mean achievement scores?
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY
Introduction
This chapter presents the discussion of findings, conclusion, educational implications, recommendations, limitation of the study, suggestions for further studies and finally, the summary of the study.
Discussion of the Findings
The effect of map instructional strategy on students’ achievement in Science
The findings of the study revealed that the students taught with map instructional strategy achieved higher than their counterparts taught with the lecture method. It also showed that there is a significant difference between the mean achievement scores of the students taught with map instructional strategy and those taught with lecture method in favour of those taught with map. The finding of the study are in line with that of Ajaja (2011) who found that students exposed to the map as the study skill achieved more in Science than those who were not. The findings also agree with the findings of Karakuyu (2010) who observed that drawing concept map instruction was more effective than traditional instruction in improving physics achievement of the participating students. Hence, the overall findings support the assertion that map makes a difference in students’ learning (Able & Freeze, 2006; Hay, 2007).
The results of this study equally extend the assertions of Bilesanmi-Aworderu (2002), Ahlberg and Ahoranta (2004), Malik (2009), Khawaldeh and Al-Olimat (2010), Snead and Young (2003). According to those researchers, map provides opportunity for active involvement of students in their learning process and hence enhances their thinking ability while cross questioning and thinking for seeking solution. Map facilitates and even stimulates imaginations of the learner. Thus, presentation of the concepts to the fellow students brings a greater conceptual clarity for themselves (Freeman, 2004). During the discussion among the peers, learners become aware of their misconceptions. Inconsistent reasoning leads to cognitive conflict. In normal discourse there is a chance that misconceptions of the learners are gone unchecked. But when concept map is drawn, the misconceptions can be traced very easily by the teacher or by comparing student made concept maps with the scientifically accepted concept maps.
Conclusions Reached From the Findings of the Study
Based on the findings and discussion of the study, the following conclusion was made;
- There is a significant difference (p< 0.05) between the mean achievementscore of students exposed to map approach and those exposed to lecture method in Science in favour of experimental group
- There is no significant difference (p< 05) between the interest mean scores of students exposed to map method of teaching and those that were exposed to lecture method in Science in favour of the experimental group.
- There is no significant effect of gender (p>0.05) on the achievement of students taught using map and those taught using lecture
- There is no significant effect of gender (p>0.05)on students interest in Science
- There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender (p>0.05) on students achievement in
- There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender (p>0.05) on students interest in .
Educational Implications of the Findings of the Study
The findings of this study have implications for Science teaching in Nigeria. The findings of the study showed that the use of map teaching approach enhances the achievement and interest of students more than the conventional method. This, by implication, means that the use of conventional method of teaching cannot lead to effective teaching of Science as well as students’ achievement and interest.
Also, the findings indicated that gender is not a significant factor in the achievement and interest of students. The implication is that equal attention should be given to both male and female students during teaching and learning of Science since there was no significant difference in the achievement of male and female students as a result of the use of map instructional technique.
Recommendations
From the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made:
- Teacher educators in Universities and Colleges of Educations should be focused onpreparing Teachers to acquire appropriate skills and competence needed for map instructional
- Theministry of education should through seminars, workshops, and conferences equip serving Teachers with requisite knowledge and competences on the utilization of concept maps in teaching and
- Teachersshould be encouraged to use the map instructional strategy in teaching and This could be done by organizing seminars, workshop and conferences for teachers by the Government or relevant professional bodies like Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) on how to adopt the use of map in the teaching and learning of Science in the classroom.
Summary of the Study
The study investigated the effect of map instructional strategy on students’ achievement in secondary schools in Jos South Local Government, Plateau State. Six research questions were posed to guide the study and were answered using mean and standard deviation. On the other hand, six null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
The design adopted for the study was a quasi-experimental, precisely pre-test, post- test non- equivalent control group design. The target population of the study is the entire senior secondary II (SSII) Students in Jos South Local Government, Plateau State. eighty (80) Students were purposively sampled from two intact classes from two purposively selected co-educational secondary schools in Jos South Local Government and were used for the study. The main instruments used for data collection were the Achievement Test (AAT) and Science Interest Inventory (BII). Data obtained were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the six research questions while analysis of covariance was used to test the six null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed among others that students that were taught using map instructional strategy achieved better than their counterparts taught with the lecture method; Students that were taught using map instructional strategy had higher interest score than their counterparts taught with the lecture method and that there is a significant difference between the mean achievement scores of the students taught in secondary schools with map instructional strategy and those taught with lecture method in favour of the experimental group.
From the discussion of the findings, the educational implications of the study were highlighted. Based on the implications of the study, recommendations were proffered. The limitations of the study were highlighted and suggestions for further studies were made.
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