CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Basic technology is the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life (NPE, 2004). It was introduced in the year 2007 in Nigeria to replace Introductory technology with a desire to achieve what would not be realized through introductory technology. It is hoped that basic technology will provide the most needed answer to the technological problem (Fafunwa (2004)). According Gambo (2000), Basic Technology Education is designed to equip the individual for entry into occupation that are within the share of skilled craft, engineering and scientific profession associated within the use and application of basic principles of science and technology. The courses include; technical drawing, metal work, wood work, electrical/electronics, rubber, ceramic plastic, building, automobile food preservation and process etc. Basic technology is offered at JSS level of secondary education.

Teachers of introductory technology and other workshop staff are still used to implement basic technology. Workshops used for introductory technology are still being used for basic technology.  The subject guidelines and contents have been carefully structured into a teaching sequence, which consists of clear explanations and descriptions of how results are obtained by using different tools, machines and materials. Basic technology is also a skill development course, which aims at providing students with technical literacy for everyday life.

According to Nigeria’s Federal Government curriculum, the objectives of basic technology are to:

i.       Provide pre-vocational orientation for further training in technology

ii.     Provide basic technological literacy for everyday living and

iii.  Stimulate creativity

The curriculum is designed to develop in students and appreciate ion of technology and an interest in specific areas of industrial technology. On completion of junior secondary school according to FGN (2004), students are streamed into senior secondary school, technical college, an out-of-school vocational training center and an apprenticeship scheme .

Entry into these levels is based on results from the Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination (JSSCE) whose purpose is to determine their academic ability, aptitude and vocational interest.

Interest is a program attracts students and makes them want to learn more about that thing. That is, to be involved in something is also a feeling of wanting to learn more about something or to be involved in something (Meriam- Webster, 2016).

The (NPE 1981) introduced basic technology as core subject in Junior Secondary School to improve the technological awareness by making children technically oriented. Basically technology is alos expected to provide students with relevant skills thereby equipping them with employable skills and self reliance. Indeed, the introduction of the scheme by the Federal Government has strengthened science and technical education at the secondary school level.

For the development of any society there has to be a solid technical foundation on which the society can build(Ozara 1995 and Oweri’s 1994). To live in such society the population most become technical literate it is for this reason that basic technology was introduced into Nigeria education. According to Wuyep (1997) that the teaching of basic technology can be best taught through activities based method, which emphasize students engagement in teaching and learning process. Students are encouraged to do something on their own and with their own hands as opposed to just listening to lecture. Some activities may include demonstration experiment study text book recite a lesion etc. if basic technology is to be taught and learned effectively, it must be experimental. Technology is close to the life of every child and teacher need to provide first hand materials for the study of technology. Wuyep (1997) enumerated some methods of teaching the subjects which should be adapted for teaching technical course which involve activities that could be drawn upon and these include the following method, demonstration, discovery/inquiry laboratory, project field trip process method assignment experiment and guest lecture. The author also observed that the level of students interested in basic technology is low. And even in offering the course they perform poorly. This he attributed to too many factors among which include, that technology education has been viewed as a subject for drop out, academically unsound students. Indeed, according to the education for all (2000), gross school enrollment in basic technology has decline in Nigeria from approximately 36.2 percent in 1993 to 20.3 percent in 2006.

In a developing countries technology education has many problem competing for attention(Ejimary, 2000). They are many and diverse in nature. It part from the fight against illiteracy there is problem of inadequate facilities and infrastructure in our schools which one way or the other result in low level production in commercial enterprises similarly. Fajero (1999) has highlighted that technology education in Nigeria facing serious instructional materials problem. He observed that instructional materials are either inadequate in quantity area of absolute in quality and teacher are either in adequate in number or as in many cases are not professionally trained as a teacher to teacher.

It is therefore obvious that basic technology needs more students than presently found. However there must be interest and there are various strategies that can be used to improve student’s interest in basic technology. This may include, employment of competent teacher, provision of instructional materials, discouragement of examination malpractice and provision of enough tools and consumables to carryout practical among other. This study therefore is intended to identify the strategies for improving students’ interest in Basic technology.

Statement of Problem

Basic technology was introduced in Kano state in 2007. Since then the subject has under gone many changes. Inspite of this development, students are not yet interested in the subject. The analysis of the internal examinations and the Junior WAEC examination shows that the level of student performance in the subjects is low in Kano state. Despite all attempts by the state government to improve the student’s performance in basic technology, there is still a lot of problems facing low students interest in Basic Technology. 

Ideally when students are taught basic technology there should be a wide interest in the subject especially now that we are in a technology driven world. Students should be very interested in basic technology because many are engaged with the use of one ICT material or the other. Generally technical education has been downgraded to a second class form of education. Basic technology is not given the required attention as such confronted with many problems. 

Many scholars have been emphasizing the problems of non-availability of qualified teachers to teach Basic Technology subjects in Nigeria. However, if there are qualified teachers and there are no standard workshops, no enough equipment and tools to use for practical activities by teachers and students, the whole exercise would be in vain which lead to students not performing well in basic technology. This problem could be in the inability to attract young people to technology which is not good for a developing country like Nigeria. The problem of the study therefore is methods of improving students interest in basic technology in some selected secondary schools in Kano state.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to find Methods of Improving student’s interest in basic technology in some selected secondary schools in Kano state. Specifically the study will find out:

i.       The level of motivation to basic technology

ii.     Factors affecting the interest of students to basic technology

iii.  Ways of enhancing students interest to basic technology

Significance of the study

This study is of immense benefit to students, teachers, school authorities and state ministries of education and federal ministry of education. The study will be of immense benefit because it will enhance the interest in learning processes of students and thereby improving on their overall academic performance since it will increase and create awareness on importance of basic technology.

Findings from the study will help to sensitize teachers of their important roles in promoting the use of basic technology. This is because it will provide basis for them to understand the need for their complimentary role in encouraging and stimulating students interest in the course. The finding will further help to reveal and create awareness among the schools authorities on the importance of basic technology and the challenges faced in the teaching and learning process. The study will go far to help the government to prepare a better curriculum which will emphasize more practicals and other related academic work in schools.

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