CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background of the Study

In Nigeria, the government pronouncement and activities geared towards encouraging secondary school students to study the science abound. Towards this development, the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) was mandated to develop science curricula for use in  secondary education and indeed all levels of educational system in Nigeria. In line with government declaration for Universal Basic Education Programme, the NERDC was directed by the National Council on Education (NCE) to re-structure and re-align the existing secondary school science curricula to meet the target of the Nine (9) year Basic Education which seeks to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The curriculum reflects depth, appropriateness, and interrelatedness of the science curricula contents. Since the curricula represents the total experience to which learners must be exposed, the contents, performance objectives, activities and instructional materials were provided.

Instructional materials refer to materials that are used to facilitate teaching and learning. It enables the teacher communicate ideas or concepts with ease as they appeal to many senses at a time (Munchi, 2012).The learner can see, touch, smell or taste thereby making learning more meaningful. This agrees with the Chinese proverb that state: I hear – I forget, I see – I remember, I do – I understand.

The importance of instructional materials to the successful implementation of the new Home Economics curriculum cannot be overemphasized. This is because the use of instructional materials is a sine qua non for effective behaviour change in learners (Jimoh, 2011). This is why Adekunle (2012)  noted that when the students are given the chance to learn through more senses than one, they can learn faster and easier.

Iherionwu (2012) referred to instructional materials as objects or devices which help the teacher make learning meaningful to the learner. They are materials used to aid the transference of information from one person to another. In other words, instructional materials promote efficiency of education by improving the quality of teaching and learning. It offers a variety of learning experiences individually or in combination to meet different teaching and learning experiences as well as encourage learners to become skilled technicians with an endless passion for learning. Nwanyanwu (2014) summarized the importance of using instructional materials in the classroom to include:

a. Making the subject matter more real.

b. Explicating difficult concepts.

c. Making the learner experience what is being learnt.

d. Helping to fire the imagination of the learners.

e. Preventing misconceptions.

f. Making learning interesting amongst others.

It can be concluded that the purpose of instructional materials is to promote efficiency of education by improving the quality of teaching and learning. In the view of Imogie (2015) these materials are recourses including audio tape recorders, video tape recorders, slide projectors, opaque projectors, overhead projectors, still pictures, programmed instructions, filmstrips, maps, charts and many more.

Ironically however, most secondary schools in Kaduna North Local Government Area are hardly properly equipped with audio-visual materials. Even where some schools are privileged to have them, they are underutilized (Adowoyin, 2014). Learners are the makers of meaning and knowledge. When they encounter something new, they tend to reconcile it with their previous ideas and experience, may be changing what they believe, or may be discarding the new information as irrelevant. This ideology has given birth to teaching and learning strategies, tools and resources involving the use of computers, simulations, multimedia projectors, animations, the Internet etc.

The utilization of instructional materials does not guarantee effective communication and effective teaching but instead proper utilization, careful selection and skillful handling by the teachers, renders the usefulness of instructional materials to the teaching and learning process. According to Uwaifo, (2009) the utilization of instructional materials in teaching business subject plays a very important role in making the teaching and learning of the subject more effective. Ukoha (2007) the ultimate goal of utilizing instructional material, tools and equipment is to facilitate teaching and learning. The proper utilization of these materials promotes meaningful communication, enhance effective teaching, encourages the interest of learners and motivates individualized instruction in which learning is assured. This implies that, instructional materials are important in teaching and learning just as magi cubes, tomatoes and other ingredients are important to good meals. The correct use of instructional materials often gives correct representation to the abstract ideas, thereby making their meaning clearer and pleasant.

According to Uwaifo (2012) proper utilization of materials serves a useful purpose in promoting understanding to concepts and principles. The utilization of relevant equipment, materials tools or instructional facilities in teaching and learning, and enhances student’s achievement (Awobodu, 2013). Also adequate and proper utilization of instructional materials improve the performance and output of the schools. This means that, schools that are fully equipped with functional facilities give a better result when properly used as compared to the schools having inadequate instructional materials.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

Despite the emphasis placed on the usefulness of instructional materials in teaching and learning process, most students still finds it difficult to cope with the study of Home Economics in schools. This may have resulted from lack of or under-utilization of instructional materials by teachers. The researcher focused group discussions and field experience reveal that in most schools in the state, instructional materials are lacking and where they exists they are not adequately utilized by teachers. The main study of this research is to ascertain the utilization of instructional materials in the effective teaching and learning of Home Economics in selected secondary schools in Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna state.

1.3     Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to assess an evaluation of utilization of instructional materials in the effective teaching and learning of Home Economics in selected secondary schools in Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna state.

Specifically, the study seeks to find out:

1.     If instructional materials for teaching and learning of Home Economics

are available in secondary schools in Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna state.

2. The extent to which instructional materials are utilized by the teacher.

3. The factors that are affecting the utilization of instructional materials in

     teaching and learning of Home Economics in secondary schools.

1.4     Research Questions

1. How adequate are the available instructional materials in teaching and    

   learning of Home Economics in Kaduna North Local Government Area of

   Kaduna state?

2. To what extent are the available instructional materials utilized in  

     teaching and learning of Home Economics in secondary schools?

3. What factors are affecting the utilization of instructional materials in

     teaching and learning of Home Economics in secondary schools?

1.5     Significance of the study

The result of this study will be of immense benefit to the government, teachers, administrators, policy makers, curriculum planners and Non-governmental organizations.

The outcome of this study would be beneficial to the government in planning and decision making. It would help in policy formulation, implementation, evaluation and reformation. The findings of study will reveal to the government the instructional materials needed for effective teaching and learning of Home Economics subjects.

Through the findings of the study, the teachers would seek professional development in the use of the instructional materials in their learning.

The findings of the study would help the students to benefit from the effective utilization of the instructional materials that will follow from the adoption of the strategies identified from the study while the teachers would from the findings adopt effective strategies for utilizing the instructional materials in their teaching, the students would understand the lesson better and also use the instructional materials well during their private learning and peer tutoring.

The society would also benefit from the result of the study, the youth be occupied when the knowledge and skills gained by the students. . When the students acquire functional and saleable skills, the issue of unemployment would be reduced to the barest minimum and every individual would be useful to himself and to the society. The students would become self reliant and gain employment after graduation. This will improve the economy of the society.

Curriculum planners will also benefit from the result of this study. The curriculum planners would obtain the necessary information which will help to improve the Home Economics syllabus. It is hoped that the result of the study would assist the curriculum planners in the review and update of Home Economics curriculum especially in relation to the instructional materials and their usage.

The findings of this study will serve as a guide to researchers who would want to conduct further study on the effectiveness of instructional materials in teaching and learning of Home Economics subjects in secondary schools.

The findings of the study would provide reference materials to future researchers in Home Economics teaching and learning.

1.6     Scope of the Study

This research study is centred on the Utilization of instructional materials in the effective teaching and learning of Home Economics in selected secondary schools in Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna state. It is delimited to the teachers and students within the study area. It is hoped that the extent of the utilization of instructional materials in teaching and learning of Home Economics in selected secondary schools would be determined by the learners in the course of this study.

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