CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The chapter focuses on the influence of instructional materials in the teaching of history in some selected secondary schools in the Buea Municipality.

This chapter is divided into the following sub-headings: background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, scope and delimitations of the study and definition of key terms.

Background to the Study

In order to facilitate learning in the classroom, instructional materials must be displayed. The instructional materials should be prepared before the class in order to have a good relationship and good preparation and delivery of the lesson.

Instructional materials are the devices developed or acquired to assist or facilitate teachers in transmitting knowledge, skills, and attitudes to the learners within an instructional situation (Nwachukwu, 2006) Individuals and society have seen education as the key to success in life.

In the past and present, education in most human societies has been instructional or useful in impacting knowledge and skills in order to make the individual a responsible and participatory member of the society. The capacity of development in any country can be measured through a properly planned and standard educational system.

Indeed instructional materials provide concepts like computers and radios which help students to acquire skills, attitudes, and the ability to reason logically.

Instructional materials are aid in teaching and learning.  It helps to raise learning from verbalization to the practical aspect of teaching and learning. Instructional materials make teaching and learning interesting, easy and amusing. It makes learning more effective, (Clark, 1997).

The use of instructional materials makes different continents shape their rules and regulations to accommodate each other.

They do this by providing them with socio-cultural and political differences and how to adjust the traditional socio-cultural and political ways and accommodate another. An instructional material makes use of the working model. It makes the teacher’s task easier and more effective.

Ollardi (1990) has highlighted the impact of instructional materials that teachers use to improve the students from understanding and perception of the subject as an enhanced aid. It brings clarity and creates recognition that allows them to have a realistic and total knowledge of the subject. It enhances learning, improves the competence of learners and makes learning more meaningful to students.

According to Iray (2008), instructional materials stimulate the student’s desire to learn, it assists the learning process by making assimilation and memorization easy. Also, it helps students to be attentive and also enables them to acquire knowledge and instructional objectives.

Theoretically, the instructional theory by Benjamin Bloom (1956) prescribes how to better help people learn. This theory identifies what instruction or teaching should be like. It outlines strategies and materials that teachers may use to achieve the learning objectives.

According tothe instructional design theory by Culalta (2010). Worries should be on how the student is going to learn and not what the student is going to learn. This theory states that the most desirable result will be determined by the type of instructional materials used.

Statement of the Problem

After a long observation by the researcher on the teaching of history in secondary schools and even higher institutions, there is poor preparation and delivery of the lesson in history to the learners. Another problem is that some teachers don’t make use of instructional materials because they are expensive and some are even ignorant about the availability of these instructional materials.

Most teachers are not well-grounded in the use of and selection of viable instructional materials and as such the teaching and learning of history has not been optimal. The poor performance of students in history is evident in the overall results of students in such examinations as the General Certificate of Education (GCE).

Most teachers are not vested with the knowledge of information and communication technology. This calls for major concern as the world today is becoming a global village with a diversity of student behavior. Most students learn better through the use of devices like computers, radios, which are not readily available to make learning very conducive and enjoyable.

It is for thesesetbacks that the researcher is out to investigate how instructional materials influence the teaching of history in some selected secondary schools in the Buea Municipality

Main Objective

The main objective of the study is to investigate how instructional materials influence the teaching of history in some selected Secondary Schools in Buea Municipality

Specific Objective

The study wishes to investigate the following;

1. How teaching with illustrated charts influence the teaching of history in some selected Secondary Schools in the Buea Municipality
2. How the teaching with video clips influences the teaching of history in Some Selected Secondary Schools in the Buea Municipality
3. How the teaching with history textbook influences the teaching of history in some selected Secondary Schools in Buea Municipality.

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