Abstract

This study was designed to find out the Teaching Strategies for Physical Geography in secondary schools: practices and challenges.  From the main objective, there emerged five specific objectives.

Through the research objective, a general research hypothesis was formulated from which five working hypothesis were drawn. A survey design was used in conducting the study. Data was collected from thirty Geography teachers from six schools through the use of questionnaires and an observation checklist.

The teachers were chosen using the simple random sampling technique. Data were made essentially of categorical variables and they were analyzed using Frequency, Proportions and Multiple Response Analysis to aggregate responses within conceptual components. The Chi-Square test of equality of proportion was used to compare proportions for a significant differences.

Association or relationship between two variables was assessed using Chi-Square test. Data were presented using frequency table. All statistics were presented at 95% Confidence Level (CL), Alpha =0.05. The study revealed that irrespective of the school type, the teachers used direct teaching strategies particularly the (lecture and illustration methods) in the teaching of Physical Geography.

They equally used indirect teaching strategies, through case studies and discussion. Although some claim through the questionnaires that they sometimes use Experiential teaching strategies the general observation through the checklist proved and established the contrary to this claim as there were no evidence of the use of any of the three types of Experiential teaching strategies being field trips, projects and experiments.

The results showed that the challenges faced in the teaching of Physical Geography include the absence of field work and laboratories, large classes, extensive syllabus that scares teachers and students, the non-use of teaching materials and limited time allocated for this branch of Geography.

In order to improve on the teaching strategies of physical Geography, it was recommended that Physical Geography teachers need to update their knowledge about modern approaches to teaching so as to overcome some of the challenges they faced in the teaching-learning process. This could be done through workshops, conferences, refresher courses and seminars.

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