Abstract

The purpose of this research project was to determine “Effects of teaching aids on academic achievement of Students in Economics in the Buea Municipality”. The study was aimed at finding out the success of teaching aids on the academic achievement of students in Economics. These teaching aids were: The Visual Aids, the Audio Aids and Audio-Visual Aids.  The study was conducted in public and private secondary schools in Buea Municipality. The target population comprised of Forms 4 and 5 students of some selected secondary school offering Economics in Buea municipality of the South West Region. The questionnaire was used and made up of three key items namely the visual materials, Audio materials and Audio-visual Materials. The descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data collected from respondents and this was done with the aid of percentages. The findings of this study revealed that teaching aids, that is, Visual Aids and Audio-Visual Aids, have a great impact on the academic achievement of students in Economics. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made: (a)At the level of the training schools such as HTTC, the students should be trained on the use of teaching aids to enable them easily use and apply the knowledge while in the field. (b)There is need for the Ministry of Secondary Education to mount periodic training sessions for teachers who ae already in the field to be retrained on recent discoveries regarding the use of teaching aids in teaching economics in secondary schools. (c) There is need for teachers in the field to have a forum for meeting periodically to assess the effectiveness of their teaching using the methods of instructional and educational technology as applicable to the organization of the content of the school syllabuses at secondary schools. (d) The teachers should be encouraged to make use of teaching aids developed from local materials around the environment to which the students are exposed to in their daily activities. (e) School administration should ensure that teaching aids are provided for teachers to allow them to teach more effectively and efficiently.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Over the years, the poor performance of students in public examinations has been blamed on the wrong choice of teaching methods by teachers. Teaching and learning activities have a lot to do with other variables, such as teaching aids, teacher’s qualification, school environment variables, and students’ factors and so on. In this study, teaching aids is the focus in order to unveil their effects on the academic achievement of students. The importance of teaching aids in any teaching/learning Process cannot be over emphasized. This is for the fact that such aids enhance, facilitate and make teaching/learning easy, lively and concrete. Teaching aids are the devices developed or acquired to assist or facilitate teachers in transmitting an organized knowledge, skills and attitudes to the learners within an instructional situation (Nwachukwu, 2006). To be precise, teaching aids are educational resources used for illustrating the content of instruction, thereby making learning more concrete and less abstract. The sequence in which learners encounter materials has direct effect on the achievement of the task. In providing closer experience to real situation, teaching aids enhances acquisition and retention of information. Teaching aids not only provide the necessary concrete experience but also help students integrate prior experience.

The place of teaching aids in the effective implementation of any educational programme cannot be under-mined. Teaching aids perform such functions as the extension of   the range of experience available to learners, supplement and complement the teacher’s verbal explanations thereby making learning experience richer and providing the teacher with interest into a wide variety of learning activities. Teaching aids supplement, clarify, vitalize, emphasize instruction and enhance learning in the process of transmitting knowledge, ideas, skills and attitude. This calls for teacher’s resourcefulness and improvisation on the parts of the Economics teachers. The ability of the teacher to make us of “local” materials in place of “standard” ready-made materials makes lesson more effective and improved students’ achievement. The use of teaching aids is important if one is to successfully deliver a lesson to students and make sure that the objective of that lesson is being achieved. This is since comprehension of anything learnt in school depends on the teacher’s presentation and the reality of the subject matter.

Children, according to Saunders (1979) and Federal Ministry of Education and Youth Development (1993) in Nigeria found it easy and joyful learning the new language in a play-way method through imitation, chanting, singing, dancing, modelling, dramatizing, watching projected pictures, visiting, matching, arranging and going on excursion. Advanced learners will find role playing, simulation, debate very interesting. Rays and Thomas (1973) recommended manipulative materials as teaching aids. Manipulative materials here mean objects or things the children are “able to feel, touch, handle, and move. “Teachers should device ways of effectively utilizing available materials and situations in teaching/learning. However, the materials are not to be overused or abused. Efforts should be made to properly manage and maintain whatever materials are provided.

According to Moore (2001) the wide use of variety of teaching aids spices up a lesson and sharpens student’s attention and interest. Also, the use of videotapes in presenting examples and non-examples of concepts, for instance, will act as an effective lesson stimulus. Teaching aids are in various classes, such as audio or aural, visual or audio-visual. Thus, audio teaching aids refer to those devices that make use of the sense of hearing only, like radio, audio tape recording, and television. Visual teaching aids on the other hand, are those devices that appeal to the sense of sight only such as the chalkboard, chart, slide, and filmstrip. While an audio-visual teaching aid is a combination of devices which appeal to the sense of both hearing and seeing such as television, motion picture and the computer. Among the teaching aids the classroom teacher uses, the visuals out-numbered the combination of the audio and audio-visual. This chapter therefore looks at the background of the study, statement of the problem, general and specific research objectives, research questions, significance of the study, the scope and delimitation of the study and the definition of operational terms.

Background of the study

Teaching aids are used to spice up a lesson and sharpen student’s attention and interest. There have been several studies on teaching aids and academic achievement. For instance, Momohisola, (2010), conducted a research on the effects of instructional resources on students’ performance in West Africa School Certificate Examinations (WASCE) in Kwara State. He correlated teaching aids with academic achievements of students in ten subjects. Data were collected from the subject teachers in relation to the aids employed in the teaching. The achievements of students in WASCE for the past five years were related to the resources available for teaching each of the subjects. He concluded that material resources have a significant effect on student’s achievement in each of the subjects. In the same manner, Moronfola (1982) carried out a research in Ilorin Local Government Area of Kwara State. She used questionnaire to collect data on the material resources available for the teaching of some selected subjects in ten secondary schools and related these to students’ achievements in each of the selected subjects and to the amount of resources available for the teaching of the subjects. Finding showed a significant effect of material resources on the students’ academic performance in these subjects. In the same vein, Popoola (1990) investigated the effect of teaching aids on the academic achievements of students in Ogun State. Five secondary schools in Abeokuta were used for this study.

Researchers such as Ogunleye (2000), Okonkwo (2000), Mkpanang (2005) and Obioha (2006) reported that there were inadequate teaching aids for the teaching of social science subjects in secondary schools in Cameroon. They further stated that where there were little resources at all, they are not usually in good conditions, while the few that were in good conditions were not enough to go around those who needed them. Hence there is need for improvisation. Owolabi (2004) defined science as an integral part of human society. Its impact is felt in every sphere of human life, so much that it is intricately linked with a nation’s development. Science as a field of study has done a lot for mankind. For instance, life has been made a lot easier for man as a result of the advancements in science. Through science, man has been able to better understand his environment, and this has enabled him to manipulate the conditions of his environment to suit his own benefit. Science has also made it possible for man to acquire his desired needs easily. It has reduced human needs to the barest minimum.

Ogunleye (2000) observed that science is a dynamic human activity concerned with understanding the workings of our world. This understanding helps man to know more about the universe. Without the applications of science, it would have been impossible for man to explore the other planets of the universe. Also, the awareness of the existence, of other planets would not have been realized without science. Many investigations have shown that students in Secondary schools are not very much interested in science (Esiobu, 2005; Okonkwo, 2000). Besides, Economic as one of the social science subjects has remained one of the most difficult subjects in the school curriculum Nerdc (2005). The inability of the Economics teachers to put across ideas clearly to the students and inadequate number of learning facilities in schools as against consistent increase in the number of students. Economics as a science subject is activity oriented. This suggests that the mastery of Economic concepts cannot be fully achieved without the use of teaching aids. The teaching of Economics without teaching aids will certainly result to poor performance in the course. Franzer et al. (1992) stressed that; a professionally qualified economics` teacher no matter how well trained would be unable to put his ideas into practice if the school setting lacks the equipment and teaching aids necessary for him or her to translate his competence into reality. According to Soetan et al. (2010), graphics include charts, posters, sketches, cartoons, graphs and drawings. Graphics communicate facts and ideas clearly through combination of drawings, words and pictures. The use of graphics in teaching creates definitiveness to the materials being studied. They help to visualize the whole concepts learned and their relationships with one another.

The role of teaching aids in visual communication is both unique and significant. Historically, symbols, a basic part of graphics have made it possible, the whole range of written language used in the world today. The instructional value of graphical illustrations lies generally in their capacity to attract attention and convey certain types of information in condensed form (Onasanya and Adegbija, 2007). Okpala et al. (1998) stated that graphical illustrations provide a common experience to a large group at the same time. Okpala et al. (1998) also summarized the values of graphic for instructional design as follows: They require no special machine for projection, the teacher is confident in manipulating the material, their improvisation encourages more creativity and diversification of teaching methods, they are very easy to preserve, and they could be produced within minimum cost and maximum efficiency.

Bassey (2002) says that science is resource intensive. Furthermore, in a period of economic recession, it will be very difficult to adequately find some of the electronic gadgets and equipment for Economics in Schools. A situation that is further compounded by the galloping inflation (his is high rate of inflation accompanied by high rate of unemployment) in the country and often un-relatedness of some of the imported sophisticated materials and equipment; hence the need to produce materials locally. The objectives of any educational process determine the contents, methods and materials needed for achieving such objectives. The materials used for enhancing instructional effectiveness are aspects of media employed for achieving the instructional objectives. Bassey (2002) described instructional media as system components that may be used as parts of instructional processes which are used to disseminate information, messages and ideas or which make communication possible in the teaching-learning process.

Experience over the years has shown that teachers have been depending on excessive use of words to express, to convey ideas or facts in the teaching-learning process. This practice is termed the “chalk-talk” method. Today, advances in technology have made it possible to produce materials and devices that could be used to minimize the teachers talking and at the same time, make the message clearer, more interesting and easier for the learners to assimilate (Onasanya et al., 2008).

Statement of the problem

Despite the desire for technological development, couple with the fact that Economics is a very vital subject for technological development and as such, its teaching and learning as well as students’ poor academic performance have become a source of concern to all stakeholders. The problem of the present study is to investigate the effects of teaching aids on the academic achievement of students in Economics (Oladejo, 2011). The inefficient use of teaching aids has been liked to poor academic performance of students in economics. Poor academic achievement in Economics could be attributed to many factors among which teacher’s strategy itself was considered as an important factor. This implies that the mastery of Economics concepts might not be fully achieved without the use of teaching aids. The teaching of Economics without teaching aids may certainly result in poor academic achievement. Franzer, Okebukola and Jegede (1992) stressed that a professionally qualified science teacher no matter how well trained, would be unable to put his ideas into practice if the school setting lacks the equipment and materials necessary for him or her to translate his competence into reality. If this is not tackled as fast as possible, it has dire consequences. Thus, teaching aids in the teaching of economics is very important if one will succeed in life.

Objectives of the Study

General Research Objective

The main objective is to examine the effect of teaching aids on the academic achievement of students in economics in secondary schools in Buea Municipality.

Specific Research Objectives

1. To examine the influence of Visual aids on the academic achievement of students in economics.
2. To determine the effect of the use of Audio materials on the academic achievement of students in economics.
3. To ascertain the extent to which Audio-visual aids will influence academic achievement of students in economics.

Research Questions

Main research question

How does the use of teaching aids affect the academic achievement of students in economics?

Specific research questions

1. How does the use of Visual aids affect the academic achievement of students in economics?
2. How does Audio materials affect the academic achievement of students in economics?
3. How does Audio-visual aid affect the academic achievement of students in economics?