USE OF IMPROVISED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN TEACHING OHM S LAW: A STUDY OF TECHNICAL COLLEGES IN ENUGU STATE

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1 USE OF IMPROVISED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN TEACHING OHM S LAW: A STUDY OF TECHNICAL COLLEGES IN ENUGU STATE By Mark Ugwoke, National Business and Technical Examinations Board (Nabteb), South East Zonal Office, 1, Annang Street, Ogui New Layout, Enugu. Abstract The study examined the effects of using conventional instruction and using standardized and improvised instructional materials in teaching Ohm s law on the achievement of National Technical College 3 (NTC 3) Physics Students of Enugu State, Nigeria. The research design was quasi-experimental of the pre-test post test of the non- randomized control and experimental groups. Purposive sampling was used to obtain a sample of one Technical College where final year (NTC 3) students were used for the study. A pre-test using an instrument whose reliability coefficient was ascertained as 0.78 was administered on entire groups after which the researcher taught them with various methods and a post-test was administered on the them. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance using ANCOVA and the findings [F(2, 92)=12.936>p=.219] revealed that there is a significant difference in the achievement of students taught using standard instructional material, those taught with improvised instructional material and those in the conventional instruction. The researcher conclusively remarks that utilization of improvised instructional materials promote and enhance effective teaching-learning process. Introduction Science education has been identified as the bedrock for economic and technological development of any nation. The National Policy on Education (NPE) (Federal Republic of Nigeria (F.R.N., 2004:28) stated that the goal of science education shall be to produce scientists who would be actively involved in technological and national development. It further stressed that government shall popularize the study of science (including physics) and the production of adequate number of number of scientists to inspires and support national development. The National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) (2007:60) was more specific where it stated that the study of physics is meant to inculcate in students the general scientific process and phenomena towards the eradication of ignorance, superstition and develop scientific attitudes such as precision, objectivity, initiative and inventiveness for the purpose of technological development. Despite these declarations of government on the relevance of science (physics) education to nation building, the persistent students low level of achievement and enrolment in physics continue to generate concern among stakeholders in education sector. Numerous research works in physics education such as Okonkwo, 2000; Owolabi, 2004; Esiobu, 2005; Aina and Philip, 2013 have tried to identify the possible causes of this low level of students achievement in physics and proffered ways of improving the level of achievement. Many investigations have shown that students in secondary schools are not very much interested in science (Okonkwo, 2000; Esiobu, 2005). Besides, the Nigerian Education and Research Development Council (NERDC) (2005) identified physics as one of the most difficult subjects in the post-basic school curriculum. A study by Owolabi (2004) revealed that the performance of Nigerian students in ordinary level physics was generally poor. This was attributed by the researcher to many factors of teaching strategy itself. These are poor 1

2 laboratory facilities, inability of physics teachers to put across ideas clearly to the students and inadequate number of learning facilities in schools as against consistent increase in number of students. National Teachers Institute (NTI) (2007) noted that physics as a science subject is activity oriented and suggested method for teaching it which is guided discovery method. This is highly resource based. This suggests that the mastery of physics concepts cannot be fully achieved without the use of instructional learning materials. The teaching of physics without learning materials certainly results to poor performance in the subject. Franzer, B.J. P.A.O. Okebukola and O.J. 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. Bassey (2002) opined 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 physics in schools. This situation is further compounded by galloping inflation in the country which correspondingly makes it difficult to procure standard instructional materials, hence the need to source for the materials locally. Some researchers such as Okonkwo (2000), Mkpanang (2005) and Obioha (2006) reported that there were inadequate resources for teaching of science subjects in secondary schools in Nigeria. They further stated that there were circumstances where there were little resources or no resources at all; while the few that were in good conditions were not enough to go round those who needed them. Hence, there is need for improvisation. Human factors such as teachers professional commitment, creativity, mechanical skills, initiative and resourcefulness were considered. Akinsola (2000) and Omosewo (2008) found that many Nigerian science teachers were not aware of the possibility of improvisation. Yet many exhibited poor attitudes towards improvisation. They also noted that very few teachers practice improvisation while majority depends on imported equipments and claim that improvisation is time- consuming and fund depleting. Adeyemo (2010) and Aina (2013) considered learning environment as being crucial to improvisation of physics instructional materials. This was supported by Kola (2007) who stated that environment is an important factor for materials needed for physics improvisation. Influence of environment at a particular time determines a child s behaviour (Ozdemir and Rahimi, 2013). Child learning is not only the duty of teachers but also the parents at home supporting this. Environment plays a fundamental role in facilitating the children s inquiry and arousing their curiosity and interest in science. It is remarkable that improvised materials obtained from students immediate environment would arouse their curiosity and enhance their achievement in physics tests. This position was supported by Daniel (2001) and Adeniran (2006) with the statement that improvisation is good with the active participation of the learners in the improvisation process. Learners participating and sourcing for improvised materials in their own environment makes them exposed to creativity, innovation and curiosity, all of which are fundamental to enhanced teaching and learning. Problem Statement Problem of the study is the persistent poor achievements of technical college students in physics tests particularly in national examinations conducted by the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB). It is imperative that genuine efforts are put in place to address the problem especially through the use of appropriate teaching materials that could be cost effective and could enhance students achievement in the tests. The concern of 2

3 this study, therefore, is to explore if the use of improvised materials would solve the problem of poor achievement of students in physics; specifically it seeks to establish: i. Whether students taught with improvised instructional materials perform better than those taught with conventional teaching method. ii. Whether students taught with improvised instructional materials, perform better than those taught with standard instructional materials. Research Question What are the mean scores and standard deviations of National Technical College, 3 (NTC3) who were taught using conventional teaching method, standard instructional materials and improvised instructional materials in of teaching of Ohm s Law? The Hypothesis There is no significant difference in the performance of students taught using conventional teaching method, standard instructional materials and improvised instructional materials. Method The research was a quasi experimental design, with pre-test, post-test non-randomized control group design carried out in a Government Technical College in Enugu metropolis of Enugu State, Nigeria. The population comprised all the four Technical Colleges with seasoned track records of registering candidates for NABTEB certificate examinations in Enugu State, Nigeria. One of the colleges was purposively chosen as the research sample from the population of four technical colleges. The choice of this particular college was based on pre-diagnostic survey of the students population and the number of examinable trades in the four colleges. The result of the survey showed that the selected college was most populated and has students with diverse skills (trades) and knowledge and therefore is considered a good sample for the population. The National Technical College 3 (NTC 3) students were used for the study and they were randomly (through balloting system) divided into three groups (comprising of control, standard and improvised materials) with each consisting of 32 students. The independent variables in this study are the use of conventional, standard and improvised instructional methods of teaching. The dependent variable is the students scores obtained from the researcher s designed achievement test. The instrument used in this study was the researcher s designed Achievement Test in Physics (ATP) containing thirty (30) items of 4-options multiple choice objective test developed by the researcher on the unit (Ohm s Law) used in the study. The students were asked to choose the correct option from the 4- options. The ATP was used to measure the achievement of students in both pre-test and post test. Some intervening variables considered as extraneous to the study such as teacher effect, group interaction effect were controlled by the researcher undertaking the project personally. He ensured that students were properly separated. The instrument was validated using test-blue print and item analysis. The test items were carefully drawn to ensure that the items fell within the scope of NTC 3 syllabus and the specific area (Ohm s law) that has been selected for the purpose of the study. The test items were referred to the experts in science education for criticism. Their observations influenced some modifications on the instrument. Pre-test was then conducted on 20 students in three technical colleges who have completed learning of Ohm s law. Using the Spearmen-Brown proficiency formular, a split-half reliability coefficient of 0.78 was established for the test. 3

4 The teaching and learning packages were made up of standard instructional materials (factory- made instructional materials), improvised instructional materials (materials collected and assembled locally by the researcher) and lesson plan covering the entire area of study. First, the research obtained permission of the College authority for use of National Technical College 3 (NTC 3) students of the College for the study. This was followed by the administration of ATP test to the three groups of control and experimental groups as pre-test. Thereafter, the researcher taught the three groups Ohm s law ensuring that the same time was allocated to each of the groups but with different instructional materials and in different classrooms where they did not interact with one another. At the end of the teaching which lasted for two weeks, the researcher with the assistance of the teachers administered the ATP again as post-test to both experimental and control groups. Data collected were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The ANCOVA was considered the appropriate statistics for analyzing the data obtained from ATP because it is possible to eliminate statistically the effects of variables that could not be controlled and the difference(s) in the initial status of the groups/classes Obodo (2014: 265). Scores of different groups were computed and used in testing the hypotheses. The level of significance (P) adopted was = This level of significance formed the basis for or rejecting the hypothesis. Results Summaries of the results are presented in tables 1 and 2. Table 1: Experimental and Control Students achievement Mean and Standard Deviation of Pre-Test and Post-Test Scores PRE-TEST POST-TEST GROUP N Mean Std. Std. Mean Deviation Deviation A Control B Treatment C Total In table 1 above, the pre-test mean score of control group (26.09) shows that their achievement is of equivalence to the ones of treatment groups; which is group B (27.53) and group C (27.06). However their post-test mean scores of control group A (students taught without instructional materials) (31.03); group B (42.38) (students taught with standard instructional materials) and group C (48.75) (who were taught with improvised instructional materials) indicate that those that were taught with instructional materials performed better than those taught without any instructional materials. Again, post-test mean score of the group C (48.75) (students taught with improvised instructional materials) is higher than the post-test mean scores of those in group B (42.38) (students taught with standard instructional materials) which in summary means that group C (48.75) has the highest mean score, followed by group B (42.38) and lastly by group A (31.03). Hypothesis There is no significance difference in the achievement of students taught using conventional materials, standard instructional materials and improvised instructional materials. This hypothesis was tested using ANCOVA in analyzing data obtained from ATP administered to experimental and control groups. The result obtained is presented in table 2 below. 4

5 Table 2: ANCOVA of experimental and control students achievement (Post-Test) Source Type III Sum Mean Partial Eta df F Sig. of Squares Square Squared Corrected Model Intercept PRETEST GROUP Error Total Corrected Total The ANCOVA result in table 2 shows that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control students achievement after treatment. The computed F ratio of F(2, 92)=12.936>p=.219 was significant at 0.05 level of significance. Thus the hypothesis which states that there is no significance difference in the achievement of students taught using conventional method, standard instructional materials and improvised instructional materials is rejected. Discussion The mean scores and the ANCOVA results have shown that the use of instructional materials has significant effect on the achievement of students on physics tests. Also, the mean score of the group taught with improvised instructional materials which obtained the highest mean score showed that improvisation is vital to and good for improved achievement in physics tests. These findings are supported by Daniel (2001) and Adeniran (2006) with the statement that improvised materials sourced from the students environment makes them exposed to creativity, innovation and curiosity, all of which are fundamental to qualitative teaching and learning processes. This is in contrast to previous studies of Akinsola (2000) and Omosewo (2008). Conclusion In conclusion, this study has shown that the use of improvised instructional materials in teaching physics concepts will enhance their achievement in physics. Recommendations To enhance the achievement of Technical College Students in physics tests, the following recommendations are made: 1. Training/retraining of teachers on how to improvise instructional materials in the teaching of physics must be done on a regular basis; 2. Students must be involved in the improvisation process; 3. Improvisation of instructional materials should be treated as a mechanism for enhancing environmental cleanliness through the conversion of waste (refuse) into useful items. 5

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