1.1 Introduction
Physics is one of the most difficult science subjects in the school curriculum according to the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) (Isola, 2010). Instructional materials according to Ikerionwu (Isola, 2010), is referred an objects or devices, which help the teacher to make a lesson much clearer to the learner. Similarly, according to Agina-obu (2005), instructional materials are also described as concrete or physical objects which provide sound, visual or both to the sense organs during teaching (Agina-obu, 2005).
The teaching of physics without learning materials and laboratory resources will certainly result in poor performance in the course. Physics laboratory instruction has all along consisted primarily of performing pre-set repetitive experiments, where students are made to go through a prescribed series of steps wherein they are advised to verify certain laws/concepts learnt in theory.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Physics Education study program students who will take the School Field Practice program must be able to follow the development of education in schools. High school education is currently experiencing very rapid development, 2013 Physics curriculum demand to bring up the critical and creative thinking skills of students. To fulfil students' abilities according to these demands, students who will carry out PLP must be prepared in lectures, not only capable of teaching skills but must also be able to have skills in managing school laboratories. A laboratory is an inseparable tool for learning in the fields of science, social and technology.
It can be realized with the help of researchers in physics education that students at secondary and even university levels continue to hold fundamental misunderstanding of the world around them. Science learning remains within the classroom context and just a small percentage of the students are able to use the knowledge gained at school for solving various problems of larger physical world. In most cases, students hear lectures without strong connections to their everyday experiences. Students do not usually have opportunity to form their own ideas; they rarely get a chance to work in a way to be engaged in discovery, building and testing models to explain the world around them. Results from research in cognitive science and physics education shows that activities in laboratories increase students’ learning, positive attitudes towards physics and permanence of knowledge.
The one of the main goals of using laboratories in physics education is to teach students the philosophy, branches, topics, theories, laws of physics, the other one is to gain steps of the scientific method namely science process skills while learning the philosophy, branches, topics, theories, laws of physics. One of the researchers listed the aims of widely using laboratories in science education as follows laboratories provides to get students to comprehend abstract and complex scientific concepts by using concrete materials, gain students problem solving and analyzing skills by comprehending the nature of science, develop practical experiences and special talents of students and enjoy students with laboratory activities and by this way to develop positive attitude towards scientifically working.
To many researchers, instructional materials in physics education has not achieved its main goal, not provided meaningful learning and not developed positive attitudes towards science in recent years. As a result, it has been stated that more essential resources and time have to be allocated in order to enhance the effectiveness of laboratories in science teaching both in primary and secondary education.
Instructional materials are in various classes, such as audio or aural, visual or audio- visual. Thus, audio instructional materials refer to those devices that make use of the sense of hearing only, like radio, audio tape recording, and television. Visual instructional materials on the other hand, are those devices that appeal to the sense of sight only such as the chalkboard, chart, slide, and filmstrip. An audio-visual instructional material however, 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 instructional materials the classroom teacher uses, the visuals out-numbered the combination of the audio and audio-visual.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Effect of Instructional Resources on Physics Students’ Educational Achievement in Senior Secondary School.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that a lot of students lacks interest in learning of physics as subject and the rate of student poor academic achievement in physics is really disturbing, internal and external examination. Also, the poor academic achievement of students in physics has attributed to many factors which are lack of instructional material and skills needed for effective teaching and inability to provide or improvise material relative to the topic depending on the school type.
It is observed that most students complain of being taught principles that seem to be abstract in nature because materials such as textbooks, most board and essential equipment like computer, projector, television and video are not readily available in many schools The implication of this is that many students seem not to be exposed to practical work in physics which is core subject in secondary school science curriculum.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to investigate the Effect of Instructional Resources on Physics Students’ Educational Achievement in Senior Secondary School. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To investigate the availability of physics instructional material for the teaching and learning of Physics in senior secondary schools;
- To ascertain the effectiveness of laboratory and resources in the teaching learning of physics in secondary school;
- To ascertain the relationship between physics instructional materials and academic performance of student; and
- To determine the extent of utilizing the available Physics instructional materials for the teaching and learning of Physics in senior secondary schools in Onitsha.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What are the availability of physics instructional material for the teaching and learning of Physics in senior secondary schools?
- What are the effectiveness of laboratory and resources in the teaching learning of physics in secondary school?
- What is the relationship between physics instructional materials and academic performance of student?
- How often are these instructional materials utilized for the teaching and learning of physics in the area under study?
- What is the extent of utilizing the available Physics instructional materials for the teaching and learning of Physics in senior secondary schools in Onitsha?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There are no availability of physics instructional material for the teaching and learning of Physics in senior secondary schools in Onitsha
- H1: There are availability of physics instructional material for the teaching and learning of Physics in senior secondary schools in Onitsha
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There is no relationship between physics instructional materials and academic performance of student
- H1: There is a relationship between physics instructional materials and academic performance of student
1.7 Significance of Study
The study will provide an insight into the problems associated with laboratory and resources in the teaching learning of physics. The findings of this research will assist in modifying student’s attitude to learn physics since the use of instructional during teaching and learning made the lesson very interesting by having direct contact with the material by touching, smelling or tasting of the object thereby enhancing their performance in the subject in question.
This study will also be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Effect of Instructional Resources on Physics Students’ Educational Achievement in Senior Secondary School using Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
- Lack of Initial Cooperation from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.
1.10 Definition of Terms
Method:
It is the way in which people are organized in order to conduct an educational activity with the purpose of achieving a set goal.
Instructional Material:
Instructional materials are the tools used in educational lessons, which includes active learning and assessment. Basically, any resource a teacher uses to help him teach his students is an instructional material
Techniques:
Is the process by which the learner is associated with the learning task by the teacher, techniques are generally used within a method. They form part of a method of approaching a topic.
Teaching:
This is simply the process of impacting knowledge, it means the process of giving instruction to somebody or causes somebody to know or be able to do something.
Effective:
Successful in producing a desired or intended result
Teaching:
Perhaps the most significant difference between primary school and secondary school teaching is the relationship between teachers and children. In primary schools each class has a teacher who stays with them for most of the week and will teach them the whole curriculum.
Learning:
Learning is the act of acquiring new or modifying and reinforcing existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences which may lead to a potential.
