Strategies For Improving Students’ Interest In The Learning Of History In Secondary Schools In Owerri Municpal Council, Imo State

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research work is to ascertain the strategies for improving students’ interest in the learning of history in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Council , Imo State. A descriptive survey was adopted using a sample of nine (9) secondary schools, seventy-two (72)  Accounts teachers and two hundred and eighty-eight (288) senior secondary schools (S.S.S.3) student selected randomly from schools in Owerri Municipal Council. The questionnaires were constructed based on fixed model questions of either yes or no point value and were administered to the selected Senior Secondary Schools in Owerri Municipal Council to elicit answers to the research questions. The data gotten were analyzed using statistical table and percentages. Based on the responses, the researchers found out that most of the secondary schools in Owerri Municipal do not have adequate instructional materials for their lessons. The researchers therefore recommended that government, teachers and parents should help to provide adequate instructional materials to secondary schools for students to learn. The government should provide fund as well as incentives to the schools. Finally, the implementation of adequate instructional materials have to be supervised and evaluated so as to determine the outcome of teaching and learning of History in secondary schools in Imo State.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 1.1     Background of the Study 

Every subject is unique and focuses towards the achievement of some desirable goals and thus must be taught in the most appropriate manner to improve students’ interest in learning backed by adequate material and methods. Education is the most important component in human development; and the basic medium towards the acquisition of this education is teaching. Therefore teaching is a process or an act of causing an individual to learn and understand what is being taught.

History is a subject in senior secondary school that generates opportunity for mutual interaction and analysis between history teachers and the students. However,  when students in senior secondary schools attend History class, they often have little background knowledge in History and no background knowledge in its methodology. However, it is during research that students often begin to develop or solidify their ideas about the subject (History). Consequently, creating interesting programmes that students find challenging and rewarding is one way to bring in more students to study History in the secondary schools in Obowo Local Government  Area in Imo State. To achieve this, History teachers can make use of primary sources or technology in presentations and research (Azubuike, 2011).

Furthermore, studies have shown that the use of instructional materials in secondary schools by History teachers is perceived to be the appropriate method of delivering the ideas, theories and data of historical inquiry. Similarly, if history teachers in secondary schools in Obowo Local Government  Area carry out effective method for teaching and learning of History for diverse learners in today’s schools, and combined it with active discussion and exercises that involve the use of historical materials, it will go a long way to impact positively on students’ academic performance and boost their interest in the learning of History.

Moreso, how effectively History teachers respond to the methods and materials of History can have repercussions on History’s perceived value to secondary school students in Obowo Local Government Area. Hence there is need for History teachers to be committed to effective teaching of History in secondary schools because History is an important subject in secondary school curriculum that bridges the gap between the past and the present. It encompasses a broad spectrum of academic fields such as Government and Civic Education even though they are often viewed as independent disciplines. Akpan (2010) maintains that as part of strategies to improve students’ interest in the learning of History in secondary schools, History teachers can use a method that combines skills in reading, writing and analysis to achieve specific goals. He further stated that students are enrolled in secondary schools where they are expected to acquire knowledge in order to pass proficiency tests in History.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

Students’ poor performance in History between 2013 and 2015 in external examinations in some of the secondary schools in Obowo Local Government Area of Imo State has discouraged many potential History students from studying it as a course in tertiary institutions.

Secondary school teachers (including History teachers) in Obowo Local Government Area in Imo State whose monthly remuneration are being  delayed by the government for several months lack the morale to map out strategies to improve students’ interest in the learning of History; hence this had made many students to abandon History as a subject.

As a result of inadequate supply of modern textbooks in History in the secondary schools in Obowo Local Government Area, many students have lost interest in the learning of history in the secondary schools believing that History as a subject has gone into extinction.

When History teachers teach for about forty five minutes without making the class interactive, the students often find the subject (History) boring hence they lose interest in the learning of History. Furthermore, teachers who lack the basic qualifications to teach History in secondary schools in Obowo Local Government Area have done more harm than good because one of the characteristics of a qualified teacher is the ability to promote emotional and psychological health among his/her students in order to improve their interest in a given subject and enhance better academic performance.

Consequently, this study have been poised to investigate the factors that hinder the effecting teaching and learning of Biologyin secondary schools in Ehime Mbano L.G.A in Imo State.

The inadequate use of instructional materials have created many confusions, intellectual, psychological and emotional imbalances, lack of understanding and vacuum at some stage of learning experiences. Students are thus given half-baked knowledge and as a result perform poorly in internal and external examinations.

The utilization of instructional materials by history teachers for effective  teaching and learning of History in secondary schools in Imo State has been undermined and thus has become a problem. All these are what the researchers are investigating.

1.3     Scope of the Study

          The strategies for improving students interest in the learning of History in secondary schools are numerous but this study will focus on how these strategies can be used to improve the interest of secondary school students in History in Obowo Local Government Area of Imo State. Consequently, this will go a long way to enhance better academic performance of the students in History.

1.4     Purpose of the Study

          The purpose of this study is on strategies for improving students’  interest in the learning of History in secondary schools in Obowo Local Government Area. Specifically, the study sought to

1. To determine the general attitude of teachers and students to History as a subject.
2. To find out if History teachers in the secondary schools in Obowo Local Government Area consider the use of instructional materials necessary in the teaching of the subject.
3. To examine the extent History teachers are being motivated for effective teaching and learning of History.
4. To examine how the attitude of History teachers towards the teaching of History in the secondary schools in Obowo Local Government Area can improve students’ interest in the learning of History.
5. To determine the effects of the utilization of instructional materials by History teachers on students’ academic performance.

1.5   Significance of the Study

The expectation/results of this study will be useful to the teachers, parents, students, the Government and society at large. Therefore, having identified the problems, it becomes the sole responsibilities of the teachers to device a means to meet up with the required standard of teaching History effectively; knowing that when the teachers are encouraged, the students would be influenced by the teachers’ attitudes and this will go a long way to increase their own interest and attitudes towards the subject (History).

Furthermore,

1. This research will help curriculum planners to build their content and objectives with proper consideration to the time required for preparation and provision of instructional materials needed for teaching and learning of History.
2. The study will help to increase the interest of the students in History subject and also improve their performance on the subject.
3. The study will help educational policy makers to improve the teaching of History in secondary schools by making provision on the supply of instructional materials in schools.
4. The findings of this study will serve as a reference material to future researchers.

1.6     Research Questions

The following research questions were used to guide the study:

1. What is the general attitude of teachers and students to History as a subject?
2. Do History teachers in the secondary schools in Obowo Local Government Area consider the use of instructional materials necessary in the teaching?
3. To what extent are History teachers being motivated for effective teaching and learning of History.
4. In what ways can the attitude of History teachers towards the teaching of History improve students’ interest in the learning of History?
5. What are the effects of the utilization of instructional materials by History teachers on students’ interest and their academic performance?

Pages:  56

Category: Project

Format:  Word & PDF        

Chapters: 1-5

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.