ABSTRACT
This study sought to investigate the effect of concept mapping instructional strategy on students’ achievement and interest in Economics secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone, Enugu State, Nigeria. It is a quasi-experimental study of non equivalent pretest, posttest control group design. Ten research questions and ten null hypotheses guided the study. A sample of 282 students from four purposively selected secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone, were used for the study. The main instruments for the study consisted of Economics Achievement Test (EAT) and Economic Interest Inventory (EII) which were developed, validated and used for data collection. The instruments (EAT and EII) were trial-tested using Kudder-Richardson (K-R20) and Cronbach Alpha statistics and reliability indices of 0.73 and 0.94 respectively were obtained which guaranteed the use of the instruments for the study. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed among others that students that were taught Economics using concept mapping instructional strategy achieved better than their counterparts taught with the lecture instructional strategy; Students that were taught Economics using concept mapping instructional strategy had higher interest score than their counterparts taught with the lecture instructional strategy and that there is a significant difference between the mean achievement scores of the students taught Economics in secondary schools with concept mapping instructional strategy and those taught with lecture instructional strategy in favour of the experimental group. It concluded among others that when concept mapping instructional strategy is utilized in teaching Economics in secondary schools, students’ achievement and interest would improve. The study recommended among others that the national universities commission (NUC); National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) among other bodies that develop the teacher education programmes should be focused towards preparing economics teachers to acquire appropriate skills in instructional delivery such concept mapping (CM) instructional strategy.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Economics plays vital role in the development of rational decision making abilities on the individuals, firms and the government of the State (country). Meaningful knowledge of Economics could help individuals, firms, and government of the state make rational decisions towards the achievement of their goals for national development. Thus, the reason for introduction of Economics in the curricula of secondary schools in Nigeria is not far- fetched.Many experts in the field of Economics accept that the best definition to the concept of Economics is the one by Robbins (Aderinto & Abdulahi, 2009; Chikezie, 2009). Robbins as far back as 1932 refers to Economics as a social science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. This definition by Robbins reveals different concepts in Economics which if well understood explain what the study of Economics is all about and its benefits to mankind and the economy. As a social science the study of Economics deals with the study of human behaviours in the society. In short human beings and their behaviours are to Economics what laboratory is to chemistry, biology and Physics. Economics explains the behaviour of human beings in relation to scarce resources. Human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses imply that the available resources determine people’s decision on what to eat, do or not to eat or do; Human reactions to his needs are determined by the available resources.
From the foregoing, it could be deduced that Economics deals with the study of choices, opportunity cost, needs and wants of people in the society. Pennington (1999) opines that Economics is the study of choices that people make to satisfy their needs and wants. Sharma (2012) refers to Economics as a subject that studies laws and principles which govern the functioning of an economy and its various parts; that is how a society decides on using its scarce resources to obtain the maximum possible satisfaction for the members of the society whose wants for goods and services are unlimited. Consequently, Hall (2013) states that Economics is the study of how individuals, firms and whole societies identify their most important needs, allocate and manage scarce resources in such a way that satisfy as many needs as possible. Economics as a Social Science deals with human behaviour and allocation of scarce resources.
The above explanation of the concept of Economics informs the contents of its lofty objectives at secondary school level in Nigeria. The objectives of Economics in senior secondary schools as outlined by the Federal Ministry of Education (FME, 2008: ii & iii) include to enable students:
A cursory look at the objectives of Economics explains its relevance to individuals, firms and the nation. The relevance of Economics in individual, firms and national development cannot be over-emphasized. The study of Economics helps man to develop his way of thinking as to be able to analyze economic problems of the society for decision taking (Chikezie, 2009). Chikezie further reiterated that the experience derived from the study of Economics is used to give practical advice to individuals, firms and the government.
The study of Economics helps the individuals, companies, firms and governments in taking decisions that would help the realization of their wants and needs. It helps the government in making decision on which business to embark upon towards building the economy for national development. On the parts of firms and industries, the knowledge of Economics helps them to take decisions on what to produce, for whom to produce, how to produce and efficiency of resource use (Aderinto & Abdullahi, 2009). Thus, Economics has some laudable lofty objectives which prove its position as a social science.
The level of achievement of the objectives of Economics at secondary school level could be determined by the students’ achievement in the subject matter. Achievement according to Hornby (2001) is academic accomplishments of students as a result of exertion of efforts, skills, perseverance and practice. It is the degree or level of success attained at the end of an academic endeavour (Iwundu, 2001). Corroborating this view, Uroko (2010) avers that academic achievement of the individual is learning outcome of the individual. This includes the knowledge, skills and ideas acquired and/ or gained through the course of the study within and outside the classroom situations. Achievement explains educational efforts of the students (Ugwoke, 2014). Ugwoke further reiterates that it refers to the level of success made in academic endeavour. Achievement in education could be related to academic success recorded by the learner in the teaching and learning process. It could be seen as the success students make in their academic pursuit. For example, if a student is able to pass West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) at A, B and C levels, it can be said that the student has made success in the said examination. But if the student in question has made Ds, Es and Fs, it can be said that the student did not succeed in the said examination. This implies that the yardstick for measuring students’ level of academic achievement is by assessing the academic performance of the individual through test (Ernest-Ehibudu & Opurum, 2013).
Despite the importance of Economics as a secondary school subject, students’ achievement in the subject has declined tremendously. Evidence of this poor achievement of students in Economics has been documented by the West African Examination Council’s (WAEC) Chief Examiners’ report (2007; 2009 & 2012). The document states that students’ achievement in Economics is below average. However, In the chief examiner’s report in 2002; 2003; 2007 and 2009May/June WASSCE and also November/December 2004 WASSCE, it was stated that the overall performance of the candidates was fair and the following weaknesses were noticeable among the candidates: Poor coverage of the syllabus, inability to draw and label diagrams properly, inadequate knowledge of the subject matter, outright misinterpretation of some questions and disobedience to the rubrics. Apart from the above general problems, WAEC chief examiners’ report (2004) states that students’ achievement was below average on questions on production possibility curve (PPC). Similarly, WAEC chief examiners’ reports (2009 and 2012) state that students’ achievements on taxation and revenue concepts were very poor. The reason for the poor achievement has been attributed to inability of the students to arrange their points in an orderly manner (WAEC Chief Examiners’ report, 2009).
Achievement of the objectives of Economics in secondary schools can be influenced by certain factors. Among these factors are the instructional strategy used in teaching the subject, students’ interest, gender and school location (Okeke, 2013). According to Nuhu (2014) instructional strategies are the plans for success in classroom instruction. Nuhu further explains that instructional strategy involves the sequencing or ordering of the techniques a teacher intends using in a class. Instructional strategies refer to planned ways on how to carry out teaching and learning exercise for a better academic achievement. Instructional strategies employ some teaching methods and techniques to foster learning (Ezegbe, 2014). Teaching methods broadly deal with all aspects of what happens in a classroom during a teaching learning session and even some times before and after it, including preparation for and remedial work after (Eze, 1998). On the other hand, a teaching technique is a specific way or aspect of a particular method of teaching (Mezieobi, Fubara & Mezieobi, 2013). However, Nuhu (2014) refers to teaching techniques as the specific activities or actions performed by the teacher in the classroom to achieve the goal of instruction.
Some of the commonly identified instructional strategies include: discovery, value clarification, discussion, simulation and game, and dramatization (National Teachers’ Institute, NTI, 2006). The NTI has therefore recommended a new approach for the teaching and learning of Social Sciences in schools called the learner-centered instructional strategy. According to the Federal Ministry of Education (FME, 2008), the instructional strategies for teaching Economics as a living subject should include collaborative, interactive and learner-oriented instructional strategies. The FME further breaks the instructional strategies to include future’s wheel, entre education, concept mapping, field trips, co-operative learning instructional strategies among others.
However, most Economics teachers in secondary schools go about using the lecture instructional strategy. This proposition is in line with Ogunleye (2002) and Igbokwe (2010) who states that the dominant instructional strategy adopted by teachers in developing countries like Nigeria is the lecture instructional strategy. Lecture instructional strategy refers to an instructional strategy where the teacher claims an all knowing position and authoritatively gives instructions to the learners who are passive listeners (Akpochafo, 2014). It involves the teacher telling students facts about a particular topic ( e.g concept of revenue) and expecting those students to recount what they have been told (Aguokagbue, 2006). Lecture stresses on the traditional view that the learner is almost blank and it is the teacher’s role to impart knowledge to fill the blank by merely telling his students who function as passive listeners (Oyebola, 2014). Lecture as an instructional strategy has many advantages. it can be used in teaching large class, enhances economy of time, easy coverage of content, creates interest and appreciation on learners and supplements and enriches materials found in students’ textbooks (Ezeani, 1998).
However, lecture instructional strategy encourages rote memorization of concepts instead of making learning participatory and/ or interactive (Ezegbe, Okeke & Chikwelu, 2013). It focuses entirely on intellectual development and ignores experiential learning. It teaches students how to succeed on standardized tests and relies mostly on the use of the intellect. Obviously, this instructional strategy has failed to bring about the desired outcome of producing thinking students. Thus, some scholars have blamed students’ poor achievement to the dominant use of lecture instructional strategy (Torty & Offorma, 2013). Therefore, there is the need for teachers to have a change of style in order to be able to meet the demands of the 21st century students. In the light of this, an alternative teaching strategy like concept mapping could be used.
Concept mapping originates from concept maps. According to Rao (2015), concept maps are diagrammatic representations which show meaningful relationships between concepts in the form of propositions which are linked together by words, circles, and cross links. According to Horton, McConney, Gallo, Woods, Senn, and Hamelin (1993), concept mappings are identified as two-dimensional, hierarchical, node-linked diagrams that depict verbal conceptual or declarative knowledge in succinct visual or graphical forms. Thus, concept mapping is a structured process focused on a topic or construct of interest involving input from one or more participants that produces an interpretable pictorial view of their ideas and concepts and how these are interrelated (Yusuf, 2009). In concept maps ideas are arranged hierarchically with the super ordinate concepts at the top of the map, and subordinate at the bottom which are less inclusive than higher ones. “Cross links” are used to connect different segments of the concepts’ hierarchy, which indicate syntheses of related concepts, a new interpretation of old ideas, and some degree of creative thinking.
Learning through concept mapping is explained by the constructivist theory (Vygotsky, 1978), as a hand on task learning that encourages experiential learning. Stoica, Moranu and Miron (2011) opines that constructivist learning theory argues that new knowledge should be integrated into existing structures in order to be remembered and receive meaning. Concept mapping stimulates this process by making it explicit and by requiring the learner to pay attention to the relationship between concepts. In concept mapping instructional strategy the relationships or inter-relationship of a new concept/idea with existing or already known concept/idea is presented diagrammatically and in a hierarchical order (Smith & Dwyer, 1995). Hierarchical presentation of ideas usually from simple to complex could enhance students’ achievement and interest in a subject. When this is true, it is the intention of the researcher to investigate the effect of concept mapping on students’ achievement and interest in Economics in secondary schools.
Interest is an important variable in the teaching and learning of Economics. Interest is a persisting inclination to be attentive and enjoy some activities or contents (Chukwu, 2002). Interest according to Hidi & Renninger (2006) is a relatively enduring predisposition to re-engage with particular content, such as objects, events, ideas and task. Corroborating this view, Ainley cited in Raymond (2013) defines interest as a feeling that accompanies or causes special attention to an object or class of objects. According to Torty and Offorma (2013) interest is emotionally oriented behavioural trait which determines a student’s urge and vigor to tackle educational programmes or other activities. Interest refers to the degree of likeness a student demonstrates over a subject of study that gives him/her the motivation to put in more efforts in the subject for a better academic achievement. Suitable teaching methods increase students’ interest which leads to higher achievement. (Chukwu, 2002). Bakare (1991) opines that interest is useful in predicting the success and the satisfaction which an individual is likely to obtain from engaging in certain activities. According to Ezegbe, Ikwumelu & Okeke (2012) students do well in a subject they are interested in more than the one they have no interest in. It is therefore necessary that appropriate instructional strategy should be used to enhance students’ interest in learning Economics.
Apart from interest, gender is another vital variable in teaching and learning. Gender according to Uzoegwu (2004) is varied socially and culturally constructed roles, qualities and behaviour that are ascribed to men and women of different societies. Okeke (2008) refers to gender as the social or cultural characteristics, rotes or behaviour which males and females are known for by society. Onyegegebu (2008) defines gender as the sum total of cultural values, attitudes, roles practices and characteristics based on sex. Onyegegebu further described sex as the innate biological differences between women and men. Gender in this study is social definition of sex roles rather than the biological distinction between male and female. Thus some arguments emphasize that male read certain subjects and some others are reserved specifically for females. Thus, attributing failures or successes of students to some prejudices that some subjects are made for males (masculine subject) while others are made for males (feminine subjects). On the issue of gender and achievement, many researchers shared divergent views (Okeke, 2013). Accordingly, Onuoha (2010) found that male and female students have almost equal achievement in social studies when exposed to concept mapping instructional strategy.
On the other hand, Egbe, Mba and Nebechukwu (2010) state that gender is a significant factor in the achievement of students in drama in favour of males. Although some researchers, Ugwuanyi (2012) reported that girls did better than boys in students’ conceptual understanding of force and motion. Ndina and Wagbara (2012) showed that girls had greater influence on their attitude towards chemistry than boys. On the other hand, Ukozor (2011) reported that boys achieved better than girls in sciences. However, other researchers, Nzewi ( 2010) and Okeke (2007) showed that gender has insignificant effect on science achievement. These unresolved controversies among researchers on the influence of gender on students’ achievement make this study necessary.
Another important variable in teaching and learning is the school location. School location refers to where a school is sited. Ezeudu (2003) states that school location is the urban-rural setting of a school. It shows whether a school is sited in the town or in the rural area. A school that is planted in town such as Community High School, Emene, Girls’ Secondary School, Emene, New, Havens Boys’ School, Enugu could have students from different backgrounds such the poor and the rich children co-existing in a school as a result of heterogeneous nature of the town environment. Students in the urban area could have the privilege of having qualified teachers, facilities that foster learning. On the other hand, schools sited in the rural area like Community Secondary School, Mbu, Community Secondary School, Umualor, and Community Secondary School, Eha-Ohuala could be dominated by students from poor backgrounds and may have poorly staffed schools and poor facilities as a result of the underdeveloped nature of the rural areas. These factors could influence students’ academic achievement.
Consequently, there are disagreements among scholars on the influence of school location on students’ interest and achievement. Some scholars argue that school location has no significant influence on students’ achievement (Okeke, 2013 and Okonkwo, 2014). Some scholars reported that school location had effect on students’ achievement. Oyedokun and James (2001) and Orukokan and Balogun (2001) state that urban school students with available science facilities performed better than their rural counterparts where such facilities are lacking. On the contrary, Otor (2013) states that rural students performed better than their urban counterparts when exposed to concept mapping strategy in teaching structure of matter and energy changes in chemistry. On the other hand some scholars maintain that both the urban and rural students could have almost equal achievement when exposed to a practical instructional strategy (Okeke, 2013; Okonkwo, 2014).
In all, studies have shown that effect of concept mapping instructional strategy on students’ achievement has been investigated in other areas of study (Adesola & Salako, 2013; Eriba, 2013; Wushishi, Danjuma & Usman, 2013). However, from the reviewed empirical studies, little or no study has been conducted on the effect of concept mapping instructional strategy on students’ achievement and interest in Economics in secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone, Enugu State, Nigeria with particular reference to gender and school location their interaction effect with treatment to influence students’ achievement and interest in Economics. To this end, this study investigated the effect of concept mapping instructional strategy on students’ achievement and interest in Economics in secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone, Enugu State, Nigeria?’
Statement of the Problem
It is the expectation of stake holders in education that students have better achievement in all the subjects offered in secondary schools. However, this expectation seems unrealizable as students record poor achievement in different subject areas economics inclusive. Evidence of this poor achievement of students in Economics has been documented by the West African Examination Council’s (WAEC) Chief Examiners’ report (2007; 2009 & 2012). The document states that students’ achievement in Economics is below average. However, In the chief examiner’s report in 2002; 2003; 2007 and 2009May/June WASSCE and also November/December 2004 WASSCE, it was stated that the overall performance of the candidates was fair and the following weaknesses were noticeable among the candidates: Poor coverage of the syllabus, inability to draw and label diagrams properly, inadequate knowledge of the subject matter, outright misinterpretation of some questions and disobedience to the rubrics. Apart from the above general problems the WAEC chief examiners’ report (2004) states that students’ achievement was below average on questions on production possibility curve (PPC). Similarly, WAEC chief examiners’ reports (2009 & 2012) state that students’ achievements on taxation and revenue concepts were very poor. The reason for the poor achievement has been attributed to inability of the students to arrange their points in an orderly manner. However, the WEAC chief examiners’ report 2007 attributes the issues of poor achievement to instructional strategy used in teaching and learning. However, some researchers attributed the case of poor achievement to dwindled interest of the learner on the subject matter, and other factors like gender and school location. Thus, the problem of this study put in question form is ‘what is the effect of concept mapping instructional strategy on students’ achievement and interest in Economics in Enugu Education Zone.
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study was to find out the effect of concept mapping instructional strategy on students’ achievement and interest in Economics in Enugu education zone. Specifically, the study investigated:-
(10) the interaction effect of treatment and school location on students’ interest in Economics in secondary schools
Significance of the Study
The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical significance. The theoretical significance of this study was anchored on Bruner’s view of discovery learning, Ausubel’s assimilation theory and Vygotsky’s constructivist theory that seem to believe in participatory learning towards fascinating students’ interest on the learnt materials and promoting students’ achievement. The findings of this study would help strengthen or refute Bruner, Ausubel and Vygotsky’s theories which believe in discovery learning through active involvement of the learners on the learning task. This suggests that with the concept mapping instructional strategy students through drawing of the concept maps and identifying the relationship between the main ideas of a concept could have deep understanding of the concept. This would fascinate the students’ interest on the concept thereby enhancing academic achievement.
Practically, the findings of the study would benefit the students, professional economics teachers, researchers and curriculum planners. The students would benefit from the result of this study when published, in that it would enable them to learn how to understand the links among the main ideas of a concept towards indepth learning of the concept. When students through drawing of the concept maps can learn the main ideas of a concept, their interests would be aroused towards a better academic achievement in the subject matter. It would make them to be engaged all through the instructional processes as concept mapping instructional strategy enhances participatory and/ or practical learning.
To the professional Economics teachers, it will make their teaching more practical and participatory. This is because the students would be anxious to get the information the concept maps being drawn by the teacher tends to convey thereby constructing meaning out of the concept mapping even before the teacher ends the instruction. This could help make the teaching easy and learning more practical.
Future researchers in the field of social science education would find this study relevant when published. It would help them to identify a theory that can explain their study; the design to be used and method of analysis precisely when their studies share with the nature of this study. This would help make research work less labourous.
Finally, Curriculum planners can use the outcome of this study when published to improve their curriculum decisions on effective participatory instructional strategies for teaching and learning of Economics in secondary schools for improved academic achievement. This would help reduce the rate at which students fail the subjects towards enhancing their decision making powers for individual and national development.
Scope of the Study
This study was limited to the effect of concept mapping instructional strategy on students’ achievement and interest in economics in secondary schools in Enugu Education zone, Enugu State. Senior secondary two (SSII) Economics students were used for the study.
The content scope of the study included SSII Economics Units such as concept of revenue, production possibility curve (PPC), public finance and taxation. The reason for choice of the above topics was that they can yield to concept mapping instructional strategy. Students can draw their concept maps and from that have in-depth knowledge of the topics for improved academic achievement and interest.
Research Questions
There were ten research questions in this study that helped to find solution to the problems of the study. They were as follows:
Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses guided the study and were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
H01: There is no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught Economics in secondary schools with concept mapping instructional strategy and those taught with lecture instructional strategy.
H02: There is no significant difference between the mean interest scores of students taught Economics in secondary schools with concept mapping and those taught with lecture instructional strategy.
H03: Gender does not significantly influence students’ mean achievement scores in Economics in secondary schools.
H04: Gender does not significantly influence students’ mean interest scores in Economics in secondary schools.
H05: There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on students’ academic achievement in Economics in secondary schools.
H06:
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