CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The influence of instructional materials in promoting students’ academic performance and teaching and learning in educational development is indisputable. The teaching of Economics in Nigerian secondary schools needs to be properly handled. The materials used by teachers to teach and drive home their subject points at the primary and secondary school levels of our education system is incontrovertibly a paramount important issue in practical classroom interaction and successful transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the learners. Instructional materials are materials which assist teachers to make their lessons explicit to learners. They are also used to transmit information, ideas and notes to learners (Ijaduola (1997). Instructional materials include both visuals and audiovisuals such as pictures, flashcards, posters, charts, tape recorder, radio, video, television, computers among others. These materials serve as supplement to the normal processes of instruction. Economics as a subject came into existence in 1776 via the publication of Adam Smith – the protagonist of the classical school of thought; and since then, it has assumed many roles especially in both political and educational circles.

The study of Economics is dichotomised into two major parts, namely microeconomics and macroeconomics. While microeconomics studies the behaviour and operations of the individual units (households, firms and government agencies) in the economy, macroeconomics studies the entire economy in aggregates and averages (Umoh, 2007). According to Aromolaran (2006), three major languages are used in teaching and communicating Economic ideas. These languages include theory or verbal, geometric or graphical, and algebraic or mathematical language. Economics is an important subject that must be credited by students before gaining admission into any tertiary institution especially the university to study relevant courses like Accountancy, Business Administration, Insurance, etc. The importance and technicality of this subject makes it necessary that relevant instructional materials should be used to teach it to the learners. This fact is supported by Macaulay (1989) who asserts that visual aids make lesson come alive and help students to learn better. It is against this background that this study attempts to examine the extent to which the utilization of instructional materials could advance senior secondary school students performance 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 instructional materials. The teaching of Economics without instructional materials 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 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, and in a period of economic recession, it may be very difficult to find some of the electronic gadgets and equipment for the teaching of Economics in schools adequately. A situation that is further compounded by the galloping inflation in the country and many at times, some of the imported sophisticated materials and equipment are found expensive and irrelevant; hence the need to produce materials locally. Researchers such as Obioha (2006) and Ogunleye (2002) reported that there were inadequate resources for teaching Science subjects in secondary schools in Nigeria. They further stated that the available ones are not usually in good conditions. There is the need therefore, for improvisation. Adebimpe (1997) and Daramola, (2008) however noted that improvisation demands adventure, creativity, curiosity and perseverance on the part of the teacher, such skills are only realizable through well-planned training programme on improvisation.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The act of teaching is fundamentally concerned with passing ideas, skills and attitude from the teacher to the learner. In Nigeria, for example experience has shown that spoken words alone in the communication of ideas are grossly ineffective and inefficient in producing desired learning outcomes. Every year, when the results of public examination are released, there has always been mass failure in Economics. The reason for this could be ascribed to the fact that there are topics in Economics that pose serious problem of comprehension to students. These topics cannot be taught effectively without the use of relevant instructional materials to make the learning practical. On the foregoing, scholars like Mutebi and Matora (1994) have emphasized the effect of instructional materials utilization on teaching and learning. According to them, we learn and remember 10% of what we hear, 40% of what we discuss with others and as high as 80% of what we experience directly or practice. However, the questions here are: does the use of instructional materials really influence students’ academic performance? Is teaching effectiveness enhanced by the use of instructional materials? Could students’ learning be advanced by the use of instructional materials? Finding answers to these questions and more summarizes the entire problem of this study.