CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
One of the fundamental rights for every human being is education. Education prepares the individual for changes in life.
Consequently Gujjar, Khan, Baig, Ramzan, and Saifi (2010) opined that education does not only deliver information but for developing complete personality of the child.
In Nigeria there are three levels of education; primary, secondary, tertiary level. Secondary education is the level between primary and tertiary education. It equally prepares students to be productive members of the society (Jegede and Owolabi, 2003). In developed countries, secondary school is seen as the gateway to providing not only citizens but also a capable workforce.
According to the world bank in etim (2006), secondary education is now being recognized as the cornerstone of educational system in the 21st century. It is therefore means that quality secondary education is indispensible in creating a bright future for individuals and nations alike.
Economics is one of the subjects in secondary schools. It is an important subject that is being taught in the secondary schools. Economics is important both to the students and the society at large because it cuts across all spheres of human endeavors.
Professor lord Robbins, 1932 defined economics as a science that studies human behaviors as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. The above definition is widely accepted by the generality of economics and the main fundamental problems of man wants, scarcity, choice, exchange and opportunity cost.
Economics according to Horny, 1973, is the study of production and distribution of money and goods of a country. It is the study of how the people of the society choose to use their limited resources like land, capital, labor, goods and technical knowledge to provide various goods and services for the consumption of the people in the society.
Economics is relevant to the field of science and art. It enables the individual to think in the sense that he or she is able to apply its principles to solve practical problems and avoid unnecessary cost mistakes; it enables the individual to understand better relationship between himself and his fellow human beings in his effort to make a living.
Notwithstanding, it has been observed that there are many problems militating against teaching and learning of economics in secondary schools as enumerated by many writers on problems of economics in Nigeria. They attributed that the high level of failures in economics to lack of students concentrations in the classroom, their view steamed from observed students performance in economics. Thus, observed failure could be as a result of inability of the students to understand economics terms of lack of finance to buy relevant textbooks, inadequate teachers, inability of the students to interpret economics tables and graphs, inappropriate and ineffective method of teaching, lack of control over the students attitudes and teachers attitudes and others which have contributed to the low level of teaching economics in secondary schools.
Okorie, 1979, suggested that for effective teaching to take place, the
Skillful teacher needs to use the many effective method and techniques effectively because in them his success and failure depends. He also emphasized that the success in the use of methods depends on the intelligent analysis of educational purposes, students in the class and the curriculum contents at the moment.
Teaching at any level of education is to bring a fundamental change in the learner (Tebabal and Kahssay, 2011). To facilitate the process of knowledge transmission, teachers are to apply appropriate teaching technique that best suit specific objectives and level of outcomes. Research on teaching and learning constantly endeavors to examine the extent to which different teaching technique enhance growth in student learning Hightower, 2011). Quite remarkably, rampant poor academic performance by the majority of students is fundamentally linked to application of ineffective teaching technique by teachers to impact knowledge to learner (Adunola, 2011). Effectiveness of teaching technique indicates that the quality of teaching is often reflected to the achievement of the learners.
According to Ayeni, (2011), teaching is a process that involves bringing about desirable changes in learners to achieve specific outcomes. Adunola (2011), Maintains that teachers need to be conversant with numerous teaching methods that take recognition of the magnitude of complexity of the concepts to be covered, if teaching is to be effective. It is likely true that successful learning depends on various factors other than that of the teacher. The technique that a teacher uses continues to play an important role in students’ learning and in their academic achievement. The challenges that educators face in the 21st century are so diverse that using better teaching methods is more crucial now than ever before. Demonstration method of teaching is one of the many teaching learning style under the investigation or activity based.
Demonstration method involves showing by reason or proof, explaining or making clear by use of examples or experiments, it means “to clearly show”. It is a method which is capable of improving learning through its diversity effect activity. Demonstration technique often occurs when students have a hard time connecting theories to actual practice or when students are unable to understand application of theories. This method enables concepts and processes to be observed directly, which in turn makes learning easier. When teaching Economics in secondary School, teachers are often facing various problems related on how they can make their students understand basic economic phenomena, relevant terms and their application in everyday life. In order to overcome such problems, teachers must discover and apply new teaching techniques which are compatible with the needs, the interests and the abilities of their students. Therefore this study is aimed to assess the strategies used to enhance teaching and learning of economics of students during the teaching process and to examine the extent to which this technique can contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning. Instructional strategies are all the things the teachers uses to aid the learners in their learning process; they are the means used to bring about effective teaching and learning.
According to Obara and Okoh (2005) regards instructional strategies and materials as “all the things the teacher utilizes to interactively enhance, motivate and facilitate teaching and learning in an attempt to ensuring the achievement of a set objectives.”
The effectiveness of instructional materials and strategies depends upon the manner and degree to which they meet the needs of the teacher and students. Instructional strategies and materials are selected based on the principles of provision of accurate materials that will enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration the interest, abilities and maturity levels of the students. Teachers should be encouraged in every way to use instructional strategies as it makes learning more concrete and meaningful (Buseri and Dorgu 2011).
Teaching brings about understanding; it involves a teacher, a learner and subject matter and teaching materials. Therefore to bring about learning, the teacher engages in certain activities such as talking, demonstration, and give instruction etc, all these are the various strategies to bring about learning (Adediran 2014).
Teachers need to use different instructional strategies to ensure students centered method in the classroom for creativity, innovative and critical thinking purpose in students. Classroom teaching is likely to be more effective when it is informed by an understanding of how students learn. It is therefore important that, the major implications of instructional strategies be reflected in classroom practice. In recent times, emerging research findings seem to show that oriented instructional strategies are becoming increasingly popular in the teaching of various subjects in the secondary school level of education in Nigeria, (Osakwe 2009).
These instructional strategies involve resolution of problems, active practice participations of learners in the teaching process and emphasis on process rather than products of learning. Some of these strategies and approaches according to Osakwe (2009) are categorized under conventional and innovative appraises, instructional strategies which are classified under conventional are mostly those routine, well-knowing ones which teachers use predominantly. They are usually teacher-centered with little or no activities for students. These include teaching method like lecture, story-telling, recitation, etc, on the other hand, the innovative strategies include those ones that are much more recent which are predominantly learner-centered. These include questioning, inquiry/problem solving, role-play and dramatization (Adediran 2014).
Effective teaching in secondary schools should be predominantly students directed interactive learning achievement oriented activities inside and outside the formal classroom situation in which the learner actively participates and makes a conscious and deliberate effort to induce and acquire significant learning under the teacher serving as a learning collaborator, director, guide a catalyst, a helper.
Statement of the problem
Economics being taught in secondary schools has been observed that student performed poorly in the 2012 May/June senior certificate examination.
It has also been observed that there are lots of factors militating against the effective teaching and learning in the secondary schools in this study area.
Poor performance in secondary school certificate examination WAEC is caused by many factors such as students ineffective study techniques, quality of teachers and methods of teaching and problem of inadequate instructional materials for teaching and learning of economics in schools.
The teacher does not teach with the most relevant, meaningful and useful materials for specific students, he must recognize and adopt a good and well-researched technique of teaching that guarantees better understanding and also stimulates and motivate the students.
Purpose of the study
This study will try to assess the strategies that is used to enhance the teaching and learning of economics in Awgu local government area of Enugu state.
- To find out the strategies for effective teaching and learning of economics in senior secondary schools
- To find out how the teachers make use of these strategies in effective teaching and learning of economics in senior secondary schools
- To find out how students are adapting to these strategies for effective teaching and learning of economics.
Significance of the study
There is the need to apply knowledge from economics to many area of our life in other to benefit the society. The achievement of the objectives necessitates an understanding of the basic teaching of economics. We cannot attain national objectives in the light of poor or average performances in examination and lack of application of economics to student life.
This study will help to make our educational administrators to see the need to have qualified economics teacher to handle the subject effectively for the benefit of the students and society at large. It will also sensitize the educational administrators to appreciate the need to make available the necessary materials such as chalkboard, graphs, audio visual material e t c. that will enhance effective teaching and learning of economics if they are not available. This study will help the economics teachers to adopt more appropriate teaching methods in order to bring about desirable changes in the learners and it will also provide information to economics teachers for formation and evaluation of their plans.
To the learners, it will be useful to them because they will be able to identify the factors enhancing teaching and learning of economics. It will also help to produce sound economics students that will function very well in the society.
Scope of the study
The study intends to assess the strategies used to enhance teaching and learning of economics in secondary schools in Awgu local Government area of Enugu state.
Definitions of terms
Assessment – Educational assessment is a systematic process of documenting and using empirical data on the knowledge, skill, attitudes, and beliefs to refine programs and improve students’ learning. It also refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning process, skill acquisition or educational needs of students. Assessment is carried out to see what the students know, understand and are able to do.
Strategies – A strategy is a general plan or set of plans intended to achieve something. It is also a method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem.
Teaching – teaching is the process of impacting knowledge to the learner. It is an activities aimed at the achievement of learning and practicing in such a manner as to respect the students, intellectual, integrity and capacity for independent judgment. Obanya, (2014) pointed out that teaching is series of interrelated activities engaged in the teacher to bring about changes in the learner.
Economics – Economics is a social science concerned with the description and analysis of production, description and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behavior and interactions of economics agents and how economics works.
ASSESSMENT OF STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ECONOMICS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL IN AWGU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA ENUGU STATE
