Effective use of Instructional Media in the Teaching of Geography in Some Secondary Schools in Buea municipality
Department: Curriculum Studies and Teaching
No of Pages: 88
Project Code: CST8
References: Yes
Cost: 5,000XAF Cameroonian
: $15 for International students
ABSTRACT
The
aim of this study was to find out the impact of instructional Media in the
teaching of Geography in some secondary schools in Buea municipality. Three
research questions, which include what, are the effects of textbooks on the
teaching of geography in some secondary school in Buea municipality.
In
what way do real objects affect the teaching of geography in some secondary
schools in Buea municipality? In addition, how do audio-visual materials affect
the teaching of geography in some secondary schools in Buea municipality? A
survey research design was employing for the study. Sample population of the
study made up of 55 teachers selected randomly from 10 schools within the Buea
municipality.
The
instrument used for data collection was questionnaires. Data was analysed using
the simple percentage method. The results showed that instructional media
develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes in students for them to perform better
and later gain employability skills, that the use of textbooks alone cannot
develop skills and knowledge in students, real objects are interactive tools
that support exploration, investigation, constructing solutions, and
manipulating parameters instead of memorizing and retaining a series of facts.
It
was recommended that textbooks could not be avoided in the teaching learning
process. Therefore, for the teaching of Geography to be effective in secondary
schools, teachers must use a variety of instructional media alongside
recommended textbooks. This will ensure that students develop the necessary knowledge,
skills, and attitudes and improve student’s grades in the teaching learning
process.
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Geography
is an important school subject at secondary school level in Cameroon and
elsewhere in the world. Therefore, quality of Geography education is of great
concern for the stakeholders in education. Geography as a field of study
integrates diverse concepts and skills, which demands availability of a variety
of resources for effective teaching learning.
The
quality of Geography education in secondary schools is affected by several
factors like quality of teachers, teaching methods, use of teaching materials,
quality of students, management of the school, geography laboratory for
students to mention a few. Teaching is an art, which helps to transmit
information, ideas, values, and concepts to the students to bring about
positive changes in the behavioural pattern of the learners.
According
to Damar (2004) teaching is an act of organizing curricular and other resources
to enhance learning. Teaching aid is one important resource, which supplements
teaching to make it more effective. According to lbeneme (2000), teaching aids
or instructional materials are those materials used in the classrooms or
workshops for instruction or demonstration purposes by students and teachers.
This
study examines the effects of instructional materials on the teaching of
Geography in some secondary schools in Buea Municipality. The rest of this
chapter examines the background of the study, the statement of the problem, the
research objective, and the research questions. he significance of the problem,
the research objective, the research questions, the significance of the study,
the scope of the study, operational definition of terms and finally the summary
of the whole chapter.
Background of the Study
Reiser
(2001) defined instructional media, as the physical means via which instruction
is presented to learners’ Instructional mediums are the different ways to
present information to learners. To understand the history of instructional
media. This study is going to focus on the evolution of learning while
utilizing instructional mediums other than the actual teacher, such as
chalkboards, textbooks, and computers.
Historically,
in 1900's, teachers were the primary means in which instruction was presented
to learners. However, in 1905, the first school museum was built in St. Louis
(Reiser, 2001). School museums housed supplemental instructional materials that
could aid teachers when teaching different topics. Increased interest in visual
media and instructional films led to the visual instruction movement.
In
1910, the first catalog of instructional films was developed to be used in the
classroom (Reiser, 2001). Thomas Edison predicted in 1913, "Books will
soon be obsolete in schools. Scholars will soon be instructed through the eye.
It is possible to teach every branch of knowledge with the motion picture.
Our
school system will be completely changed in the next 10 years" (Reiser,
2001), As a result, five national professional organizations were established
for visual instruction, five journals began to publish information about visual
instruction, and more than 20 teacher-training institutions began offering
visual instruction courses (Reiser, 2001).
During
the 1920s-1930s technological advances increased interest in instructional
media and as a result the audiovisual instruction movement began. In 1923, the
Association for Educational Communications and Technology was founded (Reiser,
2001). In addition, by the early 1930s people believed, that due to the
advances in radio broadcasting, that the radio would be a medium that would
revolutionize education (Reiser, 2001).
Unfortunately,
the radio did not have as big of an imper on instructional practices as
audiovisual enthusiasts predicted in the 1940s, World War II led instructional
designers to design and develop Instructional films that would train military
personnel for combat (Reiser, 2001). Instructional films were also developed to
aid US citizens that were entering the business and industry field (Reiser,
2001).
The
films were successful because they could train individuals quicker without
taking away training effectiveness. At the end of World War II, the German
Chief of General Staff stated, "We had everything calculated perfectly
except the speed with which America was able to train its people.
Our
major miscalculation was in underestimating their quick and complete mastery of
film education" (Reiser, 2001). Given the success of the military films,
there was a renewed interest in instructional films for classroom use in
schools.
Media
comparison research studies compared how much students learned after being
presented with instruction via a specific instructional medium, such as film
and radio, with how much students learned through teacher-led instruction on
the same topic (Reiser, 2001).
During
the 1950s, leaders in the audio-visual movement became interested in theories
and models of communication (Reiser, 2001). Authors of the models stated that
when planning for communication it is important to think about each stage of
the communication process. The process involved sending a message through a channel
or instructional medium to reach the receiver of the information (Reiser,
2001).
In
1963, David Berlo emphasized that communication was primary, and that media was
secondary. Communicating is essential for learning to occur. Instructional
television made a huge growth during the 1950s as well. In 1952, the Federal
Communications Commission set aside 242 channels for educational purposes
(Reiser, 2001).
Unfortunately,
some people believed that the instructional quality of some of the programs
were mediocre. Along with teacher resistance, installation expenses, maintained
expenses, and the mediocrity of the instructional television programs
instructional television was discorded by the mid) Vots (Roser, 2001). By the
early 1970s, instructional media still had not made a big impact on educational
practices.
In
the 1950x computers were utilized by researchers at 113M. The archers developed
Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAT) author language and developed the first CAI
program to be used in public schools (Reiser, 2001). In elementary schools,
computers were mostly used for drill and practice or they were utilized to
teach computer-related skills such as typing.
However,
the widespread interest in computers as a medium of instruction did not occur
until the 1980s. Since then the instructional technology field has expanded and
changed (Reiner, 2001). The field is constantly evolving with the introduction
of new technologies. Some technological advances have revolutionized how
instructional technology is being utilized.
These
modern instructional developments are utilization of the internet, distance
education opportunities; learner centred learning environments, web 2.0 tools,
virtual environments such as Second Life, wikis and blogs (Reiser, 2001). The
history of geography is closely connected with the history of human society and
its development. It is part of human interests, and precedents can be found in
all ancient cultures.
However,
as a science, geography is relatively young and many of its fundamentals appear
during the nineteenth century (Buttimer & Wallin, 1999). For Kish (1978),
Geography is as old as man's search for soil to dig for plantings, for a path
that leads to water, for a trail to a place where hard rock for arrowheads may
be found.
However,
Geography is also as new as man's current search for ways to relieve urban
congestion, to establish well-marked international boundaries, to describe and analyse
vegetation patterns in remote parts of the earth (Davies, 1972).
While
the first geographical references are from travelers describing the landscape
and the people living in them, the first scientific studies are from
mathematics and physicists interested in the environment.
It
can thus be said that the foundations of geography are in the natural sciences,
from the need to explain the physical environment and on the idea of the
influence of this environment on humans and society (Chorley & Haggett,
1967).
Livingstone
(1992) asserts that for generations, geography has been intimately involved in
exploration, at least since the time of Muslim scholar-travelers, the Voyages
of the Scandinavians, Chinese, und medieval Christian adventurers. However, it
was with the European voyages of reconnaissance, during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, that this first-hand knowledge of the world contributed
most. Decisively to coherent body of geographical knowledge of the terrestrial
globe.
The
significance of scientific travel was mainly due to Alexander von Humboldt
through his explorations in South America (Livingstone, 1992). The knowledge
explosion occasioned by the European voyages of exploration brought new
cartographic challenges and accomplishments. Although around the Mediterranean,
Portolano Sea charts had been circulating for a long time and there already
existed various Mappaemundi, the new lands discovered had to be reduced to
paper.
Gerard
Mercator solved some of the mathematical problems associated with transferring
a sphere to a flat surface with his famous map projection (Davies, 1972). In
the following centuries, geography's close links with cartography continued to
be maintained. The map, as both graphic language and visual representation,
continues to be used as a geographical tool, at present with the invaluable
assistance of remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems (Davies,
1972).
The
first work entitled Geography was written in Alexandria, in the third century
B.C., by Eratosthenes (Davies, 1972). From those beginnings the study of the
earth as the home of humans, of earth processes, and of the distribution of
terrestrial phenomena has continued to our day. Writings range from biblical
tests and warty Greek explanations to the first formal statements on geography
as a science, written between 1650 and 1850 (Davies, 1972)
Contextually,
according to Tambo (1994), the current challenge of globalization and new
technology requires new policy orientations to guide the development. selection
and use of instructional materials in schools. These include textbooks,
teacher's guide, audio visual materials, graphic materials, models and
laboratory materials.
The
basic teaching material for a developing school system like Cameroon's, remains
the printed ones especially textbooks. In the past, textbook selection process
was confusing, monopolistic, highly centralized and encouraged unhealthy
competition among publishers (Tambo, 1994).
In
order to improve the process of textbook supply and selection in Cameroon, a
textbook committee of 30 members comprising publishers, editors, examination
board representatives, donor agencies and representative of the civic society
was established in 2000 (Tambo, 1994).
The
committee received training in the selection of textbooks based on defined
criteria. In addition, from textbooks, there is also the desire to get teaching
materials (chalk, pens, papers, rulers, just to name a few) to individual
schools at the beginning of each school year. The materials are assembled in
one package for each school and put under the control of the school head
supervision from delegates and inspectors of education (Tambo, 1994).
In
addition to radio, Cameroon has set up another very important medium for
education Cameroon Television. A variety of educational programmes like:
Children's Corner, Thinking Time, How Things Work, Sesame Street, Tam-Tam Weekend,
Cultural Programmes, Mister Word, including many others has already gained mass
approval (Nkemnji, 2019). The print media is steadily growing. There are a few
indigenous publishing houses now in the country.
Newspapers
have provided resources for research, public expression and other educational
pursuits. However, there is still a gross lack in the documentation and
dissemination of our vast wealth of values, culture and knowledge (Nkeminj,
2019), In 2003, the policy to implement ICT in Primary. Secondary and Terunry
Institutions was enacted (Decree No: 3475/D/63 of 17th June 2003).
The
teaching of ICT in secondary schools started after seven years, that is, in
2010. During this time, there was no Higher Teachers Training College in the
country with the Department of Computer Science to train Computer Science and
ICT teachers (Nkemniji, 2019). What was observed was the use of teachers of
other subjects and some private partners to teach Computer Science and ICT.
Teachers
of other subjects were sponsored by their schools to be trained systematically
to teach ICT and Computer Science. Then there were fewer schools, which began
the program. Today with the introduction of Computer Science department in most
of the Higher Teachers Training colleges, many teachers are now available to
teach ICT. However, this is not still
enough as both students and parents (Nkemnji, 2019) are increasingly
recognizing the importance of the subject.
With
the ever-increasing population of the number of candidate, teaching, teaching
and learning material continues to be a major concern. ICT that started in 2011
with 281 candidates and emerged 16 out of 17 subjects at the Advanced level, as
of 2016 was 13 out of 20 subjects at the GCE Advanced level with a total number
of registered student 3474 (GCI: Advanced Level Examination by Subjects
statistics booklet, 2011 & 2016).
Instructional
facilities and infrastructure pose a major problem to the teaching of ICT
especially as students are supposed to do practical which adds up to their
final examination results. From observation majority of the schools do not have
Multimedia Centre, a few have computer laboratories while a relative small
proportion has multimedia centres (Ndang & Agborbechem, 2018).
Within
South West Region, less than 15 schools have Multimedia centres. The issue of
availability of a stable source of energy (power) has serious implications on
the implementation of ICT curriculum (Ndang & Agborbechem, 2018).
According
to Nkemnji (2019), the evolving programmes of study in the schools demand more
critical thinking by teachers and students; luckily, there is a press range in
choice of instructional media and technology. Both teachers and students have
to learn more, learn it more efficiently, remember it better, and apply what
they learn more effectively.
There
is increasing evidence; moreover, that the Cameroon, students can learn far
more if learning conditions are made better. Unfortunately, many students tail
to reach their learning potential. Results from various certificate
examinations: F.S.L.C. BEP.C., C.F.T. CAP. G.C.1, to name but a few, are
appalling. Schools like Sacred Heart College, Mankon and Bilingual Grammar
school, Yaoundé and many others that do well in the certificate examinations
are relatively well equipped.
This
fact emphasizes the importance of a thorough look at both our curriculum and
instructional technologies. A developing society like Cameroon in today's fast
changing world requires keeping up to date with the new and varied
instructional devises. The current knowledge explosion makes this a desirable
task that must be accomplished, at all cost, else we may be left dancing in the
dark for long (Nkemnji, 2019).
Statement of the Problem
Geography
provides information about how people interact with the environment and with
each other. Therefore, Geography is rich in material that relates to
international understanding, multi-cultural concerns, and environmental
education as stipulated by the National Council for Geographic Education
(1994).
The scope of the subject Geography is wide and as such demands that it should be effectively taught by teachers for learners to understand. It should be taught with the use of instructional materials to supplement verbal instruction but this seems not to be the case in most schools is plagued with problems.
In
every secondary school classroom, there are a variety of learners with
different categories. Some learners learn by seeing (visual learners), some by
doing (Kinestatic learners) while others by hearing (auditory learners).
Geography
being a practical subject demands that teachers should effectively use
instructional materials to enhance the teaching and learning of the subject so
that all the learners will be motivated to learn. From the observation of the
researchers as a student and student teacher on practice, it w noticed that
most teachers do not use appropriate instructional media in teaching Geography
to their students.
Those who attempt using them do so irregularly and at most, times use inappropriate instructional media in their lessons. Therefore, most of the topics and concepts they teach are not related to real world situation, thereby making the teaching learning process boring.
These have far-reaching consequence such as
low mastery of subject's content, students being distracted during teaching,
low performance in class test and exams, absenteeism from class and paying
little attention when teacher is teaching.
Knowing
how important it is to use instructional media in the teaching learning
process, the researchers have therefore chosen to investigate on the effect of
instructional media on the teaching of geography in some secondary schools in
Buea municipality.
Objective of the Study
The
following general and specific objectives have been formulated for this study.
General Objectives
- The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of instructional material on the teaching of geography in some secondary schools in Buea municipality.
Specific Objectives
The
specific objective of this study includes to:
- Examine the effect of textbooks in the teaching of geography in some secondary Schools in Buea municipality investigate the effect of real
- Examine the effect of real objects on the teaching of geography in some secondary schools in Buea municipality.
- Find out the effect of audio-visual materials on the teaching, geography in some secondary schools in Buea municipality.
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