The Impacts of Urban Facilities on Secondary School Students' Academic Achievement in History within the Limbe Municipality
Department: Curriculum Studies and Teaching
No of Pages: 58
Project Code: CST7
References: Yes
Cost: 5,000XAF Cameroonian
: $15 for International students
ABSTRACT
This
study was designed to investigate the impacts of urban facilities on secondary
school students’ academic performance in History within the Limbe Municipality.
The objectives that were used for the study were; the extent to which history
students used monuments, and lastly the extent to which history students use
public libraries on their academic performance.
The
sample size was 100 students selected from three secondary schools in Limbe
municipality. The questionnaire was used to obtain information from correspondents
and data were analysed using percentages and frequencies.
The
following results were obtained; monuments and public libraries has a positive
role on students’ academic performance. Based on the above result, the
following recommendations were obtained; teachers, counsellors, and parents,
should assist students to visit public libraries and go out for fieldwork in
public and academic museums.
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Every
society has its own system of education. Urban facilities have their own way of
facilitating young children academics, Education helps to develop the physical, affective and
psychomotor domain of a child been influenced by a conducive environment. The
word teaching can be seen as the process of imparting knowledge, ‘skill, attitudes
and values (LeFracais,1998).
Learning
on the other hand is viewed as the process of acquisition of knowledge skills
and attitude (Good, 1973). In the past the teaching and learning process were
highly dependent on the teachers, use of text books and other audio visual
aids. After subsequent development in the 21st century, it was realized that
the teaching and learning process could not be effective in all levels of
education without the different learning styles by learners.
Urban
facilities such as national park, museum, and public libraries have been noted
to influence students’ academic achievement in History. This leads us to our
research topic tittle «The impact of urban facilities on students’ academic
achievement in History».
This
work is made of five chapters, chapter one consist of introduction, background
of the study, justification of the study, statement of the problem, objectives
of the study, research question, research hypothesis, significant of the study,
delimitation of the study, operational definition of terms and chapter summary.
Chapter
two consist of introduction, literature review and summary of literature
review. Chapter three consist of introduction, research design, area of the
study, population of the study, sampling procedure, sample, instrumentation,
validity of instrument, reliability of instrument, administration of the
instrument, procedure for data analysis, and ethical consideration.
Chapter
four is made up of introduction, general description of data/variables, data
analysis and interpretation and summary of results. Finally chapter five which
is made up of discussion of findings, conclusion, recommendations and
suggestion for further research.
Background to the study
Historical
Background
For over four decades, series of studies have
suggested the importance of school as social environment to learning. Some of
these studies examined location planning and their attendant consequences on
achievement of students in various states. Omoyemi (1978) discovered that locations
of schools were not based on sound principles of distribution of population
because of initial community participation.
Every
society has its own system of education. Indigenous African society had their
own way or system of training their young children before the coming of Western
education. This was done through images. Education therefore helps to develop a
child, physical, affective and psychomotor domain which has been influenced by
a conducive location for learning in or out of the school premises.
For
over four decades, series of studies have suggested the importance of urban
facilities to students learning. Some of these studies are examined out of
classroom studies at times to translate theories into practices. Omoyemi (1978)
discovered that urban facilities were not based on sound principles of
learning, so most at times learners have to go out of the school location to
experience what is not found in the school.
Before
the coming of the formal education, the indigenous system of education was
based on practices or field study in Cameroon that was the pre-colonial era
(1844-1884). Here the issue of peer was little or less occurring as the young
adult learned only from the elderly were knowledge, experience and attitude was
mostly transferred from the old to the young in the form of storytelling.
The
coming of the missionaries in Cameroon gives the birth of formal education
which the first school was created in Bimbia by Joseph Merrick in 1884. The
origins of measuring academic achievement date back to the 1830s. Education
advocates Horace Mann and Samuel Gridley Howe used a standardized test to
evaluate student progress in Boston.
Kansas
school administrator Frederick J. Kelly advanced the idea of standardized
testing with the Kansas Silent Reading Test in 1914. This multiple-choice test
was used to decrease grading time and standardize student evaluations. IBM
employee Reynold B. Johnson developed a grading machine in 1934 that could
grade test sheets by picking up the electrical current created by pencil marks.
Henry
Chauncey developed the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) in 1934 to evaluate
scholarship candidates at Harvard University and University of Iowa Professor
E.F. Lindquist created the first version of the American College Test (ACT) in
1959.
Public
Library, traditionally, collection of books used for reading or study, or the
building or room in which such a collection is kept. The word library was
derives from the Latin word “liber”, “book,” whereas a Latinized Greek word,
“bibliotheca”, is the origin of the word for library in German, Russian, and
the Romance languages.
Public
libraries have emerged since the middle of the 20th century as a far-reaching
body of information resources and services that do not even require a building.
From their historical beginnings as places to keep the business, legal,
historical, and religious records of a civilization.
The
origin of the word "monument" comes from the Greek word “mnemosynon”
and the Latin word “moneo, monere”, which means 'to remind', 'to advise' or 'to
warn', suggesting a monument allows us to see the past thus helping us
visualize what is to come in the future.
In
English, the word "monumental" is often used in reference to
something of extraordinary size and power, as in monumental sculpture, but also
to mean simply anything made to commemorate the dead, as a funerary monument or
other example of funerary art. Throughout history, monuments have played an
important role.
They
have commemorated tragedy; they have glorified war and leaders of war; they
have pointed to acts of courage or endurance not played out on battlefields.
Because they have helped shape the American identity as well (Percoco, 1998),
monuments can provide teachers with valuable curricular opportunities.
Students
can analyze and interpret meaningful subject matter; teachers can address
multiple learning styles, integrate subjects, include the arts, and deepen
students' understanding of their community.
Conceptual
Background
Urban facilities refer to the process of using different or similar techniques to facilitate learning for the learners and not the teachers (Balogun, 1982). Bossaert et al (2011), see academic achievement as a student’s success in meeting short or long-term goals in education in the big picture according to the authors, academic achievement means completing high school or earning a college degree.
Lassiter (1995) looks at students’ academic achievement as referring to a student's strong performance in a given academic area. A student who earns good grades or awards in science has achieved in the academic field of science. He further stated that education associations and schools monitor the overall level of student academic achievement to decide what, if any challenges, need to be made in the educational system.
Contextual
Background
In
Cameroon specifically in the Buea municipality grammar schools functions in two
section, that is the the first circle and the second circle, the first circle
consist of form one to form five.
In
this circle it is sub divided into arts and science where at the end both
department write the Cameroon General Certificate of Education Examination (GCE
ordinary level) which a pass from above four papers is a qualification to cross
to the second circles which is equally classify into Art and Science classified
into series per domain which at the end of 2 years a final eaxam uis written
which is Cameroon General Certificates OF education Advance level (GCEA/L).
The
1983 law of education states, “Education of children will be done in regular
schools with the provision of learning facilities. Stakeholders and policy
makers still do not see the need why students should be educated and some
attain in which there is shortage of urban facilities to facilitate learning.
Urban
facilities help to provide additional learning facilities to students and
academic researcher. Cached (1976) holds that urban facilities such as furniture and equipment contribute to
learning environment where he said If a society is not well furnished students
will not love to study history in school and if there is no learning
infrastructures, It will slow down learning process, hence reducing students’
academic performance, which can be improve by urban facilities .
During
history studies in Limbe the entire classes’ usually visit instructional points
like the Alfred saker monument, then reunification monument, libraries. Tambo
(2012) says that the obstacles on the system of secondary education by the
undesired effect of the economic crisis were enormous and include the inability
to cope with the large cities and under socialized zones.
Consequently,
insufficiency of the accommodating structures in society, shortage of resource
personnel, gross lack of logistic support, massive departure of teachers
without being replaced and inadequate didactic materials. From the views of
educators, there is lack of classroom, teachers and teaching materials and
ineffective pedagogic control, which has turn to improve the love for urban
facilities from all sectors of education.
Mbua
(1983) argues that conversely, a good academic mental performance and the
environment should not only have adequate environment also adequate
teaching-learning materials and enough space for physical exercise and mental development
that leads to progress in the school.
For example, Arnold et al (2005) using
descriptive statistics from the National Education Longitudinal Study of (1988)
NELS (1988), examined educational aspirations and postsecondary access by
students in urban schools desired for going for history studies around the
society.
Making
a critical analysis of location factors, Hallak (1977) surmised that, provision
of education in rural areas is normally fraught with the following difficulties
and problems, which turn to limits the desires and love to go for field trip
more than their urban friends, Balogun (1982) lamented that unfortunately in
Cameroon, where there is a preponderance of poverty among us populace and a
wide gap between the rich and the poor, disparity in the distribution of resources
and social amenities on the part of the government.
The
population has polarized into two of those who favorably affected and those
who are disfavored these two groups have been forced on economic reasons and
levels of education to organize themselves into two different sub geographical
locations to a very large extent determine what amenities and or facilities are
made available to each for learning. Mbakwe (1986) corroborated the above
findings when he affirmed that, teachers are differential.
Statement of the Problem
Urban
facilities help to provide additional learning facilities to students and
academic researchers. Urban facilities have been considered as one of the
easily accessible facilities in the educational domain. Urban facilities help
to provide additional learning facilities to students and academic researchers.
Monuments
and historical site has been resource centers for many history students and
geographers around urban cities. The inadequacy and unavailability of urban
facilities in major urban cities influence the quality of the history students’
academic achievement around major urban cities. Also the inadequacy of
technical infrastructure such as energy, sanitation and communication
structures.
The
systems provide energy and heat, water, drainage of rain wasters and wastewater
treatment, management and disposal of municipal solid waste, communication and
transport services, expansion of the road network around urban area which when
absent is a hindrance to learning,(Chmielowski 2010).
In
addition, the 1983 law of education states, “education of children will be done
in regular schools with the provision of learning facilities. The absents of
this facilities such as libraries and monuments will in turn affect output. Stakeholders
and policy makers still do not see the need why students should be educated and
some attain in which there is shortage of urban facilities to facilitate
learning.
The
inadequacy and unavailability of urban facilities in major urban cities
influence the quality of the history students’ academic achievement around
major urban cities negatively. This is because the students are not open to
historical site such as monuments and libraries hence giving a drop in their
academic performance.
Objective of the study
General objective
- The main objective of this study is to investigate the extent to which urban facilities affect student academic achievement.
Specific objectives
- To investigate the extent to which the use of monument can influence student academic achievement.
- To what extent do public libraries affect student academic achievement.
