Effect Of Instructional Material On Academic Achievement Of Physics Students In Secondary Schools In Udi Local Government Area Of Enugu State

Equipment and other instructional materials to the some extent determine the method the teacher uses in teaching physics. The method adopted could be demonstration, experimental, discussion, inquiry-based method, explanation etc. It is generally agreed by both teachers and school administrators that apart from the most boards and textbooks which are often available for the teacher to use, there are other materials that aid or are capable of complementing the teacher’s effort in teaching/learning process. Those materials are commonly called “instructional materials. One of the reasons why students in our secondary schools sometime find it difficult to comprehend immediately what is being taught by the teacher is the non availability of instructional materials that can easily convey the message of the lesson to the learners. In addition, Ajayi and Ayodele (2001) stressed the importance of availability of instructional materials to achieving effectiveness in educational delivery and supervision in the school system. Ogbondah (2008) alerted on the gross inadequacy and under utilization of instructional materials necessary to compensate for the inadequacies of sense organs and to reinforce the capacity of dominant organs. He noted that school teachers should try their possible best in the provision of locally made materials in substitution for the standard ones to promote their lessons.

Abdu-Raheem (2014) encouraged teachers to improvise teaching aids because they are in great measure enhance learners’ full participation in the lesson, gives room for inquiry, problem-solving, discussion and clarification of issues and ideas among students and the teacher.

He suggested the needs for teachers to find necessary materials for instruction to supplement what textbooks provide in order to broaden concepts and arouse students ‘interests in the subject, attested that effective teaching and learning requires a teacher to teach the students with instructional materials and use practical activities to make learning more vivid, logical, realistic and pragmatic. Esu, Enukoha and Umoren (2004) agreed that instructional materials are indispensable to the effective teaching and learning activities.  

Enaigbe (2009) noted that basic materials such as textbooks, most board and essential equipment like computer, projector, television and video are not readily available in many schools. In a town study, Olumorin, Yusuf, Ajidagba and Jekayinfa (2010) observed that instructional materials help teachers to teach conveniently and the learners to learn easily without any problem

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

One of the most problems facing Nigeria education today is poor performance in science education. The rate of student poor academic achievement in physics is really disturbing, internal and external examination. The poor academic achievement of students in physics has attributed to many factors which are lack of instructional material and skills needed for effective teaching and inability to provide or improvise material relative to the topic depending on the school type. Unqualified teachers and teacher’s attitude towards effective teaching and learning, lack of student interest in physics as subject. It is observed that most students complain of being taught principles that seem to be abstract in nature because materials such as textbooks, most board and essential equipment like computer, projector, television and video are not readily available in many schools. In Indian axioms that says, what I hear, I may forget but what see, hear and touch I will never forget. This is because physics teachers adopt the verbalistic and theoretical method as a way of teaching and learning of physics thereby making students to loose interest. 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. One of the major problems facing education sector in Nigeria is the low level of the performance of secondary school students in both local and standardized examinations. It has become a great concern for researchers, educators and all education stake-holders over the years. It was observed that students usually fail in examinations owing to improper teaching methods and lack of essential teaching aids for instructional delivery. (Afolabi, 2009). This study therefore deemed it necessary to look specifically into the contributions of instructional materials to academic achievement of secondary school students in physics. The reason for this could be ascribed to the fact that there are topics in Physics 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. However, the questions here are: does the use of instructional materials really influence student’s 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