INNOVATIONS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION IN NIGERIA by Ebele C. Okigbo, Nneka R. Nnorom, Ernest O. Onwukwe (fantasy novels to read TXT) 📕

and the elements of what it takes to inculcate the rudiments of education. To support this, Bajah (2006) opined that the most crucial single element in educational process is the teacher. They are key factors in the achievement or educational goals. Ukeje (2002) echoed the fact that teachers are the foundation of quality in schools. It is upon their number, their quality, their effectiveness, their efficiency, and their education, that depend the quality of the educative process and education system. Okafor (2009) asserts that teachers are the drivers of any educative process and argue that ICT in schools can be better improved it there are well trained and qualified teachers on ground.

One of the factors that determine educational development and innovation in general is teachers, as they are the ones to use the ICT investments for education development. Technology does not have an educational value in itself. It becomes important when teachers perceived these reform efforts is closely related to certain variable such as belief and experience, level of knowledge, attitudes towards those technologies are determined and guided.

Teachers’ gender and location are also important factors to consider in the integrating ICT into curriculum. Gender balance has been always considered a critical issue of the contemporary society. Gender disparities exist in the integration of ICT into teaching and learning. Most research reports show that there are more male than female teachers in ICT and the urban-rural divide is evident in the access to ICT facilities than those in the rural area tend to have more to ICT (Nddide, 2011). The teachers in urban areas tend to have more access ICT facilities than those in rural areas. Thus gender and location may have effect on the knowledge of science teachers.

Webster’s Dictionary defined knowledge as the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association. Knowledge affects teachers’ behaviours. Just as an individual’s knowledge is also influenced by his/her attitude. Knowledge has a considerable effect on openness to new experiences, as well as on reflecting and implementing change. Teachers’ knowledge, whether low, or high, affects how they respond to and use ICT. Therefore, information is required about teachers’ knowledge for plans about future investments in ICT

 

Statement of the Problem

Nigerian has been facing a lot of challenges in teaching and learning of science in areas such as lack of expertise in science teaching, inadequate laboratory equipment, the use of traditional method of teaching, etcetera. These challenges do not only affect the shape and mode of operation but also the very goal of science education in secondary schools. As result of these, making progress in teaching and learning of science and technology has therefore become a far cry from what it should be.

Our educational system has continued to produce science graduates with shaky foundations and skills that are completely disconnected from industrial realities and as a result, are unable to make any meaningful contribution to our efforts at technological breakthrough (Osisioma, 2012). To participate in the current competitive global economy and improve our standard of living, there is need to brace up to the new challenges and systems of education through the deployment and use of ICT in Nigeria schools.

Teachers play very prominent roles in using ICT and molding up tomorrow’s citizens. Science teachers are expected to integrate ICT in the teaching and learning process; they must use technology so that it supports instruction and enabled learners to use ICT as an important tool to meet their information and learning needs.  The problem is those science teachers who are the implementers of science curriculum should be ready to use ICT, if teachers are not ready to make use of the ICT tool, the money and time spent on the ICT is going to be a waste.

The question therefore is: how ready are the science teachers to use the ICT tool? ICT knowledge of science teachers has been viewed as yardstick to determine their readiness to adopt and integrate ICT into the teaching and learning of science. The present study therefore seeks to elicit information on the science teachers’ knowledge of information and communication technology.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge of science teachers toward information and communication technology as an instructional tool. Specifically, the study was to determine

The science teacher’s level of basic knowledge of ICT

The science teachers’ level of knowledge of classroom applications of ICT

Gender differences in level of knowledge of science teachers towards ICT in science teaching.

The differences in level of knowledge of science teachers towards ICT in teaching science in relation to their school location.

Research Question

The following research questions guided the study.

To what extent are science teachers knowledgeable in basic operations of ICT in Anambra State secondary school?

To what extent are science teachers knowledgeable of the classroom applications of ICT in teaching Science in Anambra State secondary school?

What is the difference between male and female science teachers’ knowledge of ICT?

What is the difference between urban and rural science teachers’ knowledge of ICT?

Hypotheses

HO1: There is no significant difference in ICT knowledge between male and female science teachers

HO2: There is no significant difference in ICT knowledge between urban and rural science teachers

 

 

Method  

Descriptive survey design was adopted in carrying out the study. The study was carried out in Anambra State secondary school. Sample random sampling balloting with replacement were used to select 130 science teachers  from  three Educational zone out of 1618 science teachers in the state. Source: Statistics Research and Planning Department, Anambra State Post Primary School Service Commission.

The instrument for data collection was Computer Aptitude Tests (CAT). The CAT was made up of 30multiple choice objective items with five options letter A-E.  The CAT is divided into three sections; the preliminary section of the instrument made provision for getting information on name of school, gender, and location. The second section was made up of 20items which were used to find out the basic computer knowledge of science teachers with score of five (5) marks for each question and the third part was made up of 10items trying to find out the science teachers’ knowledge of classroom application of ICT with score of ten (10) marks for each question. Any item with mean scores between 80-100 is very high knowledge, 60-79 is regarded as high knowledge, 50-59 is regarded as average knowledge, 40-49 is regarded as fairly low knowledge and below 40 is regarded as very low knowledge.

The instrument was validated by four (two each) expert in the field of educational research, and computer education. Item accepted by them were used in the final production of the instrument. Cronbach Alpha formular was used to determine the internal consistency of CAT which was found to be 0.84.

In order to collect data for the study, the researcher visited the 26 schools. A total of 130 copies of the questionnaire were administered to secondary school Science teachers in the sample schools this was done through the help of three Research Assistants. The completed copies were collected on the spot. The data collected were analyzed using mean and independent t-test. Also, the two null hypotheses were tested at 95% confidence level

Result  

Table 1: Mean Score and Standard Deviation Of Science teachers’ knowledge of basic operation of ICT

 

Subject  N   SD  Decision

CATsecB  130  67.90  12.80                 high level of knowledge

Table 1, shows that the mean score of science teachers’ basic knowledge of ICT is high because the mean score of 67.96 falls within the range of high level of knowledge.

 

Table 2: Mean Score and Standard Deviation of Science Teachers Knowledge of Classroom Applications of ICT.

 

Subject  N                  SD                 Decision

CAT sec C  130  28.19  8.38  low level of knowledge

 

From the Table 2, the mean scores in achievement of science teachers is 28.19 which is less than 50, this indicates that science teachers have low knowledge of classroom applications of ICT.

Table 3: Mean Score and Standard Deviation of male and female Science Teachers’ knowledge of ICT.

 

Gender  N   SD  Mean Difference

Male  26  52.42  12.60  8.65

Female  104  43.77  9.45  

 

 From the Table 3, the ICT knowledge of male is average and that of the female science teachers is fairly low, this implied that mean score of male (52.42) is higher than that of the female (43.77) science teachers with difference of (8.5). Also male science teachers’ scores spread more than their female counterparts scores.  

 

 

Table 4: Mean Score and Standard Deviation of male and female Science Teachers’ knowledge of ICT

 

Location  N   SD  Mean Difference

Urban  40  49.00  11.74  4.84

Rural  90  44.16  10.29  

 

From the Table 4, the ICT knowledge of urban and rural science teachers is fairly low but the mean score of urban science teachers (49.00) is higher than that of the rural (44.6) science teachers with difference of (4.84). Also Urban science teachers’ scores spread more than their rural counterparts scores.  

 

Table 5: The Z-test comparison between the male and female science teachers’ knowledge of ICT

 

Gender  N   SD  DF  Z-Cal  Z-Crit  P>0.5  Decision

Male  26  52.42  12.60  128  3.28  1.09  0.05  Rejected

Female  104  43.77  9.45  

The Z-test analysis in Table 4, it shows that Z-calculated of 3.28 is greater than critical Z 1.96 at 128 degree of freedom and 0.05level of significance for two tailed test. This implies that there is a difference between ICT knowledge of male and female science teachers, therefore the hypothesis which says there is no significant difference is rejected and alternative accepted.

  

 

Table 6: The Z-test comparison between the urban and rural science teachers’ knowledge of ICT  

Location  N   SD  DF  Z-Cal  Z-Crit  P>0.5  Decision

Urban  40  49.00  11.74  128  1.92  1.96  0.05  Accepted

Rural  90  44.60  10.29  

The Z-test analysis in Table 4, it shows that Z-calculated of 1.92 is lesser than critical Z 1.96 at 128 degree of freedom and 0.05level of significance for two tailed test. This implies that there is no difference between ICT knowledge of urban and rural science teachers, therefore the hypothesis which says there is no significant difference is accepted.

 

Discussion

The study examined science teachers’ knowledge of ICT, the result indicated a mean score of 67.96 for their basic knowledge of ICT operations. This implies that science teachers’ have high knowledge of basic operations of ICT such as system software, powering on of computer, identifying input, output and storage device and so on. The result agrees with the findings of Erdogan (2010) that the commonly used and well known ICT types among teachers are the basic operations of ICT. The result also revealed that teachers have very low knowledge of classroom application of ICT such as uses of power point and the component. The result agrees with Obidike, Anyikwa and Enemou (2010) that teachers are able to identify the technological tools that could be used to enhance literacy instruction in children but are not aware of how such resources could be used. The result also agrees with Onasanya, Shehu, Ogunlade and Adefuye (2011) that the level of computer literacy of the science teachers examined is low.

The findings concern the gender variable, in the comparison in terms of ICT knowledge  of ICT, the result showed that there is significant difference between the knowledge of male and female science teachers, that is male sciences had higher scores than their female counterparts. This is supported by the findings of Onasanya, Shehu, Ogunlade and Adefuye (2011) that there was significant difference between the mean scores for male and female science teachers in their level of computer literacy (knowledge) and utilization of ICT. Onohwakpo and Rhima (2008) also found out in their study that 42% of male science teachers are computer literate and 13% of female science teachers are computer literacy. This study disagrees with Alaba (2010) that gender has no influence on the level of ICT literate of secondary school teachers.

The study also examined the effect of location on knowledge of science teachers towards ICT. The finding revealed that there is no significant different between the knowledge of urban and rural science teachers towards information and communication technology. These indicate that location is not a barrier to ICT knowledge.

Conclusion

As revealed by the study results, although