THE ROLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN PUPILS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF SOME SELECTED PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN IKPOBA OKHA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Research has proved beyond questions that learning is more effective when as many serve as possible are used and of all the serve sight is powerful. The need, therefore to present information to students visually as well as verbally is now generally accepted. In school  today, emphasis is laid on qualitative and quantitative, curriculum contents techniques and methods of teaching of qualified teachers with great increase in the number of school as well as students enrolment is on increase, and the quality and quantity of teachers are needed to match this increase in enrolment of students and in this regard.

Educational technology cannot be rules out as an instructional innovation. According to Broom and Thornton (1960) “The gradual shift towards the use of instructional materials in education has been encouraged by increased availability of effective appropriate and convenient materials, devices, machines and classroom facilities designed for improving instruction. Throughout history, media and technology for learning have influenced education. Recently, the computer has invaded instructional settings such tills offer powerful possibilities for improving the learning process.

The use of instructional materials is necessary to supplement the available instructional resources and qualified teachers. The current use of instructional materials in Nigeria school is very low and unsatisfactory. The following are ways instructional materials can contribute to qualitative education.

1. Instructional materials provides for the teachers tools to carryout creativity in the minds of the students.
2. Instructional materials makes learning process to be easy
3. It helps the teacher to be able to stimulate pupils to learn.  

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

          Statistics has shown that most of our primary school teachers no longer make use of instructional materials when teaching and this have a negative effect on the teaching and by extension having negative effect on the academic performance of the pupils. Some of these effects include, the pupils will not be able to concretize the lesson that is been taught, they are unable to visualize what the teacher is teaching because the pupils do not have a mental picture of what the teacher is passing across to them. This makes the students to easily forget what they have been taught in the school. without the use of instructional materials, learning becomes boring to the pupils and they can easily lost interest when there is nothing like instructional materials to motivate them to learn, so whatever the teacher is teaching them, they cannot assimilate it easily. Again, when instructional materials are not used when teaching, it makes the pupils to be passive, they don’t have the chance to participate in class activities. They mainly become passive listeners and this reduces their thinking ability and they are unable to reason out things on their own. Statistics has also shown that most primary schools lack these instructional materials in their schools and also they lack trained teachers who know how to use these materials. it is this lack of instructional materials in the teaching learning process that prompted the researcher to investigate the role of instructional materials and its effects on the performance of pupils in primary schools.    

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 

          The objective of this research is stated as follows;

1. To find out the type of instructional materials available in primary schools in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.
2. To determine the extent to which primary school teachers utilize instructional materials.
3. To determine the factors that militates against the use of instructional materials in primary school.
4. To find a lasting solution to the problems of instructional materials availability and utilization in primary school. 

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Can the wrong use of instructional materials affect the academic performance of pupils?
2. What are the effects of instructional materials on the academic performance of pupils?
3. Does non-availability of instructional materials affects the performance of pupils?
4. Does instructional materials have any role to play in the academic performance of pupils?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

          The grindings of this research would be used for the following, firstly, the findings of this research work will be used to enlighten primary school teachers of the need to make use of audio materials in teaching and learning process. Secondly, the findings of this research work would be used to encourage the government and school management to provide instructional materials for primary school. Thirdly, the findings of the research study would be used to enlighten the school management of the need to enlighten the school management of the need to provide in-service training and learning process. Lastly, it would also prompt the government to organize seminars and workshops to teach teachers on the use of instructional materials. 

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

          This research study will cover ten randomly selected primary schools in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. the result obtained however, from the analysis of data collected from this schools will be taken as a time representation and reflection of the prevailing condition in all the primary schools in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area in particular and Edo State in general.    

LIMITATION OF STUDY

          Obviously, a research of this nature suffers many setbacks which may affect the accuracy of findings. This research would have covered all the primary school in Edo State. If not because of some factors the most inhibiting factor is time. The research would want to mention that this work had to be completed alongside with extensive year. Again, some of the respondents were reluctant to answer the questions, those who answered, may not be free from bias. Another limitation was the bad nature of our roads to get to some of the schools that would have served as good sources of information for this study.

DEFINITION OF TERMS   

Performance: The act of doing something, either good or bad.

Process: A series of things that are done in order to achi8eve a particular result.

Concretize: To make something concrete.

Respondents: A person who answer questions.