THE IMPACT OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ON THE LEARNING AND TEACHING OF ECONOMICS IN SENIOR
SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ISOLO LGA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The influence of instructional materials in promoting students’ academic performance and teaching and learning in educational development is indisputable. The teaching of Economics in Nigerian secondary schools needs to be properly handled. The materials used by teachers to teach and drive home their subject points at the primary and secondary school levels of our education system is incontrovertibly a paramount important issue in practical classroom interaction and successful transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the learners. Instructional materials are materials which assist teachers to make their lessons explicit to learners. They are also used to transmit information, ideas and notes to learners (Ijaduola (1997). Instructional materials include both visuals and audiovisuals such as pictures, flashcards, posters, charts, tape recorder, radio, video, television, computers among others. These materials serve as supplement to the normal processes of instruction. Economics as a subject came into existence in 1776 via the publication of Adam Smith – the protagonist of the classical school of thought; and since then, it has assumed many roles especially in both political and educational circles. The study of Economics is dichotomised into two major parts, namely microeconomics and macroeconomics. While microeconomics studies the behaviour and operations of the individual units (households, firms and government agencies) in the economy, macroeconomics studies the entire economy in aggregates and averages (Umoh, 2007). According to Aromolaran (2006), three major languages are used in teaching and communicating Economic ideas. These languages include theory or verbal, geometric or graphical, and algebraic or mathematical language. Economics is an important subject that must be credited by students before gaining admission into any tertiary institution especially the university to study relevant courses like Accountancy, Business Administration, Insurance, etc. The importance and technicality of this subject makes it necessary that relevant instructional materials should be used to teach it to the learners. This fact is supported by Macaulay (1989) who asserts that visual aids make lesson come
alive and help students to learn better. It is against this background that this study attempts to examine the extent to which the utilization of instructional materials could advance senior secondary school students performance in Economics. Poor academic achievement in Economics could be attributed to many factors among which teacher’s strategy itself was considered as an important factor.
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