A STUDY OF THE PROBLEMS OF IMPLEMENTING THE INTEGRATED SCIENCE PROGRAMME AND ITS EFFECT ON STUDENTS PERFORMACE

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A STUDY OF THE PROBLEMS OF IMPLEMENTING THE INTEGRATED SCIENCE PROGRAMME AND ITS EFFECT ON STUDENTS PERFORMACE

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Background to the study

Science is a subject that investigates nature, analyses societal problems and also provides some technological needs of the society. Scientists ask questions and carry out investigations that pertain to the natural world. The conclusions of these investigations are tentative and subject to change some benefits of science and technology are that they have advanced the production of potent drugs and improved agricultural mechanization to produce plenty yield and quality foodstuff to feed the ever-increasing population. (Peter E, 2014).

As science has developed, there are disciplines which fall between this old subject such as Biochemistry or Biophysics, and there are also important areas of science which are much better studied as a whole rather than looking narrowly at only the physical or chemical aspects. Examples here are Industrial Science or Food Science.

1.2 What is integrated science?

Integrated Science treats scientific concepts in a manner free of the restrictions imposed by the arbitrary subject boundaries of the separate sciences. It has a dynamic process approach to the teaching and learning of science.

One can see a clear definition of integrated science as one study the ways different authors describe the discipline. Brown (1977) describes integrated science under four broad characteristics:

The unity of all knowledge… that integrated science has a holistic view of knowledge as essentially one and undivided;
The conceptual unity of the sciences… the various conceptual units that make up the framework are identified;
A unified process of scientific enquiry… this characteristic place emphasis on the methodological distinctions and similarities among the sciences;
An interdisciplinary study… that the discipline is a collaborative venture between subjects and viewing of topics or themes from logically different viewpoints with the learner left to synthesize in any way he chooses.

Integrated Science brings together many inclusive aspects of science that students will encounter in the high school science core curriculum. Students need an edge to facilitate achievement when facing subjects of this magnitude.

Teaching Integrated Science gives students and teachers an opportunity to look at the ways in which science is important to our societies and to their development. Integrated Science can be more relevant to development issues and should be tropical and useful.

Teaching of Integrated Science is an activity which will bring about the most productive and beneficial learning experience for students and promote their development as learners. Also, it goes beyond just imparting knowledge but it is a purposeful activity carried out by somebody with a specialized knowledge in Integrated Science in a skilful way to enhance cognitive, affective and psychomotor development of a person or group of persons.

Some research studies have laid emphasis on the relationship between evaluation and teaching effectiveness. According to Cook, Shadish and Williams (1987), educational evaluation is meant to produce knowledge about the value of educational management and its component parts. That is, knowledge that can be used to make teaching and learning more responsive to the problems in education. In other words, they are intended to improve teaching. Therefore, the main objective of educational evaluation is for improvement in teaching and learning. Evaluation is often used as a strategy for school improvement in teaching and learning. School improvement can be regarded as action for promobig teaching effectiveness (Xiaorong, 2001). Also, Tijani (2005) explained that evaluation involves the designing of strategies and instruments for assessing students, teachers and programme performance.

For the teaching of Integrated Science to be effective, the Integrated Science teacher must have an extensive knowledge of the subject, knowledge of the curriculum, knowledge and understanding of how children develop and how they learn. This includes knowledge of the context in which learning occurs (home, community, school factor) and knowledge of assessment techniques. An Integrated Science teacher should possess some teaching skills and be able to plan lessons, manage a classroom, engage students in active learning, present challenging situations to encourage problem solving, collect and monitor information on achievement, maintain good students record, provide motivation for students and support cooperative group work.( Agboghoroma,2014).

The teaching of Integrated Science requires various teaching approaches and meaningful learning (Ayodele and Adegbite, 2003). The use of inappropriate methods could make students dread science education in later life.

1.3 Prospects for Integrated Science in Nigeria.

Nigeria has been noted for being in the fore-front in the whole-sale adoption of integrated science at junior secondary school level.

The magnitude of prospects for integrated science in Nigeria and the world over cannot be overemphasized. There is a universal rush to integrated science at the junior secondary school level, and reportedly many developed countries have included integrated science in the syllabus at the upper secondary school level and at the tertiary level. There is a universal pressure for nations to develop scientific knowledge in the societies. In this vein, the need for many professional people to be knowledgeable in several areas, the occurrence of problems that can be solved only by co-ordination of research in several specialties and the demands of students, particularly non-science students, for an understanding of the role of science in modern society, have provided strong pressure for less specialization and the presentation of wider views of science which integrated science can provide.

Because of this pressure, many African countries today are exploring the feasibility of implementing integrated science at all levels of the education system. Critics might say that the course is not suitable for advanced work. But the truth is that the junior course could be revised to suit any advanced study as several developed countries have done. The important thing is to make science unified and break the subject boundaries. This move has been achieved in many advanced countries such as the United States of America, Britain, the Caribbean, Australia, and other places. The Caribbean Integrated Science Curriculum (CISC), The United States’ BSCS Biology, PSSC Physics, Harvard Project Physics, CHEM Study, and Britain’s “O” and “A” level courses in the various individual sciences have made a significant contribution towards the possibility of meaningful integrated science at the upper secondary and tertiary levels. These courses share an increased emphasis on the laboratory approach, a concern for the learner, and a carefully thought-out consideration of the modern nature and scope of the discipline and its relation to science as a whole. Thus, they provide the most useful source of activities, ideas, and approaches for those planning the development of truly integrated science courses at the upper-secondary level (Richmond 1973).

The West African Examination Council has already had several dialogues with Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) on the feasibility of extending integrated science to the senior secondary school level. Other West African countries too, for example, Sierra Leone and Ghana are making similar moves. Gbamanja (1982) compared the Sierra Leone integrated science programme (core course Integrated Science) for the junior secondary level with some aspects of WAEC Science Syllabus and found that the difference is minimal in terms of content and he suggested ways of extending integrated science to the senior secondary level. Further, Gbamanja (1983) reported that the fact that integrated science ends at the junior secondary school level and does not extend to the senior segment causes a swing away from science. The inquiry/discovery activity skills which they acquired in the integrated science courses are in the senior secondary school as they prepare for the all important school certificate examination and G.C.E. Moreover the Universal Basic Education (UBE) has coined basic science in place of integrated science to cater for both practical and theoretical aspects of science at primary and junior secondary schools in Nigeria. Other factors which have made it imperative for many countries to start extending integrated science up to advanced levels are:

Attention in the modern world is now being paid to science for all citizens.
There is a world-wide movement to introduce the interaction of science and society into the classroom.
Requirements for further education in fields other than the sciences.
Flexibility in the training for the world of work.
To make curriculum development easier.
To make evaluation easier and more reliable.

1.4 Statement of the Problem

Integrated Science teachers are expected to employ the use of teaching aids to supplement other methods, manage and control their classes for effective learning of Integrated Science. The use of inappropriate methods could affect students’ performance in Integrated Science. Many of the Integrated Science teachers do not have a clear insight about the appropriate pedagogies to enhance Integrated Science teaching. Most of the teachers resort to teaching with only one major teaching method which is the lecture or “chalk and talk” method in our Integrated Science classroom. Sometimes, classes are too large for teachers to manage for effective teaching and learning. This has greatly affected Integrated Science teaching ranging from methodology and techniques of teaching (Okoye, 2004).This present study is at assessing the study of teaching integrated science in secondary schools.

1.5 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to identify and evaluate the problems affecting the teaching of integrated science in secondary schools in Odo – Obi Local Government. The teaching of integrated science has standards to be followed by science teachers if effective learning of students is to be achieved. Literature in this area appears very scanty and our knowledge of what science teachers do in the classrooms is very limited. This therefore calls for more research efforts directed towards this very important aspect of integrated science teaching. It is very important to know our standard in integrated science teaching as presently constituted and also the methods in which we can be able to improve in integrated science teaching. The statement of the problem will then helps to evaluate how science teachers teaches sciences in the classrooms and how to improve science teaching in secondary schools in Odo – Obi Local Government Area in Nasarawa State?

1.6 Significance of the Study

For any research to be useful it must contribute to the volume of existing knowledge of the field under investigation. In view of this, it is my conviction that information obtained from this study will help to address some of the challenges that confront the effective teaching and learning of integrated science in secondary school. It is also to suggest remedies that will make students learning of integrated science interesting and enjoyable to them.

Teachers on the other hand will identify the problems with their own methods of teaching, instructions and the effect on the learning behaviour of their students and also improve on where they are lacking behind.

It is also to provide information to the Ministry of Education, the government and other educational stakeholders to embark on interventions to promote and improve the teaching of integrated science at the secondary school level.

The researcher hopes to help the teachers and coordinators at the education offices in the area to upgrade their teaching and learning materials and evolve more innovative strategies for the in service training programmes for science teachers.

Additionally the findings will augment the pool of data required by other educational researchers in their bid to design interventions to solve educational problems in the teaching and learning of science in general.

Furthermore, the findings and suggestions that will emerge from this study will aid

inexperienced and also the seasonal integrated science teachers to a meaningfully and interesting teaching of integrated science in their various schools.

1.7 Research Questions

This study is intended to find answers to the following questions;

What are the academic qualifications of teachers teaching Integrated Science in the Junior Secondary Schools?
What are the teaching experiences of the teachers teaching Integrated Science?
Are instructional materials available for effective teaching of Integrated Science?
What instructional materials/ methods are you using for teaching science in classroom?
What are the method(s) of teaching integrated science in the classroom?
What is the number of periods allocated to teaching integrated science in school time table?
What is the extent of which you cover the integrated science syllabuses in schools?
How often are assignments based on integrated science are given to the students and marked?
How often are integrated science practical lessons organized for the students in your schools?
How often are extra-lessons organized to cover integrated science syllabuses in your schools?

1.8 Scope of the Study

The scope of this study is designed to determine:

a. The teaching strategies/approaches that teachers use in teaching integrated science in the class.

b. The problems encountered by the teachers and pupils during integrated science classes.

c. The availability of science laboratories and equipment in the selected schools.

d. Whether or not practical activities are meaningful and how well they can be utilized to improve integrated science teaching and learning in schools.

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