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Students Perception Of Practical Agricultural Science In Senior Secondary Schools In Ilorin West L.g.a. Kwara State
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Egbule (1998) noted that the teaching and learning activities of vocational agriculture at the secondary schools are grossly insufficient to elicit the desired level of initiative and creativity in students. It noted that the recommended instructional strategies is full of “showingâ€, ‘telling’ and ‘observing’ with a few cases of ‘doing’ and ‘practice’ thus contradicting the recommended ‘learning by doing’ and ‘guided discovery’ instructional strategies (National Policy on Education, 2004). Studies have also shown that graduates of vocational agriculture in senior secondary schools in Nigeria have often not been able to take up paid jobs at the completion of their secondary education thus defeating the goal changing of secondary agricultural science to a vocational subject (Olaitan, 1997; Okorie, 2000; Obi, 2005; and Ikeoji and Agwubike, 2006). Education, according to the global monitoring report should focus its attention to the solution of challenges faced by the growing numbers of unemployed youths and who are also trapped in poverty UNESCO (2005) and UNO (2005).
Empirical Studies on Attitude of Students Towards Practical Agricultural Science
Students’ attitudes to science and how students’ view the contents of science are extremely influential for having the potential to significantly affect their disposition towards attainment and their retention within science both in and out of school (Bricheno, Johnston & Sears, 2001; Gardner, 1975; Kind, Jones & Barmby, 2007; Lakshmi, 2004; Osborne, et al., 2003; The Royal Society, 2008). There has been an ongoing focus in attempting to understand students’ attitudes to science within science education research (for example, Barmby, Kind & Jones, 2008; Schibeci, 1984; The Office of Science and Technology and the Wellcome Trust, 2000), along with the struggle to actually define and differentiate these attitudes towards science (Zain, Rohandi & Jusoh, 2010). Such areas have had a greater focus in the social world more recently with the view regarding a shortage of science graduates (House of Commons, 2002a) alongside the claims that employers are feeling graduates have a lack of practical experience and laboratory skills which is becoming a barrier to recruitment of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) staff (Confederation of British Industry, 2011).
These concerns, alongside the fluctuating number of student post compulsion in science(Taylor, 2009), suggests that more research is needed to understand students’ attitudes to practical work, especially when students spend “between one third and a half of all lesson time†(SCORE, 2008) doing practical work in secondary school science. Research has suggested the need to understand why students think the way they do to better understand and hopefully benefit student uptake as well as enhancing student engagement and enjoyment in science (Barmby et al., 2008). Also, researchers have often discussed (Chen & Howard, 2010; Kim & Song, 2009) the potential links between positive student attitude and its influence on continued participation and attainment.
It could be understood that positive attitudes towards science may mean students are more inclined to participate and/or be more motivated to achieve In order to understand attitudes to science, it is important to understand what is meant by an ‘attitude’ although it is a concept that is not easily definable. An attitude according to Ajaja (2008) is a mental or neutral state of readiness organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influences upon the individuals response to all objects and situations with which is related. Anders and Bergs (2005) viewed attitude as a way of thinking or feeling of a person which makes him or her to behave or act in a particular way. The attitude of youth towards a subject or course of study influences the amount of content materials he/she internalizes and the acquisition of the appropriate skills for the subject (Anders and Bergs, 2005, Ajaja, 2005 and Dutse et al, 2010).
Student attitude toward Agricultural science and the practical aspect can be largely determined by their erroneous perception of the profession as the main live -hood option for resource-poor peasants who have no other meaningful sustenance (Falaye and Ayoola, 2006) .According to Rameela (2004), Attitude is the liking or disliking of an object based on what is known about it. Attitude is important and is often used to understand and predict peoples reaction to an object or change, and how behavior can be influenced (Fishbern and Ajzeen 1975). Attitudes are fundamental to the dynamics of human behavior and is one of the key variables within the affective domain that influence learning and hence academic achievement (Weinburg,1995). Attitudes have a strong influence on people perception of things around them and help to determine their likes and dislikes (Okon, 1997). Student with positive attitude toward the learning of agricultural science often perform well than those with negative ones.
Adegboye (2000) asserted that student negative attitude toward mathematics is one of the major factor causing poor performance in the subject. Similarly, the negative attitude put on by student contribute to their poor response to practical agriculture, In 2010,the Chief Examiner’s Report on Agriculture Science indicated that fundamentals of agriculture and knowledge of practical agriculture were ignored by students. Olaitan (2004) asserted that students develop negative attitude toward agricultural science because it does not deviate significantly from the traditional practice at home and they conclude that the agricultural science teacher has nothing further to offer them. Okebukola (1996) reported that the attitude of the student determines his/her disposition to school work and how well he will use his knowledge. Aremu (1997) also reported that there was a significant relationship between student attitude and performance. He therefore opined that if student attitude could be changed toward science, the performance in science subject would improve and was expected that more student would be taken science subject like Agricultural science and others, since agricultural science is being regarded as an important tools or instrument which can get Nigeria out of problem of unemployment and shortage of food.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACTThe study investigate students perception of practical agricultural science in senior secondary in Ilorin west LGA, Kwara StateThe population for this study is made up of all Agricultural science students. The instrument used for this study was research design questionnaire and responses were elicited for the research, random sampling method was used to sample students offering agricultural science from each of the four schools involved in the study. Four research question and hypotheses ... Continue reading---
QUESTIONNAIRE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE EDUCATION QUESTIONNAIRE Students perception of practical agricultural science in senior secondary school in Ilorin west L.G.A kwara state.Dear respondent, This questionnaire is designed to help the researcher to have insight into secondary school students perception of practical agricultural science.The researcher will be highly delighted if you can tick (√) the correct information applicable to you, so as to enable him a ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]TABLE OF CONTENTSTitle Page Certification DedicationAcknowledgements Abstract Table of Contents CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTIONBackground to the problem Statements of Problem Purpose of the Study Research Questions Research Hypotheses Scope of the Study Clarification of Major Terms and Variables Significance of the Study CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEWConcept of Agricultural Education Objectives and Contents of Agricultural Science Curriculum Empirical studies on stu ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER ONE - [ Total Page(s): 3 ]Statements of ProblemThe role of Agriculture to a nation cannot be underestimate ranging from availability of crops and animals in market to food security among other. Agricultural science is a practical oriented subject, the approach to teaching of agricultural science in most secondary school is taught theoretically and has failed to make an impression on the society (Sekamu,2009). FRN (2009) pointed out that Nigeria schools should teach practical skills, knowledge and value which will help sc ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGYThis chapter explained the procedure employed in carrying out the study. The methodology was discussed under the following subheadings:. Research Design Population of the Study, Sampling and Sampling Techniques Research Instrument, Validation of Instrument, Procedure for Data Collection and Data Analysis Techniques Research Design The research design used for this work is survey research. It is used in investigating the perception of secondary students towards ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FOUR - [ Total Page(s): 7 ]Research Question 3Does gender perception of practical agricultural science influence their choice of agricultural science as a career.From Table 3 ,35( 85%) of male and33( 82.5%) of female student agreed that their perception of practical agricultural science make them to aspire to read agricultural science and related courses in higher institution while 5(15%) and 7(17%) of male and female respectively disagreed with the statement, which is a indication that the way the student view agricult ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FIVE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]Conclusion Based on the findings of the study, the following are the major conclusion 1 Students in the study area have a positive perception towards practical agricultural science and that there was no significant difference between the perception of students toward practical agricultural science. ,2 Student positive perception towards practical agricultural science influence there aspiration to study agricultural science or it related field as a career after their secondary school education. ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]Taylor, C. (2009). A good school for every child: How to improve our schools. Oxon: Routledge.Itodo, S. A. 2004. Practical Agriculture. Ibadan, Abbey CityPrinting Press.Ikoji,. C. N and Agwubike, C. C. (2006) problem facing new agricultural science teachers in Delta State. European Journal of Science Research. 18 (2): 229-237. Ikoji, C. N and Agwubike, C. C. (2007). Perception of head agricultural science teacher regarding problem and challenges of vocational agriculture delivery in secondary ... Continue reading---
