CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background of study

The demonstration methods on teaching and learning chemistry in senior secondary school in some selected schools in Enugu urban, Enugu state.

        The performances of chemistry students in senior school chemistry examinations is of great concern to many people in Enugu urban. Olaitan et al quoted in Aigbomian (1997) on this issue of chemistry students performance in senior school examination. The performance of secondary school students at the external examination in the science like chemistry has been causing some concern to parents, teachers as well as the government. He said that this has been particularly disturbing as it is believe that the much talked about technological take-off cannot be realized without a considerable improvement on the present students’ performance in school certificate examinations in the sciences like chemistry. Many scholars have studied some of the factors that could affect student’s performance in examinations and have made some useful discoveries.

Some of such discoveries are that:

        “That achievement in public and teacher-made

          examinations in chemistry have not been

         encouraging-various factors have been

          identified for the negative attitude and

          apparent lack of interest among senior

          Secondary school students in chemistry.

One of these factors is the inability of teachers to put across chemical concepts, idea, et ecetera, to the chemistry students”. Olaitan et al (1991-98). Other scholars have suggested that the teacher is the main determinant of students performance in examination. Okpara (1987) stated that teachers play important roles in teaching and learning. Hill drug (1982) made it clear that the personality of the teacher determines to a large extent, the students’ performance. This was well explained in his statement that teachers who do not know what they are supposed to be teaching rather obviously cannot teach it, no matter what the quality of the children placed under their care. Ali (1984) in his own view said that:

        “Certain science teachers behaviours affect

         the efficiency and effectiveness of his

         science teaching. If the teacher possesses

         And uses a behaviour which fosters a certain

         secondary school science objectives then

         such an objective will most likely be achieved when he

 teaches science to his students”.

Okoro (1990) in his own observation said that the teacher is directly connected with every educational programme and plays an important part in its implementation.

We now wants to find out if the degree of learning of the chemistry students in senior secondary certificate chemistry examinations in most schools in Enugu urban is as a result of what the teachers are or what they do.

1.2     Statement of problem

We can see that some scholars have said that student’s failure or success in senior school certificate chemistry examinations depend on their teacher’s competence. But to the researcher’s best of knowledge, no works, or probably not much works have been done to prove specialfically in Enugu urban, Enugu State the extent to which teachers’ competence students’ learning ability in some selected senior school certificate chemistry examinations. The aim of this research therefore, is to find out whether performance or ability of chemistry students in senior school certificate examinations in schools in Enugu urban is as a result of the type of teachers they have.

1.3     Need/Importance of the study:

This research would help to improve the performance of chemistry students in senior school certificate chemistry examinations.

This is because, if it is found out that teachers are the basic influence of students performance time would be taken to make sure that the best teachers are employed.

According to him, the teacher has the difficult task of interpreting programme goals, objectives and course content to the students; the teacher understands the students more than those who see them outside the classroom and is more aware of their learning problems than the administrator or members of the school Board.

        Hilldrup (1982) observed that since the teacher is in a kind of intermediate position between the students’ failure and success, there are certain attributes which he must posses to attain his aims. Ukeje (1986) agreed that there are some skills, ability, and knowledge required by the teacher in order to perform his duties efficiently so as to influence the students towards success.

Okpara (1984) is of the view that for the teacher to perform well in science examinations, the teacher must posses competence in language, innovation abilities and skill in provision of instructional materials, good manual skills in the science laboratory and lesson planning skill et ecetera.

        Now, the researcher have learnt from the works of many scholars that there is a certain standard to which the personality of a teacher should reach or what he/she is expected to be doing before he/her aim can be acquired.

        The teacher training colleges and universities would enjoy better equipment and resources through this research. The reason for this is that the government would be motivated to provide them with necessary things in order to produce more compotent teachers. Parents and students would also benefit from this research because once the problem is proved right and corrected, the parents would no longer spend their time in schools without achieving their desired aims.

Lastly, it is also of immense benefit to the researcher since it is a requirement for the award of Nigeria certificate in education.

1.4 Purpose of study

In this study, the researcher intended to find out whether the nature of the effect of lecture and demonstration method on teaching and learning secondary chemistry in Enugu state, Enugu urban is as a result of their chemistry teachers’ personality and chemistry teaching approaches. In other words, the researcher wanted to:

1.     Find out whether the degree of learning performance of students in senior school chemistry examinations in schools of Enugu urban Enugu state is as a result of the type of teachers they have.

2.     Find out the teacher variables or factors which influence the chemistry students’ performance in senior school chemistry examination in Enugu urban, Enugu state.

1.5 Scope of study

The study covered from 2000-2009, for content, the variables that were looked into are the performance of chemistry teachers in teaching and the performance of chemistry in teaching and the performance students in senior school examinations. This research was meant for or covered the final year chemistry teachers and final year chemistry students of selected secondary schools in Enugu urban.

1.6 Research question

The following research questions were designed as guide for the study:

1.   How qualified are the chemistry teachers who prepare students for the senior school certificate examinations?

2.   Do the chemistry teachers make enough efforts to enable the students cover and master all the topics in the scheme/syllabus?

3.   Do the chemistry teachers prepare their students well concerning study habits and how to sit for final examination?

4.   How good were the performances of chemistry students in senior school certificate chemistry examinations in Enugu urban, Enugu state in the recent pasts?

STRUCTURED INTERVIEW ADMINISTERED TO S.S III CHEMISTRY TEACHERS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU URBAN, ENUGU STATE FOR THE STUDY

(1)       What is your educational qualification?

(2)       How long have you taught chemistry?

(3)       What do you do concerning topics which you are not able to cover before the examination?

(4)       Do you permit the final year chemistry student into the chemistry laboratory to perform experiments on their own free time without your assistance?

(5)       Do you normally organize orientation for the final year chemistry students based on their approaching examination like (WAEC).

(6)       What other ways do you use in telling the students of all they should know about the chemistry examination in WAEC?

(7)       What can you say about the senior school certificate chemistry examination results/performance in your school between 2001-2009?