EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL FIELD TRIPS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENTS IN KADUNA STATE-NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
The study examined the Effects of educational field trip on academic performance of JSS social studies students in Kaduna state-Nigeria. The study used quasi-experimental research design and 120 JSSII students of the following schools were used as sample: Government junior secondary school Tudun-Jukun, Zaria, Government junior secondary school, Awai, Government junior secondary school, Aba and Government junior secondary school Muchiya, S/Gari were selected via purposive sampling technique. The study used Social Studies Achievement Test (SOSAT) as data collection instrument. The study answered three (3) research questions and tested three (3) hypotheses. The data analysis tools were percentage and frequency distribution table used in analysing and presenting the bio-data variables of the participants; mean and standard deviation used in answering the questions raised by the study and t-test independent sample which was used in testing the three null hypotheses postulated by the study. The study revealed that Significant differences existed between the mean academic performance of students taught using Educational Field trip (experimental) and those who were taught with lecture method (control) as their computed mean performances were 68.1833 and 39.3000 for all the experimental and control group students respectively. The study also discovered no significant difference between Male and Female Experimental group students in their mean academic performance; their calculated mean performances were 67.8333 and 68.5333 for all the male and female experimental students respectively. The study however found out that both urban and rural students’ experimental group did not differ significantly in their academic performance when they were taught with educational field trip technique; their calculated mean performances were 67.9000 and 68.4667 for urban and rural Experimental group students respectively. In the light of the above findings, the study recommended that Social studies teachers in the study area should be encouraged to adopt the technique of educational field trip for their students for optimum academic performance; the need for Government of Kaduna state through ministry of education to provide all the needed funds for conducting regular educational field trip by students and teachers of social studies; the need for Wealthy Corporations and individuals to sponsor Educational Field trips in secondary schools in Zaria educational zone organised by social studies teachers and the need for adequate time to be allotted to social studies lessons in the study area aimed at encouraging teachers to organize field trip for students.
EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL FIELD TRIPS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENTS IN KADUNA STATE-NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill or character of students. Thus education is the process of learning and knowing, which is not restricted to schools or textbooks. Education is very important for an individual‟s life. Education is a major aspect of development of any modern society. The importance of education is evident at every stage of education whether at primary, Junior Secondary, Senior Secondary and in Higher education.
One type of informal learning experience, more commonly known as Educational field trip, is valued by many educators for its potency to increase interest and enhance the information that is being taught inside the classroom. There are many other reasons that formal educators can also use Educational field trip as a supplement to the curriculum. Educational Field trip has many purposes. It is a good way to create interest about a subject. It can be used to introduce a unit that is about to be covered in class, and is also used at the other end of a unit, as a follow up with the purpose of illustrating and reinforcing the lesson just learned. It can also provide a point of relevance by showing how the subject can be used in the real world. It is also utilized to enhance concepts and motivate students to want to learn more. All of these purposes have one thing in common; they are intended to increase the interest and understanding of the subject to the students.
Educational field trips, according to Shakil, Faizi and Hafeez (2011), is a progressive method of learning by which the student goes through the necessary learning experiences under the leadership and guidance of the teacher. It is helpful in developing the complete personality of the students like their physical, mental, social and emotional development. Educational field trip gives students the opportunity to have first-hand experiences and to explore world. It helps students to interact with what they are learning.
Educational Field trip allows for actual tactile experiences, students are able to see it, manipulate it or participate in it physically. Usually field trip is organized at larger scale, therefore the students are divided into different groups and a leader is chosen among the groups. The other students have to abide by his instructions. It helps to develop the ability of obligation and leadership qualities in students. During educational field trip, students have to abide by rules and regulations and they have to do their work properly and systematically under the supervision of teacher or guide. This will help to establish discipline among students which is not only beneficial for their educational life as well as their practical life. The main purpose of the trip is usually observation for education, non-experimental research or to provide students with experiences outside their everyday activities. Field trips give students the enormous opportunities to make observations and observation is a big source to enhance mental development (Shakil, Faizi and Hafeez, 2011).
Educational field trip provides an opportunity for social training of the students because field trip is taken in large group and students‟ are included from different social backgrounds, it gives students a chance to get to know each other and interact in a more relaxed environment. These interactions teach them how to behave in different settings. It will also help to control or show balanced emotions in different type of situations.
Educational field trips had a long history. Children from time immemorial have learned by being with their parents or placed in apprentice situations with employers for most of human history. In a sense, field trips was the norm, until the invention of formal education. In the ancient time before crest, the Greeks take their children to the different places where children participated in different activities to develop their physical fitness. The state name "Sparta" was famous for their physical training. The same is the case with "Athens" where children are trained physically very toughly. Buttressing the above statement, Aggarwal (2008) describes that over the years, educators and philosophers like Comenius (1592-1670), Rousseau (1782-1852), Pestalozzi (1746- 1827), Herbart (1746-1841), Froebel (1782-1852), Spencer (1820-1903), and Dewey (1859- 1952) have pointed out the need for reinforcing abstract learning with concrete experiences. In western countries "England" is a good example for training physically their children. Apart from England other European countries like France, Germany and Italy also organized educational field trips at every educational level. Further, Panneerselvam and Santhanam (2006) assert that there are various types of educational field trips which are conducted by the institution accordingly such as: Local trip, Community trip, Tour or Journey, Imaginary tour, inter-school visit and individual trip.
Educational Field trips has great potential to positively affect students' learning (Farmer, Knapp and Benton, 2007; Flexer and Borun, 1984; Lisowski and Disinger, 1991; Mackenzie and White, 1982) and students' attitudes towards their education Hannon and Randolph, 1999; Michie, 1998; Price and Hein, 1991; Wendling and Wuensch, 1985). Field trips provide real world settings in which students are challenged to apply knowledge learned in the classroom. Many students enjoy the less formal setting in which the learning takes place (Braund and Reiss, 2006; Falk, 1983; Flexer and Borun, 1984). As a result, these students may become more excited about their school subjects (Michie, 1998; Storsdieck, 2001). Though field trip itself tends to be short-term outing, the effects of this trip on students may continue for many months to years after the field trip (Farmer, Knapp and Benton, 2007; Mackenzie and White, 1982).
According to Youth learn initiative (n.d) educational field trip is a great way to bring excitement and adventure to learning. However, Shakil, Faizi and Hafeez (2011) describe that with the availability of learning materials on the internet some teachers and students may question why field trips are needed anymore. Field trip can be troublesome and difficult to organize and supervise. But it does provide learning opportunities that cannot be experienced in the classroom. It is a great way to communicate difficult information. Through educational field trip most of the concepts and phenomena may be easily clarified, understood and assimilated and with the help of this, good deal of energy and time of both the teachers and students can be saved. It is clear that going on a field trip is a wonderful way to extend a learning experience in such a way that the students not only understand the concept, but also understand how it connects to their world. Field trip is also vital for students to have a chance to view and explore historical places and different social institutions.
Moreover, field trip provides an opportunity for the students to visiting a new place, meeting new people and seeing and understanding the things. Educational field trip is very important because they are a way to bring the students closer together, they are very helpful for physical fitness of students, and they are also a source of entertainment. Educational field trip is very helpful to provide a future professional and vocational direction. It opens the eyes of students, not only with information but with ideas also. However, Aggarwal (2003) describes that educational field trip is also helpful for the teachers to clarify, establish, co-relate and coordinate accurate concepts, interpretations and appreciations and enable them to make learning more concrete, effective, interesting, inspirational, meaningful and vivid. Thus it can be said that educational field trip is helpful in completing the triangular process of learning that is motivation, clarification and stimulation.
Further, it will also help to control or show balanced emotions in different type of situations. Educational field trip provides entertainment for students; learning and fun make a great combination. Field trip is considering fun, but the students learn as well. Educational field trip help improves students cognitive and inquiry s k i l l s . They provide plenty of opportunities to the students to show their abilities which are usually kept hidden in their educational institution (Aggarwal, 2008).
Few educators would question the value of learning through experience, and research has indicated that field trip can be educationally effective from both a cognitive and affective standpoint (Falk, 1983; Koran, 1989; Tuckey, 1992; Marshdoyle 1982; Tofield 2003). Field trip may also allow students without a particularly strong interest in academics to experience success, and may promote favorable attitudes toward learning in students (Ramey-Gassert, 1997; Price and Hein, 1991). A visit to a zoo or aquarium might be enough to spark what will become a lifelong passion for certain students. And, unlike learning in schools, which is often motivated by extrinsic factors such as grades, informal learning institutions like zoos and aquariums may present complex information in more interesting and diverse ways, thus motivating students to learn more through their own intrinsic motivation (Csikszentmihalyi and Hermanson, 1999). Many classroom teachers agree that experiential learning outside of the traditional classroom offers a valuable addition to the student's learning experience, even if the gains made by students are more affective than content-related (Marshdoyle, 1982; Melber, 2008).
As with any type of educational program component, field trip should be designed around specific educational objectives. A field trip should be designed so that participants can easily make connections between the focus of the field trip and the concepts they are learning in the rest of the educational program. Numerous research studies in social studies education have documented significant increases in participant factual knowledge and conceptual understanding after participation in well-planned field trip.
The use of educational field trip has long been a major part of the education programming for both youth and adults. However, due to funding limitations, time constraints, and increased liability concerns many education professionals balk at requests for field trip. In spite of these concerns, well-planned field trip can be a valuable tool in the extension agent educational toolbox. An educational field trip can be an integral part of the instructional program. Good field trips provide participants with firsthand experience related to the topic or concept being discussed in the program. It provides unique opportunities for learning that are not available within the four walls of a classroom.
However, despite the aforementioned advantages of educational field trip towards effective teaching and learning social studies, very few teachers of social studies ever try to utilize it for the benefit of promoting students learning. This is worrisome especially in this 21st century where teaching and learning is undergoing massive restructuring, remodeling and revitalization to suit the current demands and also to stand the test of time. Based on the above, this study examined the effects of educational field trips on academic performance of Junior Secondary School Social Studies students in Kaduna state-Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The choice of effective, adequate and relevant teaching technique by a qualified social studies teacher putting into consideration the topic to be taught and the students‟ level and ability is the starting point and a foundation for attaining effective transaction and communication between teacher and students in social studies classroom. This is because the success or failure of social studies lessons depends on the choice and utilization of effective teaching technique by the social studies teacher.
The teachers of social studies are still accustomed to traditional methods of teaching especially the lecture and didactic techniques despite the availability of learner-centered and activity-based teaching techniques which encourage effective communications and transactions between teacher and the students. This has contributed to poor performances among students and their attitude towards social studies as a subject. This inversely affected their performances in the subject especially at JSCE examinations and stifles their interest toward the subject.
One of the major causes of students' poor performance in Social Studies in Nigeria as reported by various studies conducted by social studies experts has to do with the instructional techniques used by social studies teachers, which are inadequate to bring about desired level of achievements and classroom participation in both male and female students. Some of the techniques used by social studies teachers are traditional presentation methods (lecture and didactic methods). These traditional and teacher-centered techniques of teaching social studies are characterized and largely criticized for stifling interest and creativity in students thereby limiting academic achievements among junior secondary school students.
Other studies also found that many Nigerian Social Studies teachers mostly used the Traditional Lecture Method which does not allow students inputs in the teaching and learning encounter and hardly encourages students to engage in practical and creative learning activities during the teaching and learning process. The problem of this study hinges on a determination of the extent to which field trips technique are used to achieved classroom effectiveness (Instructional effectiveness) among social studies students.
There is therefore the need to use innovative teaching techniques that center on the learners to see if there will be improvements in their academic performances in Social Studies. Sequel to the above, this study titled “Effects of Educational Field Trips on Academic Performance of Junior Secondary School Social Studies Students in Kaduna State-Nigeria” was aimed at finding the instructional effectiveness of educational field trips technique as a contribution towards the development of knowledge and learning among students, in the study area Kaduna state and Nigeria at large.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The general objective of this research work was to examine the Effects of Educational Field Trips on Academic Performance of Junior Secondary School Social Studies Students in Kaduna State-Nigeria. To accomplish the aforementioned, the study's specific objectives were to:
- Find out if there is difference between the academic performance of students taught Social Studies through Educational Field Trips and those who were taught by means of Lecture method;
- Determine if there is difference between the academic performance of Male and Female students who were taught Social Studies by means of Educational Field Trips;
- Find out if there is difference between the academic performance of Rural and Urban students who were taught Social Studies by means of Educational Field Trips.
1.4 Research Questions
The research work examined the “Effects of Educational Field Trips on Academic Performance of Junior Secondary School Social Studies Students in Kaduna state-Nigeria. The study answered the following questions:
- Do differences exist between the academic performances of students taught Social Studies through Educational Field Trips and those who were taught through Lecture method?
- To what extent do the academic performances of Male and Female students who were taught Social Studies by means of Educational Field Trip differ?
- Is there any difference between the academic performance of Rural and Urban students who were taught Social Studies through Educational Field Trips?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
From the research questions raised, the following hypotheses were stated and tested at
0.05 level of significance:
H01: There is no significant difference between the academic performances of students taught Social Studies by means of Educational Field Trips and those who were taught through Lecture method;
H02: There is no significant difference between the academic performance of Male and Female students who were taught Social Studies by means of Educational Field Trips;
H03: There is no significant difference between the academic performance of Rural and Urban students who were taught Social Studies by means of Educational Field Trip.
1.6 Significance of the Study
Nigeria considers education as an instrument par excellence, which it intends utilizing to attained development in all its ramifications. Social studies education is out to assist Nigeria in this direction by instilling moral values and decorum among other things to its learners aimed at producing effective citizens-who are useful to themselves and their country at large. Therefore if the above statements are true, then effective utilization of teaching and learning methodologies, techniques and procedures are inevitable to make the vision and mission a reality. This will help in no small way in breading an informed and well - disciplined citizenry.
Based on the aforementioned, this study titled "Effect s of Educational Field Trip on Academic Performance of Junior Secondary School Students in Zaria Education Zone, Kaduna State-Nigeria will be of great relevance to various stakeholders in the business of teaching and learning and the education industry at large. The study therefore aimed at making teaching and learning more of a learner-centred a transition from the past. This encourages originality, creativity and innovation which are sine-quanon to sustainable national growth and development. This is because no nation can rise above the quality of its education system. It is equally truth that no students/learners can rise above the quality of their teachers.
Further, the study will be of great significance to the education policy administrators. This is because their decisions affects all and sundry in the business of teaching and learning and education industry at large. The study's literature revealed some of the hitches militating against adequate utilization of learner-centred teaching approaches like educational field trip by the teachers for effective transaction and communication. This will assists the policy makers to identify the problems with a view to finding sustainable solution especially the issue of funding and inadequate time allocated to social studies lesson in the school time table which many teachers hide behind to shun away from the exercise.
Moreover, the study reveals the impact and indispensability of educational field trip on students learning taxonomies, social skills development etc. in social studies lessons and beyond. This may encourage the school authority, and the teachers to strive towards its full utilization in order to maximize its benefits for effective transaction and communication between social studies teacher and the students for effective and desired outcome.
Nevertheless, the study in its literature identifies and discussed step by step procedures for organizing successful educational field trips to maximize its full benefits and goodies. The study also identified areas of caution for the teacher and the co-assistants in order to reduce the risks associated with the worthy course to the barest minimum.
The study will also serve as a contribution to knowledge and learning to all and sundry but most especially relevant to stakeholders in the teaching and learning and the education industry at large and social studies in specific. Furtherstill, researchers in the field of learners-centred approaches especially educational field trip as a whole and social studies in particular will find it reach in contents and facts which serves as a reference source and a point to build upon for future researches.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The study examined the effects of Educational Field Trips on Academic Performance of Junior Secondary School Social Studies Students in Kaduna State-Nigeria. The study covered JSSII students of social studies at Junior Secondary schools in Zaria Education Zone. The Zone cut across three (3) Local Government Areas; namely Zaria, Sabon-Gari and Soba. However, Natural Resources and Physical Environment extracted from the students‟ scheme of work were the topics covered with the students. The students answered questions based on the above topics being treated.
EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL FIELD TRIPS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENTS IN KADUNA STATE-NIGERIA