Availability and Utilization of Instructional Materials in the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry in Secondary Schools in a Council Area of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the availability and utilization of instructional materials in the teaching and learning of chemistry at the senior secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Council Area of Imo state. 1948 chemistry students in senior secondary (SS) two classes and 32 chemistry teachers at the ten government-owned secondary schools formed the population of the study. A simple random sampling technique was used to select five schools, and 20% was used to obtain the sample size of 168 chemistry students; but all the 32 chemistry teachers were used since it is a manageable size. Three research questions were posed. The research was a descriptive survey design; checklists and questionnaire were used to elicit relevant data for the study. Mean rating was used for the analysis of the data obtained. The findings showed that many instructional materials were available, but they are not adequately utilized. Chemistry teachers do not appropriately improvise instructional materials (when not available) in the teaching and learning of chemistry. Based on the findings, it was recommended that adequate instructional materials for the teaching of chemistry at the senior secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Council should be provided by the various stakeholders in education; the use of instructional materials by teachers should be made compulsory in the teaching and learning of all topics in chemistry at our senior secondary schools, and this must be enforced through periodical monitoring by the school authority. Teachers should improvise where instructional materials are not available. Government should provide funds to motivate teachers as regards improvisation and should organize seminars, workshops, and conferences for chemistry teachers on how to improvise and make effective use of instructional materials in the teaching and learning of chemistry.