CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

We live in an age of ever-growing computer use across many areas of human endeavour. Computers support decision-making, operations control, modelling, simulation and automated manufacturing, among other tasks, and their role in scientific and technological development is firmly established (Okoli & Ekebosi, 2019).

In education, computers are used in many versatile ways to help a wide variety of learners understand their lessons. Computer studies, however, has met several challenges as a subject in the junior secondary school curriculum. Over the years, students' response to the subject, particularly in public schools, has been poor. One likely reason is that instructional materials, and audio-visual materials in particular, are either not used or not used properly during instruction. This is a source of concern to researchers because of its possible effect on students' achievement in the subject. Poor teaching methods that make computer studies dull and ineffective have often been blamed for low interest and weak achievement among students (Okoli & Ekebosi, 2019).

Meaningful learning is most likely to occur when information is presented in a way that makes sense to the learner, so that most of what is taught stays in long-term memory. Research on multimedia learning supports this view. Learners generally understand material more deeply when it is presented through words and pictures together than through words alone, because the eyes and ears each carry part of the message and the learner connects the two (Mayer, 2020).

Audio-visual aids are, in general terms, teaching and learning materials that address both the sense of hearing and the sense of sight, such as films, recordings and photographs, and that are used in classrooms, libraries and similar settings. They are materials that do not depend solely on reading to convey meaning. They may present information through hearing, as audio resources do, through sight, as visual resources do, or through a combination of the senses, and the variety of such resources is one of their most striking features. Put differently, the term is commonly used for instructional materials that can convey meaning without complete dependence on words or verbal symbols. By this definition, a textbook or reference book does not belong to the group, but an illustration inside a book does.

Some audio-visual components are in the nature of a process or an experience, for example dramatising an event or a procedure, or building a diorama. Some, such as motion pictures, need equipment before their value can be released, while others, such as an exhibit or a study print, need no equipment at all. In common usage the term covers both material things and activities such as field trips. Audio-visual resources also include materials and equipment alike. The materials are the body of content that becomes valuable once it is put to work, while the equipment, often called hardware, is the means of presenting that content.

The importance of audio-visual materials in teaching and learning cannot be overemphasised. Their main roles are to base learning on sense experience, extend experience, encourage participation, stimulate interest, individualise instruction, serve as a source of information, and make learning permanent. Each role is discussed below.

Basing learning on sense experience. A normal learner gains understanding through multiple impressions recorded through the eye, the ear, touch and the other senses. Audio-visual materials are the means through which this multi-sensory experience occurs, and they work best when several senses are stimulated in a balanced way rather than in isolation. Vision is generally regarded as the most dominant of the senses in learning, which helps to explain why visual and audio-visual materials are so valuable: they bring the contributions of the different senses together and make the content clearer to the learner (Mayer, 2020).

Extending experience. Audio-visual materials help the teacher overcome the physical difficulties of presenting subject matter. With them, barriers of distance and communication are broken. The culture and climate of other countries, or a process that cannot be shown directly in the classroom, can be brought to learners through slides, films, projectors, simulations and online video. This matters because a phenomenon that has been visualised tends to be understood more clearly and remembered for longer. The popular saying that one picture is worth a thousand words makes the same point. Research on audio-visual media also stresses that schools must be equipped so that these tools can actually be used (Muhammad-Jamiu, 2023).

Encouraging participation. Audio-visual materials give students rich opportunities to develop communication skills while they are actively engaged in solving meaningful problems. Students generally like lessons more, and learn better, when they take part in important and appealing activities. For example, involving students in a bulletin board display helps them choose colours and sharpens their grasp of the concept in question, and joining the teacher in dramatising an event or process has a similar effect. A study of junior secondary students in Minna found that those taught basic science and technology with multimedia instructional strategies achieved more than those taught without them (Umar et al., 2020).

Stimulating interest. Learning takes place effectively when the teacher creates a learning situation to which the child responds naturally. During learning, the teacher must provide this situation, and instructional aids are the means of doing so: they catch the learner's attention, win his or her interest and make the learner ready to learn. A friendly and accepting group climate also matters in any learning situation, especially where students must admit what they do not know and face their classmates. When the climate supports learning, interest is stimulated. In computer studies, lessons that students find uninteresting are one of the reasons for poor achievement (Okoli & Ekebosi, 2019).

Individualising instruction. Audio-visual materials provide a way of individualising instruction. Programmed learning and recorded lessons allow learners to study at their own pace and to work on their own. Equipment of this kind frees the teacher to work with individual students, since the teacher no longer has to carry out routine drills. Producing resources by themselves is another way in which students can learn individually. Evidence from computer-assisted instruction supports this role: junior secondary students taught basic science with a computer-assisted package performed significantly differently from those taught by the lecture method (Gongden & Gongden, 2019), and computer-assisted instruction had a significant effect on the mathematics achievement of junior secondary students in Enugu State (Agwagah et al., 2019).

Serving as a source of information. Audio-visual materials are also a direct source of information. Recordings, films, charts, models and software present facts, procedures and examples that the teacher may not be able to supply orally, and learners can return to them when they need to revise.

Making learning permanent. Audio-visual resources play a major part in making learning last. Audio-visual methods appear to support the acquisition, retention and recall of lessons, because they draw a strong response from the whole learner, and perceptual materials connect readily with each person's own background of experience. Most people remember what they have seen, since the object brings an image to mind at its mere mention and can be discussed freely. Students also tend to forget because they lose interest and have no later opportunity to use what they learned, and audio-visual resources contribute to clarity by letting learners visualise what is being taught. A familiar proverb sums this up: what I hear, I forget; what I see, I remember; what I do, I know. Experimental evidence agrees. Junior secondary students taught with multimedia strategies achieved higher scores and retained more than students taught without them (Umar et al., 2020).

Studies in Nigeria that focus on computer studies point the same way. In a study of computer science students in Sokoto State, the use of visual aids showed a very high positive correlation with academic achievement (r = .82), audio-visual aids showed a high positive correlation (r = .70), and printed materials showed a substantial positive correlation (r = .65) (Isah, 2015). Another study found that audio-visual media had a significant effect on the academic achievement of senior secondary school students in Kwara State (Muhammad-Jamiu, 2023). Gender is also relevant, because some studies report no significant gender difference in achievement when students are taught with instructional technology (Agwagah et al., 2019; Muhammad-Jamiu, 2023), while the effect of video-based instruction on achievement and gender among junior secondary students has been examined in the Federal Capital Territory (Nonyelu & Anikweze, 2019). These mixed and limited findings show that more evidence is needed for computer studies in particular.

Therefore, it is extremely important to investigate the effects of the use of audio-visual materials on students' achievement in computer studies in junior secondary schools in Ebonyi State.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The poor achievement of junior secondary school students in computer studies may be linked to a lack of interest on the part of learners, which in turn follows from teachers' failure to use audio-visual materials. Students who are taught without audio-visual aids tend not to retain or understand what they are taught for long.

Despite the well-documented benefits of educational aids to instruction, many teachers still rely only on the conventional approach, which neither rests on sense experience nor extends the learner's experience and therefore cannot produce lasting learning. There is also evidence that audio-visual materials are scarce or poorly used in schools. In Ebonyi State, for example, teachers' perceptions of the availability, quality and use of ICT devices in secondary schools have been studied, and the researchers recommended that government supply and distribute the necessary devices (Aja & Eze, 2016). This low use and non-availability of audio-visual materials has contributed to students' lack of interest, attention and active participation in teaching and learning, which may explain their poor academic performance in general. As a result, students have not been able to achieve fully in computer education.

The problem of this study, therefore, is this: will the use of audio-visual materials effectively improve students' achievement in computer studies?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the use of audio-visual materials on students' achievement in computer studies. Specifically, the study seeks to determine:

1. The effect of the use of audio-visual materials on students' achievement in computer studies.
2. The effect of the use of audio-visual materials on male and female students' achievement in computer studies.
3. The interactive effect of teaching method and gender on students' achievement in computer studies.

1.4 Significance of the Study

Science educators have long been concerned with finding an acceptable, relevant and adequate method for teaching and learning computer studies. Developments and innovations in the computer instructional process show that the use of audio-visual materials has several good qualities.

The findings of this study will encourage the use of audio-visual materials in teaching and learning computer education. Once the obstacles that prevent full use of audio-visual resources in schools are identified, efforts can be made to reduce their effect and to promote proper use of the resources that are available. The results will be made available to computer education teachers in the school system through workshops and seminars so that they can use the methods effectively in the classroom. The results will also guide teachers on whether it is necessary to prepare separate instructional aids or materials for male and female students.

The study will also benefit students, who should gain more interest and better understanding from lessons that engage both sight and hearing. School administrators and government agencies will gain evidence to support the supply of audio-visual equipment, and researchers will have a basis for further study of instructional media in computer studies.

1.5 Scope of the Study

The study is concerned with the effect of the use of audio-visual materials on students' achievement in computer studies. It is restricted to junior secondary schools in Ebonyi State only. The study also examines the effect of audio-visual materials on the achievement of male and female students in computer studies.

1.6 Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1. What is the effect of the use of audio-visual materials on students' achievement in computer studies?
2. What are the mean achievement scores of male and female students taught computer studies using audio-visual materials?
3. What is the interactive effect of method and gender on students' achievement in computer studies?

1.7 Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance:

H₀₁: There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught computer studies using audio-visual materials and those taught using the conventional teaching method.

H₀₂: There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female students taught computer studies using audio-visual materials.

H₀₃: There is no significant interaction effect of gender and method on students' mean achievement in computer studies.

References

Agwagah, U. N. V., Arua, S. N., & Abugu, G. N. (2019). Effect of computer assisted instructional approach on students' achievement in mathematics. ABACUS: The Journal of the Mathematical Association of Nigeria, 44(1), 426–433.

Aja, S. N., & Eze, P. I. (2016). Use of information and communication technology (ICT) devices for instructional delivery in secondary schools in Ebonyi State of Nigeria. European Scientific Journal, 12(4), 222. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2016.v12n4p222

Gongden, E. J., & Gongden, E. E. (2019). Effects of computer assisted instruction on male and female students' achievement in basic science in Jos metropolis, Plateau State, Nigeria. University of Jos Institutional Repository. https://irepos.unijos.edu.ng/handle/123456789/11292

Isah, A. (2015). Relationship between use of instructional materials in teaching computer science students and their academic achievement in Sultan Abubakar College, Sokoto State, Nigeria [Master's thesis, Islamic University in Uganda]. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12309/242

Mayer, R. E. (2020). Multimedia learning (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Muhammad-Jamiu, I. (2023). Effects of audio-visual media on academic achievement of senior secondary schools Islamic studies students in Kwara State, Nigeria. Journal of Digital Learning and Education, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.52562/jdle.v3i1.390

Nonyelu, R. N., & Anikweze, C. M. (2019). Effect of video-taped instruction on achievement and gender among junior secondary school students in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria. European Journal of Alternative Education Studies, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3227130

Okoli, J. N., & Ekebosi, C. A. (2019). Effect of collaborative instruction on secondary school students' achievement in computer studies in Imo State. Journal of Science, Technology and Mathematics Education, 3(1).

Umar, B. K., Ossom, M. O., & Egbita, A. U. (2020). Impact of multimedia instructional strategies on students' achievement and retention in basic science and technology in Minna, Niger State. International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, 7(6), 150–155.