CURRICULUM INTERESTS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

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Date
1975
Authors
Uzomah, Hyginus Oduenyi
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Abstract
In Secondary Schools, many subjects are taught. The subjects offered in many schools range up to fourteen or more. But students are required to pass at least six subjects to obtain the west Vfrican 3chool Certificate. However, each student is allowed to choose a maximum of eicht subjects; but those offering additional Mathematics are allowed to offor up to nine Subjects. Sometimes some s-tudonta offor a minimum, of six subjects, when one looks into the subjects offered in a single school by various students one finds wide difference. in their choices. This fact becomes more pronounced when one takes account of the variety of subjecta offered by students from, different schools. This creates a problem situation whereby an interested educator is forced to inquire for the reasons why students make the choices of subjects they offer. The objectives of this investigation were therefore: (1) To find out the popularity 3tatus of each subject offered in Secondary /schools. (2) To find out the reasons why students tend to like or dislike individual subjects offered in School. (3) To suggest measures that could be taken to improve the interests of students towards school subjects. Specifically this study was meant to answer the following questions: (1) What subject or subjects are most liked by the students? (2) What subject or subjects are most disliked by the students? (3) What are the factors which influence students* interests in making the choices of subjects they offer? To make this study more meaningful, the following assumptions were made: (1) That secondary School students while in school think of what professions they would pursue on completing the secondary education. The profession or career a student chooses will invariably affect his interest in making choices of subjects to offer in the West African School Certificate Examinations. (2) Educationists contend that any subject could be taught at any level in a way that could be meaningful to the learner and therefore interesting to him. If a teacher lacks good methods of teaching he is likely to kill the interests of the students because he would not be capable of challenging them and thus arousing their interests. The researcher, thus, assumed that teachers' method of teaching plays a great role in the choice of subjects that students offer in the West African School Certificate Examinations. (3) Positive reinforoement enhances interest in any human endeavour. When a student constantly scores high marks in certain subjects, he feels a sense of honour, reward and security. The reverse would be the case where a student constantly scores low marks in certain subjects. It is therefore likely that marks students obtain in various subjects might affect their choices of subjects to offer in the West African School Certificate Examinations. (4) Often people dislike any task when they find it difficult to tackle and look for easier ones. It is likely that students, like most human beings, might behave in the same way in making choces of subjects to offer in the West African School Certificate Examinations. As a guide to this investigation, the hypotheses below stated in null form were advanced to test the relationships of the variables under study. (1) No relationship exists between the vocational value of subjects and students1 interest in school subjects. (2) No relationship exists between teachers1 method of presentation or teaching and students1 interest in school subjects, (3) No relationship exists between marks obtained in school subjects and students1 interest in school subjects. (4) No relationship exists between the difficulty of subjects and students* interest in School subjects. The idea here was to see the degree to which the independent variables, the vocational value of subjects, teachers' method of presentation, marks obtained in school subjects and the difficulty of subjects affect the dependent variable - students' interest in school subjects. After analysing the data and testing the hypotheses, it was found that English language, Bible knowledge and Biology were the most popular subjects among boys and girls. The most disliked subjects were French, Igbo and G-eography, History also was not popular among the students. It was also found that the vocational value of a subject was the strongest factor that affectr students' choico of subjects to offer in the West African School Certificate Examinations. This was followed by the difficulty of a subject. This factor was almost as strong as the first. Lastly marks obtained in school subject was another factor that affects students1 choice of subjects to offer. Statistically no relationship was found to exist between teachers1 method of presentation or teaching and students1 interest in school subjects and hence "he choice of stibjects they offer in the West African Hchool Certificate Examinations. When the responses of boys and girls were treated separately the findings took another dimension. For boys only, the vocational value and the difficulty of a subject were the only factors that were found to affect their choice of subjects to offer in the West African Examinations and these factors were really very strong among them. For the girls only the foremost reason for liking & Subject was whether they received high marks in it, or whether it is easy and interesting (Table XI, P. 55.). Other reasons for liking a subject were the vocational value of a subject and teachers' method of presentation or teaching. For the girls the vocational value of a subject was not as strong a factor in the choice of subjects they make as it was for the boys. In the light of the above findings the following recommendations are made: (i) Some considerations might be given to the possibility of core curriculum based on English language, Bible knowledge (or religious knowledge) and Biology. From the point of view of National economy as well as children's interest, rather more emphasis should be placed on Biology. The interests of children in biological life around them should be exploited to the full from as early an age as possible. Furthermore, this natural interest in Biology can be used as a foundation work in language. If every biology teacher can also look upon himself as a teacher of English and if every teacher of English can acquire some local biological knowledge, which he can utilize in his English lessons, then something whould be gained from the point of view of making the Secondary School course more meaningful than it is at the present. (2) Much of what is taught in History and Geography should be oriented towards the students1 immediate environment. This is where it becomes necessary to emphasize the introduction of Social studies into Nigeria School|'starting from the primary school level. (3) The popularity of Biology due to its immediate functional application to life around the -'tudents makes a good argument for integrated Science incorporating Physics find Chemistry. (4) If we are committed to the principle of child centred education, surely teachers should take account in their methods of presentation, and the comments made by the students themselves. Individualized instruction is very important to enhance the interests of students towards school subjects. Teachers should set tasks that are within the ability of the children to tackle. (5) Guidance services should be established in our Secondary Schools. (6) Igbo and other Nigerian languages should be introduced into the Nigerian Universities and studied up to decree level in order to turn out qualified teachers in our active languages. (7) Teachers should show interest in the subjects they teach and the welfare of their students. (8) Teacher - student planning should be adopted as much as possible.
Description
A Research Project Presented To The Department of Education Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements For the DEGREE Of Master of Education {Curriculum and Instruction).
Keywords
CURRICULUM,, INTERESTS,, SECONDARY SCHOOL,, STUDENTS
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