CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Science is a great enterprise which nations depend on, in-order to advance technologically. Science therefore, is receiving much emphasis in education because of its significance and relevance to life and society .Science has been regarded as the bedrock of modern day technological breakthrough is built. Nowadays, countries all over the world, especially the developing ones like Nigeria, are striving hard to develop technologically and scientifically, since the world is turning. According to Ogunleye (2002), Science is a dynamic human activity concerned with understanding the workings of our world. This understanding helps man to know more about the universe which is why science subject like computer science, biology, agriculture, physics and chemistry are taught in secondary schools.
Importantly, effective teaching of any subject will not only stimulates student’s interest in the subject but also enhance their achievement in the examination. To achieve effective teaching and learning process, there is the need for use of instructional materials. Instructional materials are the different teachi9ng aids or apparatus which a classroom teacher employs to facilitate his or her teaching for the achievement of the stated objective. Agun (1992) defined instructional materials as those materials which are helpful to the teachers and students and which maximize learning in various areas.
Instructional materials range from home made devices to sophisticated machines and also people who assist the teacher in disseminating knowledge and information to help learners learn meaningfully (Ololobou, 2008). Since the sense organs of pupils are gateways to learning, materials provide learners the opportunity to become actively involved intellectually, perceptually and physically in the instructional process (Jekayinfa, 2005). The National Teachers Institute (NTI) teacher training manual quoted in Ololobou (2008), categorized instructional materials into print materials, audio-materials, audio-visuals, static/displays and electronic materials. The materials are derived from various sources, including collection of items from the community, improvised materials by teachers and pupils, distribution of materials by government and non-governmental organizations, donations from various agencies and creation of resource centres. Any effective utilization of instructional materials, requires the instructional process to be organized with a combination of people, materials, facilities and equipment for the realization of stated learning objectives.
Statement of the problem
In spite of the desire for technological development, couple with the fact that Computer Science is a very vital subject for technological development, the poor performance of students in secondary schools in Kwara State education has become a source of worry to stakeholders in education. Some scholars has attributed this ugly scenario to so many factors including poor facilities, inadequate and poor quality teachers and non availability of instructional materials amongst other as the use of instructional materials in secondary schools is not encouraging particularly in Ifelodun Local government Area. As a result, this makes the morale and interest of the students in biological science low. This is because teachers adopt the verbalistic and theoretical method as a way of teaching and learning the subject, mainly due to non- availability of instructional material in schools. Although there are scatterd literature on instructional aid and effective teaching and learning on other science subject like Biology, Chemistry none has focused on Computer Science. Thus it is upon this premise that study seeks to examine the availability of instructional materials for effective teaching and learning of computer science in secondary schools in Ifelodun Government Area Kwara State