Teaching and Learning Geography in Selected Secondary Schools in Ondo Town, Nigeria

Teaching and Learning Geography in Selected Secondary Schools in Ondo Town, Nigeria

Agaviezor, D. T.
Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.70780

Received: 20 June 2023; Revised: 08 July 2023; Accepted: 12 July 2023; Published: 09 August 2023

ABSTRACT

The act of teaching and learning Geography in selected secondary schools in Ondo Town, Nigeria was assessed using a well structured questionnaire that was administered to fifty (50) randomly selected Senior Secondary 2 and 3 students and twelve (12) Geography teachers in the study area. Data gathered were subjected to analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 16) to generate means, frequencies and percentages. The results revealed that 25% of the total number of teachers are first degree holder in geography education, 16.7% having second degree, 33.3% are degree holder in science but not in education, 8.3% are H.N.D holder and 16.7% are N.C.E holder. Furthermore, 2 out of the respondents had three years of teaching experience. Or less 6 out of the respondents 50%, that is half of the population had 10 years or less experience. Four teachers (33.3%) uses demonstration method while the remaining two uses assignment and 16.7% used model as teaching aid while 33.3% make use of charts. It was obvious that 9 out of 12 respondents assessed their students to have average performance in the subject geography while three respondents have students with very good performance in geography. The results also revealed that none of the students choose geography as a result of friends influence or as a result of parents forcing them to do it. 6% of the students said that they choose geography because they have no choice, 86% offered geography because of the future plan while 8% offer geography because of the fact that it is simple. It is discovered that six students out of 50 students are in commercial class which can as social science department while 44 students are in science class. The results of this study if properly harnessed could improve the act of teaching and learning Geography in Nigeria.

Keywords: Teaching, learning, geography, secondary school, Ondo, Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

Geography is neither a purely natural science nor a purely social science. From the early development as an organized field of knowledge in classical Greece, geography has included animated as well as inanimate things, man and his works as well as nature. Geography is commonly defined as the study of the relationships, in whichever direction between the natural environment and man (Koyel and Vibhash, 2021). Modern geography, like the geography of past centuries, studies the earth as the space in which man lives-habitat, milieu, or environment. This includes not just part of the environment, the physical or natural part, but the total environment, in any inhabited area. The environment of today has been partly produced by man, and the existing population constitutes a living factor in the present environment (Whatmore, 2014).

Teaching and learning of geography has been an old practice of updating the knowledge of people their world (Mzinga and Onyango, 2021). Since geography is a key to understanding and acting effectively in world. It is a subject that needs to be taught practically, in that students are to know what should be learn about geography, teachers to do what would improve the learning of geography and also what to do at home to improve the geography learning of the children (Ebisemiju, 1980). According to Jacaranda (2016), there are several reasons why people study geography. Geography as a school subject has for some decades now been facing various serious challenges in virtually every country of the world (Pinchemel, 1982). The crusade to win back the honored position of the mother of most of today’s disciplines still continues unabated in virtually all the countries of the world, Nigeria inclusive (Khalil et al., 2015)

The challenges and problems faced by geography in Nigeria and other developing countries are even more serious, worsened by the peculiar problems of lack of adequate staff, whether in terms of quality or of quantity; lack of incentive and conviction on the part of the available staff; death of instructional materials, including suitable textbooks the handicaps of practical and fieldwork as aid to teaching; and the undue emphasis on the acquisition of certificates; rather than the quality of education (Ogunode and Ohibime, 2021). These problems have been made more pressing in recent years by the widening gap between geography been taught in our schools and been taught in many of our universities (Feud, 1985). Based on the problems above this research work will give probable solution for effective teaching and learning of geography in nowadays secondary schools (Ogunode and Ohibime, 2021). This research work is interested in knowing and identifying the problems involved in the teaching and learning of geography as subject in selected secondary schools in Ondo town. The identification of the problems will lead to how these problems can be reduced or eliminated. There should be a careful and purposeful re-appraisal of secondary school geography, with the view to improving both its content n its methodology.

METHODOLOGY

This research was purposely designed to look into problems involved in teaching and learning of geography as a subject discipline. Also to look at probable factors that drive home the aims and objectives of geography education in secondary schools. A descriptive study design is adopted for the investigation.

Study Population

The population of this research consisted of two categories of individuals. The first category is the geography teachers in the selected secondary schools and the second category is the geography students in the selected secondary schools. The questionnaires were administered by the researcher to the selected population. Six secondary schools in Ondo town were used for the study. Five students each were selected from S. S. 2 and S. S. 3 comprising both science and commercial classes. Twenty geography teachers were used. This made the total responded for students to be sixty and teachers twenty.

Sampling Technique

The schools were selected using random sampling. This was done by writing the name of each school on a small piece of paper, folded and dropped inside a container. The container was shaken each time the paper was picked (drawn) at a random and the name of each was recorded down before dropping it inside the container again this was done until the six schools completed.

Research Instrument

Two instructions were designed for the study namely:

• Problems of teaching geography questionnaire.
• Problems of learning geography questionnaire.

The structured questionnaires were designed to investigate the problems of teaching and learning geography in selected secondary school in Ondo town. The questionnaire was designed to collect information from the teachers as well as the students about the problems under investigation. The questionnaires were first drafted by the investigator and later submitted for the necessary correction and moderation and to ensure content validation. The questionnaires were collected from the supervisor after the amendments. The revised versions were neatly copied out, typed and reproduced. The reliability was established through test and re-test method. A correlative co-efficient of 0.86 was obtained indicates that the instrument is reliable

Data Collection

The questionnaires were taken to the selected schools by the investigator for administration. The administration of the questionnaires was restricted to geography teachers and students in secondary II and III in the selected schools. A total number of twenty questionnaires were administered to teachers while the total numbers of students’ questionnaire were sixty.

Procedure for Data Analysis

The frequencies of the information obtained with the aid of instrument were found. These were converted into percentages. The investigator made use of descriptive analysis in order to be able to analyze the data properly.

RESULTS

Table 1 reveals that 25% of the total number of teachers are first degree holder in geography education, 16.7% having second degree, 33.3% are degree holder in science but not in education, 8.3% are H.N.D holder and 16.7% are N.C.E holder. It is discovered that more than half of the respondents are in teaching line and are qualified to teach Geography in our secondary schools. Therefore, to an extent we can say that the schools were staffed with qualified geography teachers.

From Table 2, it shown that 2 out of the respondents had three years of teaching experience. Or less 6 out of the respondents 50%, that is half of the population had 10 years or less experience. A teacher falls between the range of 10-20years of experience while 3 teachers out 12 teachers had 20 years and above teaching experience in Geography. It is clearly shown that most of the Geography teachers are experienced in Geography. It is clearly shown that most of the Geography teachers are experience and this will make them more competent and effective. Since experience is important for effective teaching of geography, therefore, it is discovered that geography teachers should be kept in school long enough they will make a significant contribution to the success of their students.

Table 1: Geography Teachers qualification

Table 2: Geography Teachers years of teaching experience

Table 3 shows the methods of teaching Geography in the study area. The results revealed that half of the respondents used teaching methodology in teaching geography students. Four teachers (33.3%) used demonstration method while the remaining two used assignments. At the level of secondary school geography it is safe to use teaching methods as a way of imparting knowledge into the students and this method is predominant in the life of geography teachers in secondary schools in Ondo.

Table 4 revealed that most of the geography teachers in secondary school in Ondo town used maps as teaching aid i.e 50%. 16.7% used models as teaching aid while 33.3% used of charts. It can be said to an extent that they all made use of teaching aids in other to facilitate effective teaching and learning of the subject. It was observed that the use of one teaching aid is not enough so multi-various aids are needed. It has been established that teaching aid will better enhance better understanding of the subject matter.

Table 3. The methods of teaching Geography

Table 4: teaching Aid for effective teaching

Table 5 shows the regularity of the field trip/excursion. It could be deduced from the table that none of the secondary schools in Ondo has been taken their geography students for an excursion or field trip. This simply means that geography has been taught in abstract to the students. Although the reason given was that there is no available fund to serve this purpose. It should note that geography teaching cannot be complete in the four walls of the classroom except going to the field which is referred to as Geography laboratory.

Table 6 shows teachers’ interest in geography. The results revealed that the highest percentage falls into the area of map work in geography. Human and physical geography have equal respondents while regional geography has the least percentage of respondents. From the response someone cannot conclude that map work is the simplest neither regional geography is the most difficult. All depends on the area that interest individual teachers.

Table 5: Regularity of the Field Trip/Excursion

Table 6: Teachers interest in geography

Table 7 shows the assessment of the students used in this study. It is obvious that 9 out of 12 respondents assessed their students to have average performance in the subject geography while three respondents had students with very good performance in geography. The performance of the students depends upon many factors and reasons which may be internal or external.

Table 8 reveals the rationale for offering geography. The table shows that none of the students choose geography as a result of friends influence or as a result of parents forcing them to do it. 6% of the students said that they choose geography because they have no choice, 86% offered geography because of the future plans they have while 8% offered geography because of the fact that it is simple

Table 7: Assessment of the students

Table 8:  Rationale for offering geography

Table 9 shows the area of student difficulty in geography. The table clearly revealed that the highest numbers of students find map work to be difficult and hard to understand. The reason most of them gave is that they do not know how to draw very good looking maps, proper location of features of the map and to do some colorations on the map. This is followed by regional geography which also involves drawing of maps of different places. Physical geography is said to be too much abstract and there are no good textbooks for proper understanding. With the responses, human geography seemed to be the simplest because it involves the day to day activities of man and its environment.

Table 9: Area of student difficulty in geography

DISCUSSION

From the findings in this research, it is observed that trained and qualified teachers of geography are not adequate in the secondary schools in Ondo town. Taking a critical look at the visited schools, it is discovered that the available teachers are not evenly distributed over the schools. Some schools have more than enough geography teachers while some have less number. Also it is discovered that none of the teachers have ever made attempt of attending seminar or workshop that can help to update their knowledge in the field. Effective teaching and learning can be enhanced through the use of teaching aid (Eya, 1997). Most teachers do not use variability in improving teaching aid for the teaching. The importance of the role of instructional materials in learning Geography among secondary schools has also been emphasized by Mzinga and Onyango (2021). They only focused on one type of teaching aid all the time and this has made the teaching of geography monotonous to the students and thereby making the students not to understand the subject very well. Koyel and Vibhash (2021) emphasized the need for a paradigm shift in the teaching and learning Geography.  Dymes and Beckemer (1988) wrote on the importance of teaching aids, “whatever methods one chooses to employ in a particular teaching objective the supplementary uses wisely selected sound or visual materials may improve both quality and quantity of learning that cause”.

The method of teaching the subject constitute problem (Koyel and Vibhash, 2021). This is because most of the teachers only used one method in carrying out their teaching, instead of using multi-various methods for successful impartation of the subject matter (Fromboluti, 1990). One method of teaching geography is never enough for effective teaching. Most of the geography teachers failed to use child centered instructional strategy like demonstration and recovery method etc. (Babatunde, 1997). It should be noted that the success of a teacher does not depend entirely on his professional qualification but his ability to motivate his children to learn (Khalil et al., 2015). Cartedge (1967) opined that some teachers are born, some achieve teaching skill while others unfortunately have teaching trust upon them. This shows that whatever method used by the teachers, his successes depends on the personality.

The use of field trips and excursions in teaching geography cannot be over emphasized (Mzinga and Onyango, 2021). Field is known to be the geography laboratory for better understanding. Geography cannot be taught effectively in the classroom, but there should be a visit to the field to view various geographic phenomena on the earth surface. It will give them good understanding and therefore if the student are taken to the field to see themselves it will give them good knowledge. Also it is also discovered that most schools do not have geographic station. Therefore there are lot deficiencies in teaching and learning of geography today.

CONCLUSION

This research established some issues and problems involved in the teaching and learning of geography. There are not enough qualify teachers for the teaching of the subject matter. Also the uneven distribution of the available teachers is of great concern. Map reading has been identified by the students as the most difficult aspect of geography teaching. It was also discovered that the students were not taken out for excursion to see things physically as they were and to learn more from the environment since it is discovered that features seen physically is hardly forgotten. The teaching methodology of geography has not been effective and motivates enough in the teaching of the subject. Geography familiarizes the pupils or students with their locality and the world coupled with the activities that go on in the universe/globe. The results of this study if properly harnessed could improve the act of teaching and learning Geography in Nigeria. Similar research but with higher population size should be carried out for more accurate inferences about the act of teaching and learning Geography in selected secondary schools in Ondo Town, Nigeria.

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