ABSTRACT
The
study sought to find out the attitude of senior secondary school student
towards the study of economics in Orlu local government area of Imo state. With
the use of survey design and random sampling of five secondary schools in
general, questionnaire administration is used to acquire information. The study
found out that students attitude of can be positively develop through the teaching
methods, selection of suitable books
and motivation of students.
The study concludes that Economics
teachers should motivate the students. They should be given the privilege to
attend seminars, workshops and conferences so that they are conversant with the
recent developments in chemical and teaching world. The children should be given sound foundation from homes as well as schools being partners in progress.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes
from the Ancient Greek word (oikonomia, "management of
a household, administration") hence "rules of the house(hold)". Political economy was the earlier name for
the subject, but economists in the late 19th century suggested
"economics" as a shorter term for "economic science" that
also avoided a narrow political-interest connotation and as similar in form to
"mathematics",
"ethics", and so forth.
Economics is concerned
with human behaviour such as how people earn their living and make a choice
between alternatives to satisfy their wants. It focuses on the study of firms
and the government whose activities are geared to the production of goods and
services for the satisfaction of human want since economics is concerned with
human behaviour. So economics is a social science, and like any science
subject, the reasoning procedure in economics is methodological, its analysis
is systematic, and the validity of its various theories can be tested.
When economics was
introduced into the secondary school curriculum, its popularity grew rapidly
because the first few schools which offered it in West African School
Certificate Examination [WASCE] had unexpectedly good results. There was a
positive relationship between the quality of results in economics and the
number of candidates that offered it in subsequent years in the WASCE. In this
unit, you will learn the factors that caused the late introduction of
economics, and its acceptance in the school system, Economics was first taken
in the West African School Certificate Examination as a school subject in
Nigeria in 1967. Since school certificate was a two year course, it may be said
that economics came into the secondary school curriculum in Nigeria in 1966,
much later than most other secondary school subjects. Economics was, however,
taken by private candidates in the General Certificate Examination before it
became a secondary school subject. It was recognized that economics problems
were at the heart of modern society. Ever since economics was first taken, as a
school subject in West African School Certificate Examination in 1967, the
number of schools that teach it and the number of candidates that take the
examination has witnessed a phenomenal increase. For example in 1967, it was
0.07% of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination, in 1969
it was increased to 12.56%, in 1970, it was 17.16% and by 1976 exactly 10years
of its inceptions, the population has risen to 76.95%. For further confirmation
by more recent entries, we have that in 1985, 441,448 school candidates entered
for economics while in the same year English had 373,507. In 1996 it was
711,377 for economics, 748,239 for mathematics, and 748,984 for English
language. By this analysis it is probably understatement that English Language
and Mathematics top the list of entries. It may be said that economics is
probably the most popular subject in the secondary school curriculum if the
popularity of a secondary school subject may be determined by the number of
schools that teach it and the number of candidates that offer it in school
learning certificate examination.
Economic
analysis may be applied throughout society, as in business,
finance,
health care,
and government, but also to such diverse subjects as crime,[education,
the family, law, politics,
religion social, war, and science.
At the turn of the 21st century, the expanding domain of economics in the
social sciences has been described as economic
imperialism.
It may be said that
economics comes after English language and Mathematics. Furthermore, when it is
appreciated that economics became a secondary school subject in Nigeria in
1966, it may be said that the growth in its popularity as a secondary school
subject in Nigeria has been monumental.
An attitude may be defined
as a predisposition to respond in a favourable or unfavourable manner with respect to a given attitude object (Oskamp
and Schultz 2013). Adu (2012) defined attitude as internal beliefs that
influence personal actions which is learned through one’s experience. This has
to do with a disposition to act or react in a particular way as the individual
responds to a situation (Amoo & Rahman, 2010). Thus, the students’
perception of the teachers’ characteristics could influence their attitude
toward Economics or any other school subject. Students more often than not
judge their teachers in such areas as the teachers’ knowledge of the subject
matter, communication ability, the choice of appropriate teaching method and
the general classroom management skills. A persons’ attitude to an idea or
object determines what the person thinks, feels and how the person would like
to behave towards that idea or objects.
The
focus of this project is on school students’ attitudes towards Economics
subjects taught in secondary classrooms. The term ‘subjects ‘refers to both theory and laboratory classes in
secondary school. Thus, the scope of the present
study was limited to Economics as experienced by students in secondary school rather than out-of-school experiences
obtained from external sources such as the media, museums, field trips
and friends. Attitude towards Economics or science denotes interests or
feelings towards studying Economics or science. It is the students’ disposition towards like or ‘dislike’ science while attitude in science means scientific
approach assumed by an individual for solving problems, assessing ideas and
making decisions. Student beliefs and attitudes have the potential to
either facilitate or inhibit
learning (Yara, 2014).Many factors could contribute to student’s attitude toward studying science (Economics). Popoola(2011) also reported
that students attitudes and interests to sciences, especially Agricultural science correlate highly with their
science achievement. Halladyna and
Shanghnessy (2012) and Adesoji (2010) have concluded that a number of factors
have been identified as related to students’ attitude to science (Economics).
Such factors include; teaching methods, teacher attitude, influence of parents, gender, age, cognitive
styles of pupils, career interest, social view of science and
Scientifics, social implicating of science (Economics) and achievement.
The studies thus reviewed
suggest that there is a relationship between attitude and methods of instruction and also
between attitude and achievement; and that
it is possible to predict achievement from attitude scores. What is needed to
complement the results of such studies however is the nature
of relationship between students’ attitude and factors related to teaching
and learning of Economics? Results of
these types of study are likely to broaden our knowledge as how we can influence students’
attitude positively towards Economics as a subject in Orlu LGA of Imo
state Nigeria.
Statement of the problems
Despite the greater number of Economics graduates produced by our tertiary institutions; every year there are numbers of s econdary
schools where Economics teachers are not competent in the teaching of the
subject. Also, the attitude of the students in secondary schools towards
Economics as a profession is not
encouraging. This makes the teaching of Economics ineffective and inefficient
even where there are competent teachers to teach. It is on this premise, that
this study is designed to investigate the attitude of students to teaching and
learning of Economics in secondary schools.
Purpose of the study
The
general purpose of this study was to find out attitude of senior secondary
school student towards the study of economics in Orlu local Government area of
Imo State. Specifically this study
1.
Determine the attitude of students toward the study of economics in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State.
2.
Determine the environmental factors positively influence student attitude
toward the study of economics in Orlu Local
Government Area of Imo State?
3.
Determine the environmental factors that are negatively influencing student attitude
toward the study of economics in Orlu Local
Government Area of Imo State.
Significance of the study
The study
is aimed at looking at the students’ attitudes towards Economicsin some selected secondary schools in Orlu Local
Government Area of Imo State. The
results of the study is hoped to assist Economics teachers to develop new
learning experience for the students and reorganize these learning experience
in some ways enough to arouse the interest of the students. It would be of good assistance to teachers to
create a habit were they would improve
on the obsolete teaching methods, use adequate, modern and relevant
instructional materials and textbooks at their disposed to the fullest. This study may also assist the students to improve
their attitude towards the study of the subject. Finally, the government
and parents would benefit from the study of their roles as these would be
highlighted at the recommendation column.
This study will be useful to researchers, students, teachers, policy makers,
curriculum planners, government and virtually everyone who loves the
acquisition of knowledge.
After this study, if the suggestions
can be applied, then students in Orlu will have a positive attitude towards
Economics.
Scope of the study
The study was limited to secondary schools in
Orlu Local Government of Imo State only. Based on the time frame and financial constraints in covering all the secondary schools in the Local
Government, the study was also limited to the students in Senior
Secondary Schools (SS Class).
Research Questions
The
following research questions were constructed by the researcher as a guide to
this study.
1.
What are the attitudes of
students toward the study of economics in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State?
2.
What are the environmental
factors positively influence student attitude toward the study of economics in
Orlu Local Government Area of Imo
State?
3. What are
the environmental factors that are negatively influencing student attitude
toward the study of economics in Orlu Local
Government Area of Imo State?
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