INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
This chapter deals with the background to the study, the statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions, significance of the study, limitation and delimitation and organization of the study.
1.1 Background of the Study
General Science is one of the most important subjects being studied in schools. It is a subject that much emphasis has been laid on for about fifteen (15) years now in this country. The reason being that the world is now growing into the technological age where technology is the order of the day. For every country, especially those developing ones to be able to catch up with the advanced world, there is the need to take technology as an important tool in their development. This is the more reason why Ghana, as a developing country, is taking all necessary steps to ensure that by the year 2015, Ghana would also be a force to reckon with in the field of technology and hence, the study of Science in all schools has been given enough attention so as to achieve this ambition.
For this ambition to be achieved in this country, it is very important that Science as a subject is taken seriously in our schools. Workshops, orientations and in-service training should be held regularly for Science Teachers so as to abreast themselves with the kind of standardization we want in our educational system.
Teaching practice took the researcher to Dodowa, a town which happens to be the district capital of Dangme West in the Greater Accra Region. People of this area are Dangmes; they speak Dangme as their language. Occupation of people is mostly peasant farmers and few are also into petty trading as well as tapping of palm wine. Children of school going age fall between six to twenty (6 - 20) years. Most of the people who completed their Basic Education couldn’t further due to poor examination performance. Few of these people decided to again come back to enroll as pupils in JSS Two, to be precise, so as to improve on their previous performance in the examination.
The researcher’s school of practice is Dodowa Methodist Basic “A”. For the few months that the researcher stayed in the school, he realized that Science had been a subject that most pupils at JSS had been performing poorly. A closer look into this matter, revealed that it might be due to the methods used on the part of teachers.
It is further deduced that most of the time the topics in the Science lesson are such that pupils are taught in abstraction. This style of teaching did not give the pupils the first hand knowledge and hence understanding the basic concept in Science becomes very difficult.
Teaching a topic on purification of water, the researcher realized that pupils found it very abstract since most of the teaching methods applied in the lesson delivery did not give any first hand knowledge. The researcher, therefore, decided to improvise a teaching and learning material that could be used to teach how water could be purified through filtration in the JSS One class.
Finally, with this improvised teaching and learning material, pupils in the class would now have a first hand experience or knowledge and would now find it very relational since the teaching method that would be used would be very concrete and also practicable to the pupils. Again, other teachers could also use this teaching and learning material to make the topic one that pupils would study with ease.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
After teaching the lesson, “Purification of water by filtration”, the researcher asked pupils to briefly explain the method of filtration as used in purifying water. After collecting and marking the exercise, the researcher discovered that the pupils did not get the concept well since the method used is much of abstraction. Hence, the construction of an improvised teaching and learning material to teach filtration of water in JSS One at Dodowa Methodist Basic “A”.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
After marking the exercise, the researcher observed that learners could not do well because there is no teaching and learning material to bring out the meaning of the lesson taught, hence the need for research of this kind.
The purpose of the study would include:
1. To construct an improvised teaching and learning material to teach purification of water.
2. To use the improvised teaching and learning material in teaching purification of water by filtration in JSS One.
3. To find out whether the use of improvised teaching and learning material would help pupils to get concept in Science lessons in JSS One at Dodwa Methodist School.
4. To help teachers in the near future to teach purification of water with this teaching and learning material.
5. To help other researchers find a more improved teaching and learning material to teach filtration of water based on this research.
1.4 Research Questions
The researcher would address the following research questions in the study.
1. What teaching and learning material would help to teach filtration of water?
2. Is the use of teaching and learning materials important to the teaching and learning of filtration of water?
3. What are the sources of teaching and learning materials used by teachers to teach lessons in Science?
4. In the absence of a well equipped laboratory in schools, how should teachers get the teaching and learning material in teaching practical lessons in Science?
5. What would be the importance of teaching and learning materials in Science lesson?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The significance of this study is to use improvised teaching and learning material to help pupils understand lessons in Science relationally. By so doing,
pupils would have the first hand knowledge which would enable them see the lesson as something that exists and could be experienced.
Again, it would help both pupils and teachers in the near future to undergo the teaching and learning process with the use of this teaching and learning material to bridge the gap that exists between teachers and pupils as a result of the method being used initially to teach most practical lessons in Science.
Finally, based on this, other researchers could use this project to have a more improved way that would go a very long way to help not only the school for which the researcher identified this problem but the nation at large.
1.6 Limitations
The project had just started but the researcher foresaw some challenges among which included the following.
Firstly, pupils in the area are highly engaged in peasant farming as mentioned earlier and most of the times prefer to help their parents in the farm to coming to school. Looking at this, it would affect the work since in trying to carry out the intervention, the researcher might not get most pupils in class.
Secondly, in the course of this project, the researcher would conduct an interview on the part of teachers to see how they see their methods they used in their lesson delivery. Most of these teachers would come from different schools and hence getting these teachers to offer the interview would not be an easy task at all.
Thirdly, carrying out this project together with the teaching practice would not be a small load and an easy task to carry out.
Finally, both teachers and pupils interviewed may not be objective to their responses, for they might try to impress the researcher, exaggerate or hide some important information.
1.7 Delimitation
The research was narrowed to pupils in Dodwa Methodist Basic “A”, confined to the JSS and specifically to pupils in the form one class only. The finding of which could be generalized.
1.8 Organization of the Study
The organization of this active research had been systematically arranged in the order below:
Chapter One, dealt with the Background to the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Research Questions, Significance of the Study, Limitation, Delimitation and Organization of the Study.
Chapter Two reviewed existing Literature relative to the study and what had already been said or done on the topic.
Chapter Three would look at Research Methodology which covered Sample Population, Research Instrument and the Intervention.
Chapter Four would talk about Presentation of Data and Analysis; analysis of data based on the research questions.
Chapter Five would be based on Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations.
