INFLUENCE OF GUIDED-DISCOVERY AND TUTORIAL TEACHING TECHNIQUES ON PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION PUPILS IN ECONOMICS IN FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ZARIA, NIGERIA

INFLUENCE OF GUIDED-DISCOVERY AND TUTORIAL TEACHING TECHNIQUES ON PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION PUPILS IN ECONOMICS IN FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ZARIA, NIGERIA  

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the Effect of Guided-discovery and Tutorial Teaching Method on Performance of Business Education Students in Economics in Federal College of Education, Zaria, Nigeria. Five research questions were answered and five null hypotheses were tested.  This study used quasi experimental design. The population was 581Business Education students in Federal College of Education Zaria. The sample size was 180 and purposive sampling was used in selecting NCE II Business Education Students. The instrument used for data collection was Economics Achievement Test designed by the researcher. The instrument was designed by the researcher and was vetted by four experts. Pilot study was conducted at Federal College of education Katsina and data collected from the pilot study were subjected to statistical analysis using Kuder-Rechardson formula. The reliability co-efficient obtained was 087. The research questions were answered using mean rating and t-test statistical tool was used in testing all the null hypotheses at 0.005 level of significance.  The analysis revealed that guided discovery and tutorial had significant effects on students academic performance in teaching and learning economics in Federal College of Education Zaria.  On the basis of the findings, the research concluded that the guided discovery and tutorial are appropriate method to be used in teaching and learning economics for the improvement of students‟ academic performance, it will enable them to have good grades which will make them and their parents proud. The researcher made some recommendations which include guided discovery and tutorial method should be used in teaching financial accounting in

Federal                       College                     of                     Education                      Zaria.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1         Background to the Study

The Federal College of Education Zaria, formerly known as the Advanced Teachers College, (A.T.C), Zaria, is located in Zaria. The College started in 1962. It achieved autonomy in running of pre-NCE, remedial courses, and Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE). There were seven schools in the College, one of the seven  was

School of Vocational and Technical Education which house the Department of Business Education.

Education is the process of facilitating learning or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.  Education is bedrock for national development. Quality education is attained through effective teaching, and effective teaching is actualized through adopting appropriate methods of teaching (Idoko, 2015).  Teaching entails active and systematic process of guiding learners to acquire information, knowledge and skills that would lead to a desirable behaviour change by a teacher.  A teacher is responsible for supervising all tasks of lessons over a specific time.  The plan of the teaching process, its practice, and the expected evaluation are carried out by the same teacher. The evaluation of the teaching process is carried out by the teacher on students he taught through continuous assessment and examinations.  The arrival of new strategies of teaching, issues of motivation, the satisfaction of students‟ academics needs such as cultural, family and psychological contributing to successful teaching activities all are looking forward into the creative genius of a single teacher. The seeming difficulty of addressing all these elements simultaneously by a single pedagogue appeals for a new alternative in the method of teaching.

Mkpa (2009) explained that, method of teaching is the totality of strategies, techniques and ways that, a teacher employs to maximize and facilitate classroom interaction.  Method of teaching is a means of conveying facts and decoding messages that eventually results in the realization of stated educational objectives.

Teaching method, therefore, refers to strategies of instruction or style of instruction. Business Education involves teaching students the fundamentals, theories, and processes of business, of which economics is a subset.  Economics is an activityoriented subject.  The way it is taught is important in helping students acquire basic scientific knowledge, skills, and attitude needed to solve different problems in life.  Economics being a social science subject taught in the Colleges of Education Zaria,  the subject involves the teacher using different teaching methods that gives the students opportunity to be actively involved in the learning and practice.  Economics has been defined by different scholars.  Dewett (2006) defined economics as a science of human welfare.  It is a study of the method of allocating scarce resources (physical and human) among unlimited wants or competing needs.  The most widely accepted definition, is that of  Robbins as cited in Augustine (2010) that, Economics is a social science  which  studies  human  behaviour  as  a relationship  between  ends  and scarce means which have alternative uses. This definition is widely accepted because it better reflects the fundamental Economic problems of scarcity and choice.

In line with Stanford's Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) (2013) stated that, guided-discovery encourages students‟ natural curiosity. Carefully constructed puzzles, problems, and questions push students to go beyond facts to discovery of principles in solving problems. Discovery learning is an inquiry-based instructional technique where students „learn by doing.  Jerome Bruner, a renowned cognitive psychologist, promoted the approach on the basis that, students are more likely to remember concepts and principles when they discover them on their own.  Guideddiscovery problems may precede introduction of relevant content, allowing students to begin building their knowledge of the subject before class discussion. Whether students collaborate or proceed individually, they are developing skills in disciplined inquiry fundamental to many areas of knowledge,   as online learning grows, games of discovery will likely grow as well, bringing more sophisticated resources and real world challenges to guided-discovery learning activities.  Guided-discovery, also known as an inductive approach, is a technique where a teacher provides examples of a language item and helps the learners to find the rules themselves.

According to Abdullahi (2007), guided-discovery method of teaching is a student-centred exploration of an authentic problem using  in the tertiary institutions of learning, the processes and tools of the discipline referred to the pedagogy that exposes students to various situations, questions, or tasks that allow students to “discover” for themselves the intended concept or materials.  Abdullahi (2007) stated that guided-discovery method of teaching is student–based, activity-oriented teaching strategy in which the teacher guides students to discover answers. Igboegwu (2012) reported that, this method makes activities enjoyable, accessible, and it promotes students‟ language and communication skills while in the tutorial method of teaching is a means of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of learning process.

Dayioglu (2004) explained that, tutorial teaching method is more interactive and specific in nature; it seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete a certain task.

Another important teaching method according to Ashwin (2005), is tutorial method which is a unique aspect of the educational experience that offers students opportunity to learn.  In spite of a wide variety of tutors‟ approaches to tutorials, there are common elements which contribute to this uniqueness, and these include; students meeting individually or in very small groups, with a tutor from their discipline in their college, typically once a week or once a fortnight. Students spending time independently reading and preparing written work for the tutorial (self-directed learning).  While students‟ study time varies widely, it was reported that, an average of 13 hours of independent study per tutorial is required for a tutorial class.  This will include students discussing their written work with the tutor, thus, honing their oral communication skills and giving them an opportunity to receive constant feedback (formative assessment) from their tutors.  Archer (2007) stressed that, tutorials are generally intended to help students to gain deep understanding of the subject matter in their discipline. Discussion in tutorials helps students to see the significance and implications of their knowledge so they can apply what they have learnt in new contexts; students should also develop a healthy scepticism about the literature.  It enables students to learn how to think, for instance to synthesize disparate sources, to formulate a thesis and justify it, to anticipate criticisms of their arguments, and to respond to questions and challenges, thus, thinking 'on one‟s feet' in the tutorial

setting.

Depending on the context, guided-discovery or tutorial teaching methods can take one of more forms, ranging from a set of instructions on how to complete a task to an interactive problem solving session (usually academia) which will end with an assessment of students‟ performances to ascertain whether or not the students‟ understand what they were taught using the instructional methods.

The classroom teachers conduct formative and summative tests to evaluate students‟ mastery of course content and provides grades for students and parents. This relative achievement of students is an example that has internal and external impact depending on the method adopted by the teacher.  It is in the light of the above discussed, variables that form the background of this study were set on effect of guided discovery and tutorial teaching methods on performance of Business

Education Students in Economics in Federal College of Education, Zaria, Nigeria.

1.2         Statement of the Problem

The popular opinion in Nigeria today is that, the standard of education has fallen short of what it should be. Students are no longer applying their natural curiosity and inquisitiveness in learning situations and they rather focussed on only what the teacher gives them.  Application of carefully constructed puzzles, problems, and questions push students to go beyond facts to discovery of principles in solving problems.  Different learning approaches are adopted by teachers during classroom instruction on the basis that students are more likely to grasp and remember concepts and principles with the teacher or on their own.

The fall in the standard of education is perceived by many as the inability of the teachers to impact knowledge to the learners, the way they will understand and perform well in examinations. Reports by examination officers in some colleges of education have disclosed the recurrent and endemic failure of students, especially in Economics examinations, at NCE level annual reports; (2013-2016) performance revealed that about thirty eight percent of the students passed while sixty two percent failed in economic at the Federal College of Education Zaria.

Over the past three years revealed high rate of failure of students in Economic as 47.5%, 55% fail respectively both in first and second semester in 2013/2014 session. Also in 2014/2015, the percentage was 55% and 55.8% respectively.  2015/2016, the performance failure rate increased to of 60%.  Ejim (2010) observed that, despite the importance of economics to individuals and the society, significant number of Business Education students perform poorly in the subject.  The problem may be connected to poor lecturers teaching methods in economics and this reason may not be far different in federal college of education Zaria. The researcher observations showed that some lecturers do not have traditional pattern, even when the traditional method is neither to promoting students‟ interest nor performance in the subject. The researcher wonder, could it be the teaching methods adopted by teachers? Or could it be lack of interest or understanding in the subject matter?  Or what could be responsible for the poor performance of students in economics?

It is against this problem that, the researcher examined the effects of guideddiscovery and tutorial teaching methods on performance of business education students in economics in Federal College of Education Zaria, Nigeria.

1.3         Objectives of the Study

The general objective of this study was to assess the effects of guided discovery and tutorial on performance of business education students in Economics in Federal College of Education Zaria, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to:

1. determine the effect of guided-discovery teaching method on business education students‟ performance in Economics in Federal College of Education, Zaria.
2. ascertain the effect of tutorial teaching method on business education students‟ performance in Economics in Federal College of Education, Zaria.
3. establish the difference between the performance of business education students taught Economics using guided-discovery teaching method, and those taught using tutorial teaching method in Federal College of Education, Zaria.
4. determine the difference between the performance of male business education students taught Economics using guided-discovery teaching method and those taught using tutorial teaching method in Federal College of Education, Zaria.
5. establish the difference between the performance of female business education students taught Economics using guided-discovery teaching method and those taught using tutorial teaching method in Federal College of Education, Zaria.

1.4         Research Questions

The research was guided by the following research questions:

1. What is the effect of guided-discovery teaching method on business education students‟ performance in Economics in Federal College of Education, Zaria?
2. What is the effect of tutorial teaching method on business education students‟ performance in Economics in Federal College of Education, Zaria?
3. What is the difference between the performance of students taught Economics using guided-discovery teaching method and those taught using tutorial teaching method in Federal College of Education, Zaria?
4. What is the difference between the performance of male business education students taught Economics using guided-discovery teaching method and those taught using tutorial teaching method in Federal College of Education?
5. What is the difference between the performance of female business education students taught Economics using guided-discovery teaching method and those taught using tutorial teaching method in Federal College of Education, Zaria?

1.5         Research Hypotheses

In line with the specific objectives and research questions, the following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance:

1. Guided-discovery teaching method has no significant effect on business education students‟ performance in Economics in Federal College of Education, Zaria.
2. Tutorial teaching method has no significant effect on business education students‟ performance in Economics in Federal College of Education, Zaria.
3. There is no significant difference between the performance of business education students taught Economics using guided-discovery teaching method and those taught using tutorial teaching method in Federal College of

Education, Zaria.

4. There is no significant difference between the performance of male students taught Economics using guided-discovery teaching method, and those taught using tutorial teaching method in Federal College of Education, Zaria.
5. There is no significant different between the performance of female business education students taught Economic using guided-discovery teaching method, and those taught using tutorial teaching method in Federal College of

Education, Zaria.

1.6         Significance of the Study

The result of the study after publication in journal and other media will be significant to students, lecturers, authorities of colleges of education and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) in the following ways:-.

The findings of the study suggested ways for students learning economics in the College of Education will improve in their learning performance of the subject.  The result of this study will also help to motivate, arouse interest and curiosity of the students in economics, thus enhancing their understanding of the subject.

The result of the study will sensitize and improve the task of lecturers to improve in their methodology toward impact learning activities in economics subject.  This is because by discovering the appropriate and most effective teaching methods, lecturers will use these methods and strive to do better in their course.

The result of the study will be of significance to the authorities of the colleges to assess student‟s performance in economics subject year by year. In addition, the finding will help the authorities to plan for the update of available teaching methods.

Finally, the result of this work will be of immense importance to NCCE as it will use the findings in its blueprints on appropriate teaching methods to be adopted in colleges of education for effective teaching and this can be achieved through seminars, workshop, and conferences.

1.7         Basic Assumptions

The following basic assumptions were made for the study: -

1. Guided discovery and tutorial teaching methods may improve performance of students in Economics in Federal College of Education Zaria, Nigeria.
2. In this study it was assumed that other variables such school, peer influence, parental influence, methodology and health challenges, among others affect students‟ performance in Federal College of Education, Zaria.

1.8         Delimitation of the Study

The study was delimited to NCE two (2) Business Education students of Federal College of Education, Zaria - Kaduna State and the reason being that they offer Economics as a course of study.  The study further was delimited to „basic tools for economic analyses.  The choice of this topic was because it was one of the topics in NCE II curriculum. This aspect of the curriculum was aimed at enhancing students‟ analysis of concepts in economics and makes them adjust in the present predicaments of the society. The study was delimited to NCE II because it is the hope of the researcher that they will be able to provide answers on the instruments of this study. The study was further delimited to guide discovery and tutorial methods of teaching because they are methods not commonly used by teachers and adopted for the study.

INFLUENCE OF GUIDED-DISCOVERY AND TUTORIAL TEACHING TECHNIQUES ON PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION PUPILS IN ECONOMICS IN FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ZARIA, NIGERIA  

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