CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Â Â Â Â Background to the Study
Education is described as the sum of all procedures and techniques by which a person develops talents, attitudes, and other types of constructive conduct and value in the community in which they live (Ikporukpo 2001). Education is required in a developing nation like Nigeria to encourage the development of its people and to support the country’s economic transition (URT 2016).
The use of learning aids in the educational process dates back to ancient times. Greeks and Latins dominated this time, notably in the early 150 BC, when people were instructed and developed practical skills. “Once at a time when humanity was young; reading and writing had not been developed, hence men and women taught their children using very basic local tools,” writes Callahan (1988). Because the learners observed physically and practically on the learning aids connected to the specific lesson or subject, it was an essential strategy that produced excellent results in learning and teaching processes.
The purpose of the instruction process is to achieve certain goals and objectives. This might be accomplished by using a variety of instructional methods and strategies, as well as a variety of visual learning aids. Different forms of visual learning aids are required for different types of teaching and learning processes. Some are more successful at providing background information and summarizing a unit of work, while others are better at teaching skills, presenting facts, illustrating relationships, or influencing behavior or attitudes. As a result, subject instructors choose visual learning aids that will best help them accomplish their objectives. Only visual learning aids that are useful for teaching should be employed. The importance of teaching and learning visual resources on quality education was also emphasized by Arguel A.J.F (2009) and Mtana et al (2004), who noted that the availability of suitable teaching visual learning aids improved the quality of education. This is especially difficult in underdeveloped countries, since the majority of parents cannot afford to purchase instructional materials for their children. In order to ensure that quality is handled, visual learning aids are essential. Jonson (1980) performed research and discovered that the availability of teaching tools such as visual learning aids facilitates successful learning.
Visual learning aids have unique properties that subject instructors should consider while educating students for a certain topic. Visual learning aids, such as photos and actual objects, should be appealing and portable to enable students to actively engage in the learning process. Visual learning aids that are effective are capable of grabbing attention, simplicity, and familiarity, particularly for visual aids (Nacino et al, 1982). This is because the existence of such physical properties in visual learning aids facilitates information acquisition and skill adaption, resulting in the students receiving a high-quality education.
Audio-visual resources, according to Talabi (2004), display abilities and attitudes throughout the teaching-learning process. According to Nwant to-Nzewunwa (2003), the use of audio-visual elements in the teaching-learning process has been developed to improve effective education. Audio-visual elements are now widely regarded as being of tremendous use in the teaching and learning process all around the globe. According to Nwant a-Nzewunwa (2003), there are still a big number of instructors or professors who do not completely understand and appreciate the usefulness of audio-visual resources in achieving educational goals. He also said that many of them find it difficult to work with audio-visual materials, thus they continue to teach using the antiquated expository style.
Many factors influence a student’s academic achievement. These include teaching methods and approaches (Redza et al, 2013), learning infrastructure and facilities (Mushtaq and Khan, 2012), presence of quality teaching materials (Mhonyiwa, 2014), school environment and location (Wilson, 2013), school peers (Zimmerman, 1999, 2001), teachers’ commitment (Komba and Nkumbi, 2008), number of students in the class (Karue and Amukowa, 2013), and students’ attitudes toward various subjects (Kar (Umameh, 2011). Therefore, this study will look into the effect of visual learning aids on students learning process and academic achievement in secondary schools.
1.2Â Â Â Â Statement of the Problem
As a consequence of current technology’s progress and development, a wide range of instructional resources may be employed to make learning more engaging and effective. This indicates that students may perform better wherever they are taught using these instructional tools, especially audio-visual aids, since their understanding, demonstration, and collaboration in the teaching-learning process are projected to improve dramatically (Talabi, 2004). Unfortunately, most schools and instructors do not employ visual aids in their classrooms. Probably due to a lack of materials or techniques for using them, which is affecting students’ performance, i.e. the performance of students taught with visual learning aids cannot be compared to those taught without visual learning aids, even students in developed countries have more upstanding and are more knowledgeable due to the availability of sufficient teaching aid and equipment. It is against this problem that this study is aimed at finding out the effect of visual learning aids on students learning process and academic achievement in secondary school.
