CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Â Â Â Â Â Â BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Basic science is a discipline of science that deals with the basic system of getting information by describing and explaining natural occurrences via observations and experiments. Basic science is a sort of science that focuses on the unity of science and is the only method to educate science in such a manner that the current scientific concepts are taught as a coherent whole (Wikipedia, 2014). Science became one of the three disciplines in the domain of social, environmental, and scientific education in the primary school curriculum in 1999. (SESE). Although there was little emphasis on primary science in the (1971) curriculum for students. In a lot of ways, the curriculum from 1999 is much more extensive than the preceding one. The study of basic science and technology has been deemed critical to the human race’s existence and advancement. The importance of science and technology in the education pre-process is a key supporter of this chain. At all levels, science and technology are integrated into all nations’ educational systems (Dahar & Faize, 2011). There are appropriate techniques for acquiring abilities in these fields of information as bodies of knowledge. The Nigerian government, via its education policy, strongly encourages the teaching and study of science and technology in elementary schools.
However, since the basic level of education is the basis, the optimal purposes and objectives of educational setup would not be realized without the use of teaching aids in teaching and learning of Basic science and technology. There is a link between a student’s academic achievement and the availability and utilization of instructional materials or audio-visual aids in the classroom. According to Jamison et al (1981), as mentioned in Dahar&Faize (2011), physical facilities and availability of teaching aids, as well as the degree of teacher education, all of these factors contribute to the quality of the classroom and learning, which predicts and forecasts child accomplishment. Similarly, Mwamwauda (1987), as quoted by Dahar&Faize (2011), claims that educational amenities, such as textbooks, are important factors in students’ accomplishment. Pupils were passive listeners before contemporary education was adopted, and teachers were astronomical bodies who knew what, when, and how to educate. However, in recent years, the advantage has swung to students. Teaching aids are favored since they account for 85 percent of all teaching and learning (jadal,2011). They help the individual student stay focused on what the instructor is teaching in the classroom. Not just for students, but also for instructors, teaching aids make a class or lecture more entertaining and memorable. They serve a vital function in directing individual students’ attention to the instructor or the issue at hand. Human beings’ five sense organs are the gateway to successful learning; sight, hearing, and touching, in particular, provide the person with the most information.
According to study, individuals recall 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, and 80% of what they see and do, according to Jerome Bruner, a psychologist at New York University (Lester, 2012). It is also critical to provide sufficient and appropriate human resources to teacher quality for the teaching of all topics in the school curriculum; without teachers as implementers, educational objectives will never be met.
1.2Â Â Â Â Â Â STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The poor level of performance of secondary school pupils in both local and standardized tests is one of the primary issues confronting Nigeria’s education industry. Over time, it has become a major source of worry for scholars, educators, and other education stakeholders. It was discovered that students often fail tests as a result of ineffective teaching techniques and a lack of necessary teaching tools (Afolabi, 2009). As a result, the researchers decided to investigate the influence of teaching aids on secondary school students’ academic progress in fundamental science.
