ASSESSING THE EXTENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BASIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM IN LOWER PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SOUTHWESTERN, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study determined availability and adequacy of teachers for the implementation of Basic Science and Technology (BST) curriculum in lower primary schools in Southwestern Nigeria. It also examined the extent to which the curriculum content of Basic Science and Technology is taught in lower primary schools and investigate teachers' technological application competency in the implementation of Basic Science and Technology curriculum in the study area. These were with the view of providing adequate information on availability, adequacy methodology and curriculum content of BST in lower primary schools for the implementation of basic science and technology in Southwestern Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The study population comprised lower primary school BST teachers in Southwestern Nigeria. The sample comprised 972 BST teachers. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select the sample. Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting three states out of the six states in the southwestern geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The three senatorial districts in each sampled state were used for the study. Three Local Government Areas (LGAs) were selected using simple random sampling technique. In each of the LGAs, 12 schools were selected making a total of 324 schools. Three BST teachers were selected in lower primary classes of the sampled schools making a total of 972 teachers. Five research instruments were used to collect data for the study namely; Availability and Adequacy of Teachers Implementing BST Curriculum Questionnaire (AATIBSTCQ); Basic Science and Technology Instructional Observation Resources Checklist (BSTTIORC); Basic Science and Technology Curriculum Implementation Retrieval Sheet (BSTCIRS); Basic Science and Technology Teacher's Methodology Observation Checklist (BSTTMOC) and Basic Science and Technology Teachers Technological Application Competency Questionnaire (BSTTTACQ). AATIBSTCQ was used to collect information on teacher's availability and adequacy, the instrument was served by the researcher and research assistant and it was retrieved immediate why those that was unable to fill, the researcher went back to collect them. Data gathered were analyzed using Frequency count, Percentage and Mean. The result revealed that teachers implementing BST curriculum were available and qualified to teach BST but not adequate as 63 out of 324 primary schools have adequate Basic Science and Technology teachers for the implementation of the subject curriculum in the study area. The result showed that most of the instructional resources are available but not adequate, instructional resources such as wall chat (61.7%), plastic materials (61.7%), hand wash basin (61.7%), food sample (61.7%), and Basic Science textbook (63.3%) were inadequate compare to the number of pupils in each classes 1-3. Furthermore, result showed that most of the curriculum content were moderately taught at an average of (50.3%). Regarding teaching method, result found that teaching method proposed in the curriculum were not fully implemented,. As the teachers employed lecture method, demonstration method, individualized method, discussion method, play-way method and field trip method at 2.20, 1.89, 1.80, 2.09, 2.69 and 2.29 respectively to teach Basic Science and Technology in lower primary schools in