TEACHING PRACTICE EXPERIENCES OF COMPUTER AND INTEGRATED SCIENCE STUDENT-TEACHERS: CHALLENGES AND POSSIBLE PANACEA

1.1 Introduction

Teaching practice as an important component of becoming a teacher, teaching practice grants student - teachers experience in the actual teaching and learning environment. Teaching practice is known to expose student-teachers to the actual practice of teaching (Ruairc, 2013). It is during this period that student- teachers are given the opportunity to try the art of teaching before actually getting into the real world of the teaching profession (Kiggundu and Nayimuli 2009). Teaching practices is the most important element in the professional training of teachers across the world. The importance of teaching practice in teacher education programme cannot be overemphasized. It is the crucial periods of the translating theory into practice.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

A student-teacher reflected that the practical component of teacher training - practice teaching - was a part of the course fraught with difficulty and thus exceedingly stressful. Teaching practice is a very important and compulsory component of the preparation of teachers for it represent the final steps in t5hde exercise it is a period in the education of the teacher aspirant when he is allowed, under expert supervision to experiment, in a real school environment with the things he has learnt in theory about teaching.

According to grim and Micheals (2006) teaching practice is an opportunity for teacher aspirant to9 gain practical classroom experiences under expert supervision Okorie (2005) emphasis that student teaching is not a trial period but a preparatory period and an opportunity for the student teacher to learn about the actual work of the teacher is the classroom as well as out of classroom experiences and good human relations”. In a recent study, Onwikwe (2008) found out that ideally student teachers should have the following characteristics to be effective. The student teacher is given thorough preparation in the subject he has to teach as well as in educational technology and special methodology of the subject matter.

The need for competent and well trained teachers, astute in both content knowledge and general pedagogical practices in their subject areas, is a very pertinent one if any nation is to succeed in developing the required human capital base to foster national development. This is because teachers are the main implementers of educational policies, organized into school programmes in the form of curriculum and syllabi. According to Eisner (as cited in Acquah, 2012, p. 29), the role of the teacher in curriculum implementation cannot be over emphasized. It is the teacher who will have a general guide of topics in a subject field, a sequence among topics, a general set of aims, textbooks, and other instructional resources, to effectively organize and plan the curriculum to suit that level and background of the learner in the classroom.

The focus of the study was on the training of Some subject teachers for the senior high schools in Nigeria, because Some subject are considered a very important discipline that provides citizenship education for improved participation of the individual in matters bothering mostly on both the social and economic development of nations. The rationale for the study of Some subject at the senior high school level in Nigeria, as stated in the Teaching Syllabus for Some subject (2008), suggests that people as well as countries have the need for more and better quality goods and services such as better food, clothing, housing, schooling, hospital care and entertainment (Ministry of Education Science and Sport, 2008).

Kizlik (2007) posits that, education is a means to cooperative dynamic and life long process through which a society deliberately generates knowledge, skills, values and other form of behavior for its survival and sustenance, and transmits these from one generation to another. Asuru (2000) observed that, it is pertinent to note that the individual countries of the world provide education for their citizens for different reasons. According to Adagba (2005), the reasons are the different ways, which these countries believe that they would help the citizens as human being and their country as a Nation.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Challenges and Possible Panacea of Teaching Practice Experiences of Computer and Integrated Science Student-Teachers.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that student-teachers are placed in school away from campus may suggest that they do not have to do other courses during the practice teaching period. A closer look at the secondary school year vis- a- viz the university I college year point to the contrary, in most cases observed teaching practice periods interlope with university/college semester. As a result, teaching practice creates a mixture of anticipation, anxiety, excitement and apprehension in the student teachers as they commence their teaching practice (Manion et al., 2003; Perry, 2004:4).

Marais and Meier (2004:221) further argue that teaching practice is a challenging but important part of teacher training, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria, where the effectiveness of the teaching practice can be diminished or eroded by a range of challenges, such as geographical distance, low and uneven levels of teacher expertise, a wide-ranging lack of resources as well as a lack of discipline among a wide cross-section of learners and educators.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to ascertain the Challenges and Possible Panacea of Teaching Practice Experiences of Computer and Integrated Science Student-Teachers in College of Education, Ekiadolor, Benin City. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To ascertain the impact of teaching practice on student teacher’s credibility;
2. To examine the effectiveness of teaching practice programs by student teachers;
3. To investigate the relationship between the challenges faced by student-teachers form their supervisors and their performance;
4. To examine the relationship between teaching practice experience and teachers quality; and
5. To examine the role of government in restructuring the teaching practice program.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Does student teacher encounter problems during teaching practice?
• Does absence of personal qualities can hinder pupil or student progress in the learning process?
• Is there any relationship between teaching practice experience and teachers quality?
• What is the impact of teaching practice on student teacher’s credibility?
• What is the effectiveness of teaching practice programs by student teachers?
• What is the role of government in restructuring the teaching practice program?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant relationship between problem faced by student teacher during teaching practices and their performance.
• H1: There is a significant relationship between problem faced by student teacher during teaching practices and their performance.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant relationship between teaching practice experience and teachers quality.
• H1: There is a significant relationship between teaching practice experience and teachers quality.

Hypothesis Three

• H0: Teaching practice experience has no impact on student-teachers credibility.
• H1: Teaching practice experience has impact on student-teachers credibility.

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1.7 Significance of Study

The study is of importance to a considerable number of people, prominent among which both in the university and college of education. The findings will be of great importance to the federal ministry of education, who are saddle with the responsibility of formulating and implementation of educational policy formulated by her or the House committee on education of the higher and lower chamber of the legislators.

The study will be of great importance to faculty of education in respective higher institutions in the country as the findings will proffer way out of the dwindling teaching practice program.

Lastly, this study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Challenges and Possible Panacea of Teaching Practice Experiences of Computer and Integrated Science Student-Teachers in college of education Ekiadolor-Benin, Benin City.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Teaching practice: Teaching practice is a key influence on student learning - a desired outcome and primary goal of higher educational institutions.

Student-Teacher: A student teacher, pupil-teacher or prac teacher is a college, university or graduate student who is teaching under the supervision of a certified teacher in order to qualify for a degree in education

Integrated Science: Integrated Science is a revolutionary introductory science curriculum developed at Princeton, intended for students considering a career in science.

Impact: The action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another.

Practices: the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it.

Productivity: the effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.

Education: The acquisition of concepts and knowledge aimed at brining positive change in behavior.

Students: Anyone who studies or is devoted to the acquisition of knowledge.

Teaching: The process, to help someone to learn, to give lessons to show how to do something.

Practices: The act of doing something over and over again, so as to able to do it well.

Quality: the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.

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1.11 Organization of the Study

This study is organized in five chapters. The first chapter lays the background to the study as well as stating the problem of study and the hypotheses for testing. The second chapter is structured to give the study a literature review. This review is divide into theoretical framework, Empirical framework and the conceptual framework. Chapter three deals with research methodology including the research design, sampling method, Data collection and the research instruments employed. Chapter four seek to analyze the result, it is also made up of detailed analysis of data collected and presentation of information with the aid of quantitative and statistical models. The fifth chapter covers the summary, conclusion and recommendation.