EFFECTS OF FIELDWORK ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN MAP READING IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY

This is the research report that investigated the effect of fieldwork on students’ achievement and interest in Map reading Senior Secondary school geography. Four aspects of urban land use map reading were considered for the study namely, settlement commercial agriculture, industrial survey and urban traffic. The study was guided by six research questions and ten hypotheses tested at 0.05 significant level. Literature was reviewed under conceptual framework, theoretical framework, and empirical studies. A quasi-experimental design, specifically the non- randomized control group pretest posttest design involving two groups- the experimental group and the control group, were used for the study. 880 Senior Secondary three (SS3) students who offered geography at Senior School Certificate Geography 2011/2012 academic year in Nsukka Urban, formed the population of the study. The sample for the study consisted of 100 Senior Secondary three (SS3) students of single sex schools that offered geography 2011/2012. The four single -sex secondary schools sampled for the study were randomly drawn by balloting from the seven single sex government secondary schools offering geography in Nsukka Urban in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State. Four intact classes were used for the study that produced the 100 students used for the study. In each of the sampled schools, all SS3 students in the intact classes randomly composed, belonged to one group of either experimental or control, and eventually received equal treatment. The study utilized two instruments – Urban Land use Map Reading Geography Achievement test (ULMGAT) and Geography Interest Inventory (GII). The ULMGAT was developed by the researcher while the GII was adapted and validated. An internal reliability consistency of ULMGAT was found to be 0.87 using Kuder Richardson formula (K - R20) and that of GII was 0.87 using Cronbach Alpha. The ULMGAT and GII were administered to students as pretests to the groups. Four –week period was used for the study (fieldwork and lecture) while one extra week was devoted to test administration activities and collation of results. Four periods a week, were used for each of the four aspects studied. After treatment, the items of the instruments were administered as posttest to the same subjects. The data obtained were analyzed using means, and standard deviation for research questions while Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the data analysis indicated that the effect of fieldwork on students’ achievement and interest was significant as measured by ULMGAT and GII respectively. Gender was a significant factor in students’ overall achievement and interest in map reading geography. The interaction effect of teaching method and gender on students’ achievement and interest, was significant. The interaction effect of teaching method and ability on students’ achievement or interest was not significant. Thus, it was recommended that geography teachers should adopt the use of ULMGAT in teaching map reading since it seemed to be more effective in improving students achievement and interest in map reading than the use of lecture. It was also recommended that government should organize workshops, and seminars to train teachers on the use of ULMGAT. Finally the limitations of the study and suggestions for further research were emphasized