EFFECTS OF EXCURSION IN THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY IN SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS


EFFECTS OF EXCURSION IN THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY IN SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS

ABSTRACT

This research “work” focused on the effects of excursion in the teaching of geography in some selected secondary schools. The main purpose of this study was to know if there is a relationship between excursion and the academic performance of geography students. Four research questions and one research hypothesis guided the study.

In this study, a descriptive research design was adopted, the population comprises 100 respondents from four different schools, a simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 40 from the population of 100 and a questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. And to address the research hypothesis, the chi-square was used.  

Relevant literature was reviewed which guided the objectives and methodology of this study. As a result of the field study and analysis of results, the following findings were made: Excursions significantly impact the teaching of geography. There a relationship between excursion and academic performance of geography students

Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made: there should be more than one teacher to sustain the students’ attention span, interest, excitement, ability to discuss, ask and answer questions.

TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION

CERTIFICATION

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABBREVIATION

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

OBJECTIVE OF THE THESIS

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

DEFINITION OF TERMS

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.3 THE CONCEPT OF GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

2.4 METHODS OF TEACHING GEOGRAPHY

2.5 The Concept of Educational Field Study

2.6 Review of Related Empirical Studies

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1    Research Design

3.2     Population of the study

3.3    Sample Size and Sampling Technique

3.4    Instrumentation

3.5    Validation of the Instrument

3.6    Method of Data Analysis

3.7    Administration of the Instrument

3.8 Data Analysis Techniques

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1    INTRODUCTION

4.2    Demographic Information of the Respondents

4.3    Testing Hypothesis

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1    Summary of Findings

1.2    Conclusion

1.3    Recommendations

References

Appendix

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1.    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

We know that excursions and excursions are appreciated by students. Excursions and field study are also important learning tools in geography. Excursions are based on the idea that the context for learning is made in the particular context where the object for learning takes place and is placed, geography thus embodies the practice of in situ learning. (Kent et al., 1997). Boyle, (et al., 2007) concludes for instance that excursions in geography are effective in learning since they are effective. Fuller (et al., 2006) and Scott (et al., 2006) also argue that there is a need for rigorous research into this issue. Common arguments used in describing the concern and the effectiveness of learning infield, in terms of understanding of the subject are providing first-hand experience of the real world, whichever part of the world the students are in; skills development (transferable and technical); and social benefits. Apart from the social aspects, there are other experiences from geography fieldwork that emphasize the dynamics of groups in learning (Brown, 1999). Bringing students into the field may serve as a bridge between the popular and the academic (Smith, 2001). It is also argued here, that it may be fruitful to give some attention to performative and non-representational aspects of excursions, as Basset (2004) does when he tries to relate social theory and excursion practice, especially through the practice of walking, as a form of movement through the city with aesthetic and critical potential. Walking is a practice that allows questions to be asked in between practical work and theory, and allows for the transferring and putting theory into practice (Thrift, 2008, p.22). Clark (1997) sees how this integration of diverse theoretical approaches and the simultaneous consideration by students of both local (often personal) details and national (or even global) aspects plays an important role in the field trial. Savin-Badin & Van Niekerk (2007) use narrative inquiry in fieldwork as a reflective learning process. Marvell (2008) reports that the in site presentations made by students help to widen the experience and develop a range of transferable skills, encouraging a greater sense of place and facilitating reflective learning. Excursions, as an in situ learning and teaching practice thus involve precognitive conditions that make up what is human, and what is human is, at the same time, made in the making of teaching in the field. Learning in excursions is in one way characterized by what Kolb (1984) defines as assimilation; however, in this case, precognitions are mixed with theoretical understandings of a city. The result of this is that the excursion is used as means for producing accommodation of knowledge. As such, excursions in geography involve the active engagement in real-world perspectives through the presentation in role-playing (Livingstone, 1999). Excursions involve more than just presentations of settings and pointing to interesting spots in a landscape. Performing excursions also involve acoustic, semantic, group dynamic, aesthetic, political, symbolic, emotional, and verbal and gesture aspects. There is a reason for not making any clear distinction between the teacher, the group of people involved in the excursion, and the students because students are given the assignment to collect information about specific places in the city, Copenhagen before the excursion takes place. Students in human geography and from the teachers’ education are taken to Copenhagen every semester, since 2003. Every group consists of 15-25 students and they prepare a presentation in groups of two to three related to a particular place on a route through the city. Every presentation must be related to the literature in human and social geography, and every student produces an excursion guide as part of the examination. The students thus perform the excursion by taking the role of guiding and presenting places along a given route, to some extent similar to Burgess and Jackson, (1992), but with the teacher as a dialogue partner. In this particular situation, the learning experiencing and the performance of excursions and excursion are all juxtaposed into the practice of performing an excursion, and it is, therefore, difficult to separate the teacher from the student, or members of the group and the group itself, and even so, the learning context from representations, concepts and the object of learning. The teacher thus has the role of a group member that has the option to qualify the dialogue through questions. Excursions are thus also aimed at merging knowledge basis with the students in one shared experience, who starts at a different point of understanding (Ellis, 1993).

1.2.    STATEMENT OF THE GENERAL PROBLEM

The lack of adequate teaching and learning of geography has had a negative effect on the effective development and advancement of geography as a subject in the curricular of Nigeria.

The misconception of excursion in the educational system has actually had a retrogressive effect on the teaching, excursion are being seen by most students and even teachers as a means of just sight-seeing thereby losing sight of its cardinal objective.

1.3.    OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the aims and objectives of engaging in this study

⦁    To know if there is a relationship between excursion and academic performance of geography students.

⦁    To know if excursion makes the teaching of geography easy.

⦁    To know if the excursion is a cardinal area in teaching geography.

⦁    To know if excursion has had the desired impact on students of geography.

1.4.    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study would be important for the general teaching of geography and improving the academic performance of geography across Nigerian colleges.

This study will help school administrators and principals in the effective administration of their schools and the introduction of effective excursions to improve student’s performances.

This study will be equally important to educational stakeholders, government, researchers in ensuring that our educational system would not decline.

1.5.    SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study is on the effects of excursion in the teaching of geography in some selected secondary schools in the Uyo local government area.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

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).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted to the research work.

1.6.    RESEARCH QUESTIONS

⦁    Do excursions impact the teaching of geography in Nigeria?

⦁    Is there a relationship between excursion and the academic performance of geography students?

⦁    Does excursion make teaching geography easy?

⦁    Has excursion had the desired impact on students of geography?

1.7.    RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: excursions do not significantly impact the teaching of geography

H1: excursions significantly impacts the teaching of geography

1.8.    DEFINITION OF TERMS

⦁    EXCURSION: a short journey or trip, especially one taken as a leisure activity.

⦁    DECLINE: a gradual and continuous loss of strength, numbers, or value.

REFERENCE

Adler, J. (1989). Travel as Performed Art. American Journal of Sociology, 94 (6), 1366-1391. Basset, K. (2004). Walking as an Aesthetic Practice and a Critical Tool: Some Psychogeographic Experiments. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. 28 (3).397-410.

Bondi, L., Davidson, J. & Smith, M. (2005). Introduction: Geography’s ‘Emotional Turn’, in Bondi, L., Davidson, J. & Smith, M. (eds). Emotional Geography. Comwall: Ashgate.

 Boyle, A., Maguire, S., Martin, A., Milsom, C. Nash, R., Rawlinson, R., Turner, A. &Wurthmann, S. Conchie, S. (2007). Fieldwork is good: the Student Perception and the Fieldwork Domain. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 31 (32)., 299-317.

 Brown, G. H. (1999). A Group-learning Approach to Academic and Transferable Skills through an Exercise in the Global Positioning System. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 23 (3), 291-301).

 Burgess, J. & Jackson, P. (1992). Streetwork - an encounter with place. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 16 (2). 151-157.

Clark, G. (1997). The educational value of the rural trail: A short walk in the Lancashire countryside. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 21 (3), 349-362.

Conradson, D. (2005). Freedom, Space, and Perspective: Moving Encounters with Other Ecologies, in Bondi, L., Davidson, J. & Smith, M. (eds). Emotional Geography. Comwall: Ashgate.

Conradson, D. (2005). Landscape, care, and the relational self: Therapeutic encounters in rural England. Health and Place, 11 (4), 337-348.

Cresswell, T. (2004). Embodiment, Power and the Politics of Mobility: The Case of Female Tranpos and Hobos, in Thrift, N. &Whatmore, S. (eds). Cultural Geography. Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences. New York: Routledge.

Deleuze, G. &Guattari, F. (1988). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. London: Athlone.

Deleuze, G. &Guattari, F. (1994). What is philosophy? London & New York: Verso. Duffy, M. (1999). Rythmic Landscapes: performing a sense of place. Retrieved from Ellis, B (1993). Introducing humanistic geography through fieldwork. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 17 (2), 131-139.

Fuller, I., Edmondson, S., France, D., Higgitt, D. &Ratinen, I. (2006). International Perspectives on the Effectiveness of Geography Fieldwork for Learning. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30 (1). 89-101.

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