INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) FACILITIES AND THE TEACHING OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE IN PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

This study assessed the ICT facilities and agricultural science teaching within public senior secondary schools across Rivers State. Two specific objectives, two study questions and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 significance level. Descriptive survey plan was employed for study. The study population was 378 agricultural science teachers, 120 male teachers and 72 female teachers in the 276 public senior secondary schools across Rivers State. Sample of 192 agricultural science teachers were chosen using a multistage sampling technique. A 35 item instrument titled: “Information Communication Technology Facilities and Teaching Of Agricultural Science In Public Senior Secondary schools Questionnaire (ICTFTASPSSSQ) was developed by the researcher and used in collecting data. A reliability constant of 0.71 was gotten by means of Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient method. Descriptive statistics involving standard deviation and mean were employed to analyze the data with a criterion mean cut of 3.50 and z-test was employed to test null hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. The discoveries showed that ICT amenities were found in schools and inadequate power supply, inadequate training of teachers, lack of time for lessons delivery and technicians to attend to breakdowns affect ICT amenities availability, accessibility and utilization. Based on discoveries, it was suggested that sufficient ICT amenities should be made more available by the government through Education Ministry, community, parents, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donors for instruction and learning. The government through the Ministry of Education should proffer possible solutions to the identified factors affecting the availability, accessibility and utilization of ICT facilities for teaching and learning.