EXPLORATION OF TEACHERS’ UTILIZATION OF BASIC EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE FOR THE TEACHING OF SCIENCES IN DELTA STATE

Abstract

The study examined teachers’ utilization of basic educational software for the teaching of sciences in Delta state. A descriptive research design was adopted, while four research questions and a null hypothesis guided the study. Population comprised all science teachers in the 43 public secondary school in Ika Federal constituency while a total of 245 science teachers were sampled for the study. Questionnaire on Teacher Utilization of Basic Educational Software (QTQUBES) was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three professionals, and was then trial tested and the reliability coefficient of 0.73 was obtained using Cronbach alpha. Research questions were answered utilizing descriptive statistics while t-test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that science teachers in Delta state rarely utilize basic educational software for teaching. Similarly, no significant difference was found between male and female science teachers on their level of utilization of basic Edu-software for teaching in secondary schools, implying that both male and female teachers rarely utilize basic Edu-software. The prominent challenges identified were teachers lack of access to computers or devices in schools, poor power supply, no internet connectivity in schools and lack of adequate training on how to use educational software among science teachers. Solutions were identified and recommendation made for the government to invest more in infrastructure like; power supply, internet connectivity, and training of personnels to improve the teaching and learning of science subjects in school.