CHEMISTRY EDUCATION PROJECT:
FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR LOW ENROLMENT OF STUDENTS IN CHEMISTRY EDUCATION IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN ENUGU STATE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
According to Hornby (2008), science is the
knowledge about the structure and behavior of natural and physical world based
on facts that can be proved. Science is the study of natural phenomena and is distinguished
from other fields because it relies on hypothetical, deductive and experimental
approach. Ali (2006), defined science as that which is concerned with nature
with regards to developing, acquiring and controlling knowledge, skills,
capacity and attitude about natural factors of the environment. According
to Madueweisi (2013), Science
in its broadest scene refers to all human activities involving organized
knowledge of natural phenomena. It also refers to a system of acquiring
knowledge. Here, system means using observation and experimentation to describe
and explain natural phenomena. According to Okon, (2012), Science
education has a prime position in the development of any nation. This is
because the whole universe revolves around Science. According to Odoh, (2013),
science and technology have been seen as the surest way in the promotion of
economic development, alleviation or eradication of poverty, and introduction
of social welfare in any country. According to Ali (2006) stated that chemistry
has been identified as one of the major branches of physical science.
Etesike and Nnamani, (2006) quoting Ukungwu (2003) defined Chemistry as a branch of physical Science that studies the composition, structure, properties and
changes which matter undergo. Chemistry is chiefly concerned with atoms and molecules and their interactions and transformations. Okon (2012)
asserts that Chemistry is one of the science subjects upon which the bulk of
the present technological breakthrough is built. The knowledge of chemistry is
found to be essential in production of items like plastics, detergents,
pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, building materials, chemical solvents,
motor vehicles and airplane parts, clothing fibers, cosmetics, drugs, and
polythene bags. There are many chemistry related careers such as those in food
processing, chemical engineering, biochemistry, forestry, pharmacy and
medicine. This fact could explain why the Nigerian government at the National
level pegged admission ratio of Science and Art into higher institutions of
learning at the ration of 60:40 in favour of science (chemistry inclusive).
The intrinsic values
as well as the utility values of Chemistry in all spheres of human activity
have necessitated its inclusion in the school curriculum. The teaching and
learning of Chemistry at the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) level
should be such as to produce competent, effective and efficient teachers, who
having acquired the requisite skills should be able to impart same to their
pupils.
Madueweisi
(2013) opines that Chemistry has been identified to be one of the important
subjects needed for the sustenance and transformation of the national economy,
and hence should be accorded adequate attention. According to Ezeudu (2012), a
good Background knowledge in Chemistry Education will not only make the
graduates teachers, Lecturers or Professors in Chemistry but will go a long way
to make them self reliant through the acquisition of some basic entrepreneurial
skills. The graduates of chemistry can go into soap production, fertilizer
production, paint production, production of Germicides , production of
perfumes, production of pomades , Herbicides
to mention but a few. Oriaifo
(2002) in Ali (2006) while stressing the importance of chemistry education
noted that chemistry equips the learner with specific knowledge skills and
attitude which enables him/her become useful to him/herself and the society at
large. In Nigeria, chemistry as a subject occupies a prominent position in the
nation’s secondary and tertiary curriculum. At the secondary level of education,
a credit pass in chemistry is a pre-requisite for students to further their
studies in fields like Medicine, Pharmacy, Agriculture, Engineering, Home
Economics, Biological Science and other science related fields of Endeavour.
Chemistry do not just start and end in
the classroom or school as often perceived, Phenomenon in chemistry are
practiced in our day to day lives in and outside the school. Okon (2012),
identified some of the home chemistry practices as heating (cooking/warming) of
our food, washing our cloths with soap or detergents, addition of limestone
when cooking (e.g beans, unripe plantain etc), boiling blended fresh tomato to
allow the liquid to get dried, addition of salt to perishable food stuffs
in other to preserve them and boiling and filtering of impure water to make it
clean for drinking, the process of putting stainless steel spoon into meat
while boiling, separation of kerosene or petrol from water, the process of
preparation of pap from grounded maize (corn), spraying insecticides in the
house to kill insects, the act of melting ice block into liquid water for the
purpose of drinking, preparation of our African delicacy fufu, through cassava,
the burning of materials in the presence of air (oxygen), rusting of clean nail
when it has been exposed to air and water (chemical change) etc. To mention but
these few. This goes to show that principles in chemistry are applied in our
day to day activities even in our various homes. These principles are not just
applied in our urban areas, even in our local villages chemistry is being
practiced. For example, in most villages local soap is made from ashes of burnt
plantain peels and used (or bleached) palm oil, quality drinking water has long
been a problem in our local villages so most often people in the rural areas
use alum to purify there drinking water, virtually all the different cooking
practices in the local villages are based on chemistry phenomenon. Also
chemistry knowledge, principles, concepts
and facts have also helped in the development of appropriate technologies in
military, Food preservation, Building, Petroleum, road Construction,
transportation to mention but a few. Also our country that is mostly dependent
on oil for its Revenue can boast her economy through the encouragement of
chemistry education because a background in chemistry as Organic chemistry has a lot to say about the various ways which
petroleum and it bye products could be utilized.
Contrary to these benefits
which could be driven from chemistry education, many evidences have been put
forward to illustrate the fact that there is a serious decline in student’s
enrolment in chemistry education in colleges of Education in Enugu State in
comparison to other science courses. One of these evidences is the data obtained
from the admission office of Federal college of Education Eha-amufu on the
number of admitted students between 2009-2014 in some selected departments.
|
Session |
Biology |
Integrated science |
Computer |
Chemistry |
|
2009-2010 |
102 |
175 |
30 |
42 |
|
2010-2011 |
100 |
154 |
36 |
18 |
|
2011-2012 |
120 |
209 |
45 |
36 |
|
2012-2013 |
156 |
270 |
60 |
54 |
|
2013-2014 |
170 |
303 |
75 |
58 |
|
2014-2015 |
175 |
320 |
90 |
48 |
Table 1.1: Students
enrolment
Source: admission office FCE
Eha- Amufu
From the above sample it can be observed
that between 2009-2010 the enrolment in Biology education has increased from
102 to 175 that of Integrated science from 175-320, that of Computer increased
from 30 to 90 while that of Chemistry has only increased from 42-48 which shows
a very slow increase on the side of chemistry education or could be said to be
stagnant over the years. Also from the table it can be observed that unlike
other departments, the enrolment have been dwindling over the years for instance
from 2009-20011 it decreased from 42 to 18 from 2009 to 2012 it dwindled from
42- 36 and finally between 2013 to 2014 it dwindled from 58 to 48 which shows
that instead of increasing like other departments that of chemistry department
has been suffering a serious dwindling over the years.
Eze
(2010) was of the opinion that the greatest factor that is responsible for low
enrolment of students in chemistry education in colleges of education is
parental influence. According to Ali (2006) opines that parents attitude help
to condition their children attitude. Okon (2012) reported that a child whose
parents have positive attitude to chemistry is bound to have positive attitude
towards chemistry and students whose parents have negative attitude towards chemistry
will also be influenced by their parents attitude. That is to say that parent
prefer registering their children to other courses like medicine, engineering,
pharmacy, law, mass communication and even if it is education they prefer
courses like English language. For instance, in federal college of Education
Eha-Amufu, students in other art related courses are far larger in number than
those offering chemistry education. Onwuka (2012) listed some factors which account for low
enrolment in chemistry education, one of which is students perception of the
subject matter of chemistry which they strongly believes that chemistry is so
abstract, diverse, calculative, and brain storming. He went further to state
that students’ low enrolment in chemistry education should be traced back to
secondary schools where the foundations of chemistry education are being laid.
He emphasized that in secondary schools we have shortage of chemistry teachers,
inadequate or lack supply of laboratory facilities, and absence of laboratory.
Still on the factor responsible for low enrolment in various chemistry
education Onwuka
(2012) opines that gender disparity is one of the greatest factors which
affects students enrolment in chemistry education. He went further to state
that people perceive chemistry education as being exclusively masculine in
nature. He also suggests that another reason to students’ low enrolment in
chemistry education is due to poor background knowledge of the students at the
secondary level. Still on the factors that account for low enrolment of
students in chemistry education, Ugwu (2014) states that peer group has a great
deal of influence on students’ choice of chemistry career. He went further to
explain that most people enroll in other causes as a result of the kinds of
friend they keep who prefer other courses which they regard as being non
calculative in nature. He also stated that the most important factor leading to
low enrolment of students in chemistry education is social value accorded to
chemistry education. Speaking on this, he stated that chemistry teachers are
accorded no more value than a peasant trader in the market. There by treating them
with scorn. Therefore such negative social values are transcended down to the
growing generation there by developing a big negative side towards chemistry
education.
From the discussion made so far, it is
obvious that the enrolment in chemistry education has consistently been
comparatively low. These ugly trends needs urgent attention hence the need to
survey the factors responsible for low enrolment of students in chemistry
education in colleges of education in Enugu State.
Statement of the Problem:
It has become a common place fact that
there is low enrolment in chemistry education in colleges of education in
Nigeria. This is something we should worry about because it poses a great effect
to the production of adequate chemistry teachers and maintenance of
teacher/student ratio in our school system. Madueweisi (2013) on his research
report stated that if poor enrolment of students in chemistry educations is
allowed to continue, it will reach a stage where no students will enroll in
chemistry education in Nigeria colleges of education and consequently, the lack
of chemistry teachers in our secondary schools. Could this low enrolment be as
a result of parental influence, poor background of students’ knowledge of
chemistry at the secondary level, negative perception of chemistry, peer group
influence, environmental influence? e.t.c. It is on this atmosphere that this
research is being carried out to determine and address the factors that are
responsible for low enrolment of students in chemistry education in colleges of
Education in Enugu state.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to find
out the various factors that are responsible for low students’ enrolment in
chemistry education in colleges of education in Nigeria. Specifically, the
study aims at finding out:
1.
whether
parents influence students enrolment in chemistry education
2.
whether
peer group influence students enrolment in chemistry education
3.
whether students perception of chemistry influence their
enrolment in chemistry education
4.
If
the background knowledge of student in chemistry affect their enrolment in
chemistry education
5.
If
the negative social value attached to chemistry teachers affects students
enrolment in chemistry education
Significance of the Study
The
study will be very useful to:
1. the
students who are still contemplating whether to take chemistry as a career
course or not.
2. encourage
chemistry teachers to adopt good methods in teaching chemistry
3. guidance
counselors and parents in directing their wards towards making a rightful
decision of course career
4. encourage
the government to supply adequate laboratory materials to Chemistry Department
in colleges of education and to secondary schools chemistry laboratories to
enable her achieve her educational objectives
5. help in
boosting the production of chemistry teachers in our secondary schools.
6. it will
improve students’ attitude and perception towards chemistry education.
7. to boost
other research effort geared towards making the study of chemistry more
effective.
Scope of study:
The
research will be limited to the Factors responsible for low enrolment of
students in chemistry education in colleges of education in Enugu state using three
prominent Colleges of Education in Enugu State They are two government owned
and one private owned institution which are Federal College of Education
Eha-Amufu, Technical College of education, Enugu, and The College of Education
Nsukka. This area of study will be used to predict the factors responsible for
low enrolment of students in colleges of education in Enugu State.
Research Questions:
1.
Do
parents influence students’ enrolment in chemistry education?
2.
Does
peer group influence students’ enrolment in chemistry education?
3.
Does
students’ perception of chemistry education influence students enrolment in
chemistry education?
4.
How
does the background knowledge of student in chemistry affect their enrolment in
chemistry education?
5.
Does
social value attached to chemistry education affect students’ enrolment in
chemistry education?
CHAPTER
TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
The main objective of this chapter is to review related
literature, as they relate to the study. The review is carried out under the
following headings.
@ Concept of Chemistry Education
@ Objectives of Chemistry Education in
Nigeria
@ Factors which lead to low Enrolment of Students in Chemistry Education
in Nigeria
a.
Family factor
b.
Peer Group Influence
c. Social Value Attached To
Chemistry education
d.
Qualification of Chemistry Teachers
e.
Poor Usage of the Laboratory
f.
Lack of Students Interest and negative
attitude on Chemistry education.
g.
Gender Difference
h.
Poor Method of Teaching Chemistry
i.
Inadequate supply of chemistry
equipment to schools
j.
Teachers
personality
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