A COMPARATIVE ATTITUDE OF MALE AND FEMALE STUDENTS TOWARDS THE LEARNING OF CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN IKERE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF EKITI STATE
ABSTRACT
This research work was to examine the comparative attitude of male and female students towards the learning of Christian Religious Studies in Ikere Local Government of Ekiti State. The study is divided into five chapters, the first chapter deals with the background of the study, statement of the problems, purpose of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, scope of the study, research questions, research hypotheses. The second chapter deals with literature review, conceptual framework, concept of interest, concept of achievement, gender and achievement, theory of constructivism, concept of attitude, theory of multiple intelligence and review of Empirical studies. The third chapter deals with the design of the study, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, instrument for data collection, validation of the instrument, reliability of the instrument, experimental procedure, control of extraneous variables, method of data analysis. The fourth chapter deals with the findings and discussion, discussion of the findings. The fifty chapter deals with the summary, conclusion and recommendation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract vi
Table of Contents viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
Background of the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 7
Purpose of the Study 8
Significance of the Study 9
Scope of the Study 11
Research Questions 11
Research Hypothesis 12
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual framework 13
Concept of Christian religion studies 14
Concept of attitude 22
Concept of achievement 35
Gender and achievement 39
Theory of constructivism 42
Review of empirical studies 43
Teachers instructional style/strategy and students academic achievement in Christian religious studies in secondary schools. 43
Gender and its effects on students academic achievement in Christian religious studies in secondary schools 46
Interest of students on students academic achievement in Christian religious studies in secondary schools. 49
Definition of Attitude 50
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 62
Research Design 62
Area of the Study 63
Population of the Study 63
Sample and Sampling Techniques 64
Instrument for Data Collection 65
Validity of the Instrument 66
Reliability of the Instrument 67
Experimental procedure 68
Method of the Data Analysis 68
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Introduction 70
Finding and Discussion 70
Discussion of the Finding 78
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary 83
Conclusion 85
Recommendation 88
Limitation of the finding s 89
Reference
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The high level of moral decadence and insurgencies in Nigerian nation is an indication that there is poor religious teaching in secondary school system. Christian religious studies (CRS) as one of the religious subjects taught in secondary school in Nigerian takes a central position in ensuring moral and spiritual well being of individuals in the society. The key roles of Christian religious studies in equipping the individuals and ensuring high level of morality is made clear in the objectives of Christian religious studies at the senior secondary level which include; to provide more opportunities for Nigerian youths to learn more about God and thereby develop their faith in God; to enable the youths to accept Christ as their savior; to help the youths develop Christian attitude and moral values (such as humility, respect, love, and justice, etc); to instill in the youth the spirit of tolerance , reconciliation ,peaceful co existence and non-violence as well as to develop and foster in the youth the spirit of respect for all people and human life. (Universal Basic Education Curriculum (UBA), 2013).
Without effective religious studies Nigerian nation will likely to end up in conflict, religious crisis, insurgencies and social unrest among other things. This is because religion control human actions in both social, political, economical and otherwise (Eluu, 2009). The teaching of Christian religious studies dates back to the 19th century with the pioneers of Nigerian Education (Banjo, 2003). During the missionary administration because of the moral values it teaches the people.
Following the government takeover of schools, Nigerian, secondary school curriculum was reviewed and more emphasis was placed on the studies of science and technological subjects.
This shift affected the study and interest of students in Christian religious studies in school system leading to poor enrollment in Christian Religion Studies. Gbenda (2004) stresses that student’s enrollment and interest in Christian religious studies could as well be as of result of inadequate provision of teaching aids, fewer professional teachers and lack of incentives among other things. Njoku (2009) equally adduced that poor enrollment of student in Christian religious studies could be attributed to teacher’s instructional delivery system and teachers’ personality. Christian religious studies is taught in all the senior secondary schools in Nigerian as an elective subject.
The elective nature of the subject in senior secondary schools in Nigeria equally reduced the number of students that register for the subject in West African examination council (WAEC)
and National Examination Council (NECO) as well as other internal examination. CRS is a subject that bases its teaching on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ (Ugwu, 2001) as a teaching subject, it is not only geared towards converting people to Christianity, but is necessary for value formation, orientation and reorientation of value system as well as spiritual upliftment of the student. Ali and Akubue in Njoku (2009) observed that, Christian religious studies is a subject which aims at developing and fostering in the lives of the students Christian attitudes and values such as respect to life, obedience to constitutional authority, responsible self, selfless series to God and humanity. To them, Christian religious studies is seen as an academic discipline that is designed to provide the leaner with moral and spiritual transformation. Following the government takeover of schools, Nigerian secondary school curriculum was reviewed and more emphasis was placed on the studies of science and technological subject.
This shift affected the study and interest of students in Christian Religious Studies in school system leading to poor enrolment in Christian Religious Studies. Gbenda (2004) stresses that students enrollment and interest in Christian Religious Studies could as well be as of result of inadequate provision of teaching aids, fewer professional teachers and lack of incentives among other things. Njoku (2009) equally adduced that poor enrolment of student in Christian Religious Studies could be attributed to teachers instructional delivery system and teachers personality. Christian Religious Studies is taught in all the senior secondary schools in Nigerian as an elective subject.
The elective nature of the subject in senior secondary schools in Nigeria equally reduced the number of students that register for the subject in West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) as well as other internal examination. Christian Religious Studies is a subject that bases its teaching on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ (Ugiou 2001) as a teaching subject, it is not only geared towards converting people to Christianity, but is necessary for value formation, orientation and re orientation of value system as well as spiritual upliftment of the students. Ali and Akubue in Njoku (2009) observed that CRS is a subject which aims at developing and fostering in the lives of students Christian attitudes and values such as respect to life, obedience to constitutional authority, responsible self, selfless series to God and humanity. To them, Christian Religious Studies is seen as an academic discipline that is designed to provide the learner with moral and spiritual transformation. This shows that Christian Religious Studies is the study of Christian lifestyles such as love, caring, patience, faith, forgiveness and hope in God as well as good relationship among men. Obanya in Njoku (2004) maintained that Christian Religious Studies like every other subjects has five features. These features are; a set of rational theoretical formulation, inherent capacity for growth, applicable solution to human problems, organized body of the knowledge and a degree of uniformity with other area of academic activities. In the content of this study, Christian Religious Studies is defined as a social science subject that teaches students good moral behaviour, fearing of God, knowledge and skills that will make them to contribute their quota in socio- economic and moral development in senior secondary schools.
The inclusion of sound religions and moral values in the life of students invariably could help in the development of spiritual and moral sound being of the students. These important values attached to the study of Christian Religious Studies in schools cannot be achieved if teachers do not utilized effective teaching method that appeals to all the senses of students in learning situations.
Teaching method as noted by Agwu (2005) refers to the overall plan for the orderly presentation of content of learning materials. Usually a method is driven by a philosophy or an assumption about how students learn in school. Teaching method is therefore, a general process the teacher adopts in presenting his lesson to the students, such that students learn such as assigning roles to individual students in the classroom. The important index in the teaching and learning process is that the students learn at the end of teaching (Aguokogbuo, 2005). Hence, the use of good teaching method in teaching of Christian Religious Studies plays an important role in harmonizing classroom instruction.
Nevertheless, it has been noted with dismay that even a subject as important as Christian Religious Studies is taught using the traditional lecture method (talk and chalk) (Asogwa & Echemazu, 2011). This old method, conventional as it is, appears to have reduced students’ interest and enrollment in the subject each year for both WAEC and NECO. For instance, Abdulhamid (2010) found that lecture method used by teachers have made many student lost their interest in classroom of learning and consequently may reduce students enrollment in some subject areas. He added that the use of lecture method set the teacher as the only active participant in the class while the students are complete observers or admirers through the lesson.
The theory of constructivism sees learning as the active participation in various activities within and outside the classroom. Therefore, inability of teachers to use methods that encourages students’ active participation could lead students to laziness, role memorization which even actually kills students’ interest and attitudes towards the learning of Christian religious studies. The theory of multiple intelligences holds the view that human being has fine separate intelligences (visual/spatial, verbal and logical, body/kinetic, musical, inter-personal intelligences). Therefore, if educators teach their students using methods that utilizes these intelligences in learning would promote students’ interest in learning process. Asogwa and Echemazu (2011) opines that most teachers rely on lecture method because of their experiences as most of them still regarded the way they were taught in their own days as the best way to teach in this modern times organizing for effective teaching of Christian Religious studies is centered on certain factors such as “what to teach”, “when to teach” and “how to teach”. The teacher does not only teach the most relevant, meaningful and useful materials for specific students, he must also recognized and adopted a good and well-researched method of teaching that guarantees better understanding and also stimulates and motivate students’ achievement (Abdukamid, 2010).
Statement of the Problems
The importance of Christian Religious Studies in the present social, political and religious crisis in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized.
Nevertheless, the trend of poor academic achievement among male and female students’ over the years seems to be on the increase. It may be due to teachers’ use of lecture method of teaching which has been the prevalent mode of lesson presentation in secondary schools in Nigeria This method is teacher-centered and does not inspire and motivate students’ interest towards the learning of the subject in senior secondary schools. The students may end up therefore having low interest which could lead to poor achievement in Christian Religious Studies in schools. There appears, to be no available empirical study on the effect of role play method on students’ academic achievement and interest in Christian Religious Studies in Senior Secondary Schools in Ikere Ekiti Education Area of Ekiti state, Nigeria.
Therefore, the problem of this study posed as questions are;
Therefore, the problem of this study posed as questions are the effects of role play method on students academic achievement and interest in Ikere Ekiti Education Area of Ekiti State?
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study is to determine the attitude of male and female students toward the learning of Christian Religious Studies in Ikere Local Government of Ekiti State.
Specifically, the study was designed to;
Significance of the Study
The study would be beneficial to students, teachers, religious instructors, curriculum planners, educational administrators, researchers and textbook authors.
To students, the study would help to improve their understanding of Christian religious studies and thus adjust properly in the society through active participation in the classroom leaning which stimulate their interest and change the negative perceptions they already have in learning Christian religious studies and this invariably help them to develop the affective domain of knowledge in secondary schools. They would equally perform better in internal and external examinations without depending on examination malpractice which have been the problem in the educational sectors. This is because the student stands a chance of becoming masters on their own through involvement in different roles in the classroom. The findings of the study would help teachers to have an insight into the meaning, application and problems of using role play method of teaching and thus change their method when the need arises for proper students’ achievement and interest in Christian Religious Studies in secondary schools. The relevance of effective method in the implementation of Christian religious studies in secondary school would be made known to teachers as they are the chief implementer of planned curriculum of schools. This could be done by teachers observing the students performing their roles and equally identifies the individual’s problem in using the method in the teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in secondary schools.
Religious instructors and bodies are not left out as they would understand the best way to educate children in the principles and practice of Christianity which invariably will promote peace and harmony as well as co-existence in the Nigerian society. Curriculum planners or designers would be made to understand curriculum problems that affect the application of effective teaching method like Role-play in the implementation of Christian Religious Studies curriculum in secondary schools especially in Ikere – Ekiti Educational Area of Ekiti State.
The findings of the study would expose the educational administrators to the importance of conducive environment in teaching and learning and thereby put these environmental conditions such as classroom building, learning materials, quality library etc, in order for proper implementation of Christian Religious Studies curriculum. They would equally be meant to understand the interactional effects of gender and role-play method and thus help teachers to initiate change where appropriate. The findings of the study as well as the concepts, theories and
methods would be reference materials for researchers especially those that specialize in Christian Religious Studies. Finally, the textbook authors on education would benefit from the study by updating their knowledge on the techniques and besides disseminate the findings through textbooks they publish.
The larger society would equally benefit from this study. This is because, the effective teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies will bring desirable change in behaviour of students and this invariably would help to reduce high level of religious intolerance, hatred, killing, conflict, terrorism, militancy, and other insurgences that is ravaging Nigerian society
Scope of the Study
The study covered some selected senior secondary schools in Ikere Ekiti Educational area of Ekiti State. The study is specifically covers the attitude of male and female students toward the leaning Christian Religious studies. It also covers four content areas such as God’s protection, Gods’ provision, Eli and Samuels’ Children and example of King Asa. The choice of co-educational secondary schools in the study is because the study deals with gender therefore, using co-educational schools could help the researcher to compare the attitude and interest of both boys and girls.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study;
Six (6) null hypotheses were developed to guide the study and was tested at 0.05 level of significance
HO1: There will no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught
Christian Religious Studies using teaching method and those taught using lecture method.
HO2: There is no significant difference in the mean attitude scores of students taught Christian Religious Studies using teaching and lecture method.
HO3: There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female students in Christian Religious Studies.
HO4: There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores of male and female students in Christian Religious Studies.
HO5 The comparative attitude of male and female student mean scores in Christian Religious Studies is not statistically significant.
ABSTRACT
This research work was to examine the comparative attitude of male and female students towards the learning of Christian Religious Studies in Ikere Local Government of Ekiti State. The study is divided into five chapters, the first chapter deals with the background of the study, statement of the problems, purpose of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, scope of the study, research questions, research hypotheses. The second chapter deals with literature review, conceptual framework, concept of interest, concept of achievement, gender and achievement, theory of constructivism, concept of attitude, theory of multiple intelligence and review of Empirical studies. The third chapter deals with the design of the study, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, instrument for data collection, validation of the instrument, reliability of the instrument, experimental procedure, control of extraneous variables, method of data analysis. The fourth chapter deals with the findings and discussion, discussion of the findings. The fifty chapter deals with the summary, conclusion and recommendation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract vi
Table of Contents viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
Background of the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 7
Purpose of the Study 8
Significance of the Study 9
Scope of the Study 11
Research Questions 11
Research Hypothesis 12
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual framework 13
Concept of Christian religion studies 14
Concept of attitude 22
Concept of achievement 35
Gender and achievement 39
Theory of constructivism 42
Review of empirical studies 43
Teachers instructional style/strategy and students academic achievement in Christian religious studies in secondary schools. 43
Gender and its effects on students academic achievement in Christian religious studies in secondary schools 46
Interest of students on students academic achievement in Christian religious studies in secondary schools. 49
Definition of Attitude 50
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 62
Research Design 62
Area of the Study 63
Population of the Study 63
Sample and Sampling Techniques 64
Instrument for Data Collection 65
Validity of the Instrument 66
Reliability of the Instrument 67
Experimental procedure 68
Method of the Data Analysis 68
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Introduction 70
Finding and Discussion 70
Discussion of the Finding 78
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary 83
Conclusion 85
Recommendation 88
Limitation of the finding s 89
Reference
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The high level of moral decadence and insurgencies in Nigerian nation is an indication that there is poor religious teaching in secondary school system. Christian religious studies (CRS) as one of the religious subjects taught in secondary school in Nigerian takes a central position in ensuring moral and spiritual well being of individuals in the society. The key roles of Christian religious studies in equipping the individuals and ensuring high level of morality is made clear in the objectives of Christian religious studies at the senior secondary level which include; to provide more opportunities for Nigerian youths to learn more about God and thereby develop their faith in God; to enable the youths to accept Christ as their savior; to help the youths develop Christian attitude and moral values (such as humility, respect, love, and justice, etc); to instill in the youth the spirit of tolerance , reconciliation ,peaceful co existence and non-violence as well as to develop and foster in the youth the spirit of respect for all people and human life. (Universal Basic Education Curriculum (UBA), 2013).
Without effective religious studies Nigerian nation will likely to end up in conflict, religious crisis, insurgencies and social unrest among other things. This is because religion control human actions in both social, political, economical and otherwise (Eluu, 2009). The teaching of Christian religious studies dates back to the 19th century with the pioneers of Nigerian Education (Banjo, 2003). During the missionary administration because of the moral values it teaches the people.
Following the government takeover of schools, Nigerian, secondary school curriculum was reviewed and more emphasis was placed on the studies of science and technological subjects.
This shift affected the study and interest of students in Christian religious studies in school system leading to poor enrollment in Christian Religion Studies. Gbenda (2004) stresses that student’s enrollment and interest in Christian religious studies could as well be as of result of inadequate provision of teaching aids, fewer professional teachers and lack of incentives among other things. Njoku (2009) equally adduced that poor enrollment of student in Christian religious studies could be attributed to teacher’s instructional delivery system and teachers’ personality. Christian religious studies is taught in all the senior secondary schools in Nigerian as an elective subject.
The elective nature of the subject in senior secondary schools in Nigeria equally reduced the number of students that register for the subject in West African examination council (WAEC)
and National Examination Council (NECO) as well as other internal examination. CRS is a subject that bases its teaching on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ (Ugwu, 2001) as a teaching subject, it is not only geared towards converting people to Christianity, but is necessary for value formation, orientation and reorientation of value system as well as spiritual upliftment of the student. Ali and Akubue in Njoku (2009) observed that, Christian religious studies is a subject which aims at developing and fostering in the lives of the students Christian attitudes and values such as respect to life, obedience to constitutional authority, responsible self, selfless series to God and humanity. To them, Christian religious studies is seen as an academic discipline that is designed to provide the leaner with moral and spiritual transformation. Following the government takeover of schools, Nigerian secondary school curriculum was reviewed and more emphasis was placed on the studies of science and technological subject.
This shift affected the study and interest of students in Christian Religious Studies in school system leading to poor enrolment in Christian Religious Studies. Gbenda (2004) stresses that students enrollment and interest in Christian Religious Studies could as well be as of result of inadequate provision of teaching aids, fewer professional teachers and lack of incentives among other things. Njoku (2009) equally adduced that poor enrolment of student in Christian Religious Studies could be attributed to teachers instructional delivery system and teachers personality. Christian Religious Studies is taught in all the senior secondary schools in Nigerian as an elective subject.
The elective nature of the subject in senior secondary schools in Nigeria equally reduced the number of students that register for the subject in West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) as well as other internal examination. Christian Religious Studies is a subject that bases its teaching on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ (Ugiou 2001) as a teaching subject, it is not only geared towards converting people to Christianity, but is necessary for value formation, orientation and re orientation of value system as well as spiritual upliftment of the students. Ali and Akubue in Njoku (2009) observed that CRS is a subject which aims at developing and fostering in the lives of students Christian attitudes and values such as respect to life, obedience to constitutional authority, responsible self, selfless series to God and humanity. To them, Christian Religious Studies is seen as an academic discipline that is designed to provide the learner with moral and spiritual transformation. This shows that Christian Religious Studies is the study of Christian lifestyles such as love, caring, patience, faith, forgiveness and hope in God as well as good relationship among men. Obanya in Njoku (2004) maintained that Christian Religious Studies like every other subjects has five features. These features are; a set of rational theoretical formulation, inherent capacity for growth, applicable solution to human problems, organized body of the knowledge and a degree of uniformity with other area of academic activities. In the content of this study, Christian Religious Studies is defined as a social science subject that teaches students good moral behaviour, fearing of God, knowledge and skills that will make them to contribute their quota in socio- economic and moral development in senior secondary schools.
The inclusion of sound religions and moral values in the life of students invariably could help in the development of spiritual and moral sound being of the students. These important values attached to the study of Christian Religious Studies in schools cannot be achieved if teachers do not utilized effective teaching method that appeals to all the senses of students in learning situations.
Teaching method as noted by Agwu (2005) refers to the overall plan for the orderly presentation of content of learning materials. Usually a method is driven by a philosophy or an assumption about how students learn in school. Teaching method is therefore, a general process the teacher adopts in presenting his lesson to the students, such that students learn such as assigning roles to individual students in the classroom. The important index in the teaching and learning process is that the students learn at the end of teaching (Aguokogbuo, 2005). Hence, the use of good teaching method in teaching of Christian Religious Studies plays an important role in harmonizing classroom instruction.
Nevertheless, it has been noted with dismay that even a subject as important as Christian Religious Studies is taught using the traditional lecture method (talk and chalk) (Asogwa & Echemazu, 2011). This old method, conventional as it is, appears to have reduced students’ interest and enrollment in the subject each year for both WAEC and NECO. For instance, Abdulhamid (2010) found that lecture method used by teachers have made many student lost their interest in classroom of learning and consequently may reduce students enrollment in some subject areas. He added that the use of lecture method set the teacher as the only active participant in the class while the students are complete observers or admirers through the lesson.
The theory of constructivism sees learning as the active participation in various activities within and outside the classroom. Therefore, inability of teachers to use methods that encourages students’ active participation could lead students to laziness, role memorization which even actually kills students’ interest and attitudes towards the learning of Christian religious studies. The theory of multiple intelligences holds the view that human being has fine separate intelligences (visual/spatial, verbal and logical, body/kinetic, musical, inter-personal intelligences). Therefore, if educators teach their students using methods that utilizes these intelligences in learning would promote students’ interest in learning process. Asogwa and Echemazu (2011) opines that most teachers rely on lecture method because of their experiences as most of them still regarded the way they were taught in their own days as the best way to teach in this modern times organizing for effective teaching of Christian Religious studies is centered on certain factors such as “what to teach”, “when to teach” and “how to teach”. The teacher does not only teach the most relevant, meaningful and useful materials for specific students, he must also recognized and adopted a good and well-researched method of teaching that guarantees better understanding and also stimulates and motivate students’ achievement (Abdukamid, 2010).
Statement of the Problems
The importance of Christian Religious Studies in the present social, political and religious crisis in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized.
Nevertheless, the trend of poor academic achievement among male and female students’ over the years seems to be on the increase. It may be due to teachers’ use of lecture method of teaching which has been the prevalent mode of lesson presentation in secondary schools in Nigeria This method is teacher-centered and does not inspire and motivate students’ interest towards the learning of the subject in senior secondary schools. The students may end up therefore having low interest which could lead to poor achievement in Christian Religious Studies in schools. There appears, to be no available empirical study on the effect of role play method on students’ academic achievement and interest in Christian Religious Studies in Senior Secondary Schools in Ikere Ekiti Education Area of Ekiti state, Nigeria.
Therefore, the problem of this study posed as questions are;
- Could gender and interest be militating factors on student’s academic achievement in Christian Religious Studies in secondary schools in Ikere-Ekiti Education area of Ekiti State
- What are the effects of role play method on students’ academic achievement and interest in Ikere-Ekiti Education Area of Ekiti state?
- Could gender and interest be militating factors on students academic achievement in Christian Religious Studies in secondary schools in Ikere Ekiti Education Area of Ekiti State?
Therefore, the problem of this study posed as questions are the effects of role play method on students academic achievement and interest in Ikere Ekiti Education Area of Ekiti State?
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study is to determine the attitude of male and female students toward the learning of Christian Religious Studies in Ikere Local Government of Ekiti State.
Specifically, the study was designed to;
- Determine the influence of gender on students academic achievement in Christian Religious Studies
- Find out the influence of gender on students interest in Christian Religious Studies.
Significance of the Study
The study would be beneficial to students, teachers, religious instructors, curriculum planners, educational administrators, researchers and textbook authors.
To students, the study would help to improve their understanding of Christian religious studies and thus adjust properly in the society through active participation in the classroom leaning which stimulate their interest and change the negative perceptions they already have in learning Christian religious studies and this invariably help them to develop the affective domain of knowledge in secondary schools. They would equally perform better in internal and external examinations without depending on examination malpractice which have been the problem in the educational sectors. This is because the student stands a chance of becoming masters on their own through involvement in different roles in the classroom. The findings of the study would help teachers to have an insight into the meaning, application and problems of using role play method of teaching and thus change their method when the need arises for proper students’ achievement and interest in Christian Religious Studies in secondary schools. The relevance of effective method in the implementation of Christian religious studies in secondary school would be made known to teachers as they are the chief implementer of planned curriculum of schools. This could be done by teachers observing the students performing their roles and equally identifies the individual’s problem in using the method in the teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in secondary schools.
Religious instructors and bodies are not left out as they would understand the best way to educate children in the principles and practice of Christianity which invariably will promote peace and harmony as well as co-existence in the Nigerian society. Curriculum planners or designers would be made to understand curriculum problems that affect the application of effective teaching method like Role-play in the implementation of Christian Religious Studies curriculum in secondary schools especially in Ikere – Ekiti Educational Area of Ekiti State.
The findings of the study would expose the educational administrators to the importance of conducive environment in teaching and learning and thereby put these environmental conditions such as classroom building, learning materials, quality library etc, in order for proper implementation of Christian Religious Studies curriculum. They would equally be meant to understand the interactional effects of gender and role-play method and thus help teachers to initiate change where appropriate. The findings of the study as well as the concepts, theories and
methods would be reference materials for researchers especially those that specialize in Christian Religious Studies. Finally, the textbook authors on education would benefit from the study by updating their knowledge on the techniques and besides disseminate the findings through textbooks they publish.
The larger society would equally benefit from this study. This is because, the effective teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies will bring desirable change in behaviour of students and this invariably would help to reduce high level of religious intolerance, hatred, killing, conflict, terrorism, militancy, and other insurgences that is ravaging Nigerian society
Scope of the Study
The study covered some selected senior secondary schools in Ikere Ekiti Educational area of Ekiti State. The study is specifically covers the attitude of male and female students toward the leaning Christian Religious studies. It also covers four content areas such as God’s protection, Gods’ provision, Eli and Samuels’ Children and example of King Asa. The choice of co-educational secondary schools in the study is because the study deals with gender therefore, using co-educational schools could help the researcher to compare the attitude and interest of both boys and girls.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study;
- What is the mean attitude scores of students taught Christian Religious Studies using teaching method and those taught lecture method?
- What is the mean attitude scores of students taught Christian Religious Studies using teaching method and those taught lecture method?
- What is the mean achievement scores of male and female students taught Christian Religious Studies?
- What is the comparative attitude towards learning of Christian Religious Studies?
Six (6) null hypotheses were developed to guide the study and was tested at 0.05 level of significance
HO1: There will no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught
Christian Religious Studies using teaching method and those taught using lecture method.
HO2: There is no significant difference in the mean attitude scores of students taught Christian Religious Studies using teaching and lecture method.
HO3: There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female students in Christian Religious Studies.
HO4: There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores of male and female students in Christian Religious Studies.
HO5 The comparative attitude of male and female student mean scores in Christian Religious Studies is not statistically significant.