EFFECT OF STANDARDIZED AND IMPROVISED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ECONOMICS IN ABIA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of standardized and improvised instructional materials on senior secondary school students' academic achievement in Economics in Abia State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined the effect of standardized and improvised instructional materials on students' achievement in Economics and examined whether gender influenced students' achievement when taught using these instructional materials. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design involving experimental and control groups was adopted. The population comprised Senior Secondary School II (SS II) Economics students, while a sample of 140 students participated in the study, with 73 students in the experimental group and 67 in the control group. Data were collected using an Economics Achievement Test (EAT), which was validated by experts, and its reliability was established before administration. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that students taught Economics using standardized and improvised instructional materials achieved significantly higher than those taught using the conventional method, with the experimental group recording a mean gain score of 23.13 compared with 6.76 for the control group. ANCOVA further indicated a statistically significant difference in the achievement scores of the two groups (F = 12.025, p = .007). The study also found that although both male and female students benefited from the instructional materials, there was no significant difference in their achievement based on gender (F = 2.118, p = .215). The study concluded that the use of standardized and improvised instructional materials enhances students' academic achievement in Economics irrespective of gender. It was therefore recommended that Economics teachers should integrate standardized and improvised instructional materials into classroom instruction and that regular training should be provided to equip teachers with the skills required for their effective development and utilization.