Correlation between Use of Instructional Materials and Students’ Academic Achievement in Geography at O-Level in Selected Secondary Schools in Mbale Municipality, Uganda.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the use of instructional materials and students’ academic achievement in Geography at O-Level in selected secondary schools in Mbale Municipality, Mbale, Uganda. The study used correlational design and was guided by three main objectives: to establish the correlation between use of visual aids, use of audio -visual aids and use of real objects with students’ academic achievement. A total sample of 323 respondents was selected using census and stratified random sampling, 26 Geography teachers and 297 students was selected from the study population of 26 and 1240 respectively. The instrument for data collection was self design questionnaire and documented Geography UCE result of 2013-2014. The data collected were analyzed through SPSS version 20.0 by applying descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment correlation. The findings from this study revealed that there was a very low positive correlation between the use of visual aids in teaching Geography and students’ academic achievement (r= .021, p<.05); there was a low positive correlation between the use of Audio-visual aids in teaching Geography and students’ academic achievement (r= .032, p<.05); and there was also a low positive correlation between the effective use of Realia objects in teaching Geography and students’ academic achievement (r= .024, p<.05). These findings implied that use of visual aids, audio visual aids and real objects by Geography teachers does not necessarily increase students’ academic achievement in Geography. The researcher recommends that Geography teachers should employ more ways of improving their methods of teaching so that students’ academic achievement could be improved; Geography teachers should improve the use of the audio visual aids in teaching so that students’ academic achievement could be improved. Geography teachers should not only rely on the use of realia objects in teaching but also ensure the use of all practical Geography pedagogy so that students’ academic achievement could be enhanced.