Potential for incorporation of computer simulations in the teaching of geography in secondary schools

Abstract

The issue of quality secondary school geography education has been of great concern in Kenya for several years. Several factors have been considered as being responsible for the low quality, such as poor teaching methods, lack of resources and negative attitudes of teachers and students. The use of new Information Communication Technologies (lCTs) in education is being seen as fundamental in developing student interest in performance in the subject. The use of technology in teaching and learning may have potential to improve performance of learners in Geography but this has not attracted the interest of researchers. In Kenya, there is pervasive lack of teaching and learning resources to improve the quality of geography education, especially those that incorporate new ICTs, hence poor performance in certain abstract concepts in Geography. The purpose of the study was to determine potential for incorporation of computer simulations in the teaching of Geography in secondary schools. The design of the study was descriptive surveys and completely randomized bock design that were conducted in Kisumu District of Nyanza Province, Kenya. The study targeted 240 secondary school geography teachers and 3500 form three students. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. The sample was 80 teachers and 1165 form three students. Questionnaire surveys and interviews were used to collect data from geography teachers and students on their attitudes towards the use of computer technology in teaching and learning. Analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Quantitative data from questionnaire surveys were analyzed using descriptive surveys such.as percentages, means and frequencies, and, presented in form of tables and graphs. Qualitative data from the interviews were organized into themes, categorized, coded, converted into percentages and presented in a narrative form. A test was given to find out the effect of computer use on learners' performance. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney U Test was used to determine statistical differences between the control and experimental groups at a confidence level of 0.05. The study concluded that many schools in Kisumu District did not have computers dedicated for geography education and use of the technology for teaching and learning Geography was non existent. It is of necessity to motivate, facilitate and equip secondary school geography teachers with requisite knowledge and expertise on innovative computer uses. The study revealed that both geography teachers (mean of 4.89) and students (mean of 4.81) had a positive attitude towards the use of computer technology in geographic instruction. It was also revealed that students had problems comprehending certain topics because of their abstract nature and teachers lacked knowledge on innovative uses of computer based resources. The study established that the most difficult topic for learners to comprehend and teachers to teach was 'The earth and the solar system'. The study concluded that computer simulations, used simultaneously with the traditional method of teaching were very effective in teaching and learning difficult topics in Geography. The study recommends that computer simulations be integrated in to the geography curriculum. The study also concluded that it was of necessity to consider sound educational practices and philosophies that underpin the use of interactive computer simulations, such as constructivism, and, relevant curriculum considerations. Design considerations for the simulations software to be considered ought to include friendliness in the user interface and ease of navigation, enhanced interaction and feedback mechanisms.