Limiting factors in stimulating and sustaining interest in psycho-productive skills acquisition in secondary school agricultural science

Abstract

In the study reported on here we investigated factors impeding the stimulation and sustenance of students’ interest in the acquisition of psycho-productive skills in senior secondary school agricultural science. We used the classical design for change experiments or before-after measures as the research design. Two methods of teaching, namely demonstration and conventional teaching were used with the experimental and control groups (87 subjects) from 2 schools in the Ijebu-East Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria. A self-reporting scale exposed the students’ perceptions of limiting factors such as seeing agriculture as a dirty job, a school subject meant for never-to-do-well, dull students, and as punishment for erring students. Of the 12 factors listed as stimulating and sustaining students’ interest, the subjects identified 8 as limiting ones. The results from the mean, standard deviation and t-test indicate that there was significant difference between the factors identified by the experimental and control groups. The results also reveal that there was a significant difference in the factors identified by male and female subjects. This could have been as a result of gender stereotyping regarding agricultural practices in some parts of the study area. It was suggested, among others, that the agricultural science teacher should make efforts to incorporate innovative teaching approaches like demonstration methods in classroom practice coupled with infusion of practical periods to enhance psycho-productive skills acquisition. The vocational agriculture curriculum should include an approach to easily measure a combination of psycho-productive, affective and cognitive skills rather than mere cognitive skills.