Effectiveness and Utilization of Field Trip as a Method of Teaching and Learning Chemistry in Senior Secondary Schools in a Council Area of Imo State, Nigeria

The study assessed the effectiveness and utilization of field trip as a method of teaching and learning chemistry at senior secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Council Area of Imo State, Nigeria. The population of the study was all the 4664 chemistry students in the government-owned secondary schools in the Council. Simple random sampling technique was used to select five schools and 20% of the numbers of chemistry students in each of the sampled schools were used to obtain the sample size of 288 chemistry students. Four research questions were posed for the study. The research was descriptive survey design and questionnaires were used to elicit relevant data while mean rating was used for the analyses of the data obtained for the study. The results gave grand means of 3.14, 1.70, 3.51 and 3.21 for research questions 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. These findings showed that field trip is interactive, motivating and provides opportunity for chemistry students to widen their practical knowledge of industrial application of chemistry; chemistry teachers do not utilize field trip in teaching and learning of chemistry; lack of chemistry and chemical process-based industries, time constraint, transportation cost/risk, and the organizing process are the factors that influence effective utilization of field trip. Based on the findings, it was recommended that school field trips should reinforce the curriculum and they should be arranged at every level of the Department at various times, criterion based set of guidelines for planning and conducting successful field trips should be developed; workshops and seminars should be organized for teachers on the importance of field trip and its utilization in the teaching and learning of chemistry. Again, when considering a field trip, teachers are advised to first consult with their administrator regarding existing school board policies and follow that recommended procedure. School authorities should assist in the provision of funds or transportation for field trips.