Effect of Practical Skills Instructional Guide on Students’ Performance in Lathe Machine Operations in Technical Colleges in Northern Nigeria

Effect of Practical Skills Instructional Guide on Students’ Performance in Lathe Machine Operations in Technical Colleges in Northern Nigeria.

ABSTRACT  

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of a developed instructional guide on the performance of students in practical skills in lathe machine operations for teaching and learning practical skills at the National Technical Certificate (NTC) level in Technical Colleges in Northern Nigeria. Six specific purposes and research questions which covered facing, drilling, straight turning, taper turning, knurling, and screw cutting operations were formulated to guide the study.  

Similarly, six hypotheses were also formulated and tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The instrument for data collection was a Practical Exercise Performance Test (PEPT) designed to test students in the major competencies to be acquired in each of the lathe machine operations. The instrument for data collection (PEPT) was subjected to face and content validation by a panel of three vocational educators. To establish the reliability of the practical tests, the test re-test method was adopted.  

Using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) statistic, the tests yielded 0.69 and 0.71 for the first and second tests respectively. A quasi-Experimental group design was adopted for the study. To carry out this, two groups of students located in four schools comprising the treatment and control groups were used for the study over a period of 10 weeks. At the end of the fifth and tenth weeks, the first and second practical tests were administered at the same time to all the groups.  

The mean statistic was used to answer the six research questions while the t-test was used to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that students who were taught with the instructional guides perform better than those taught with the conventional lesson plan. This is evident in the mean performance of students taught with the instructional guide in facing operation ¥ = 81.21, drilling operation ¥ = 83.33, straight turning operation ¥ = 80.90, taper turning operation ¥ = 77.57, knurling operation ¥ = 68.78 and screw cutting operation ¥ = 72.42.  

While students who were taught with conventional lesson plan had the mean performance of ¥ =52.50 in facing operation, drilling operation ¥ =50.83, straight turning operation ¥ =58.33, taper turning operation ¥ =53.33, knurling operation ¥ =49.17 and screw cutting operation ¥ =44.44. There was a significant difference (P< 0.05) in the mean performance scores of students taught with the instructional guide and those taught with conventional lesson plans in all the lathe machine operations.  

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INTRODUCTION  

The need for human resource training and development is indispensable for any nation aspiring to achieve greatness and technological development. Central to human resource training and development is the role of technical and vocational institutions. Technical Colleges are institutions generally charged with the responsibility of training skilled technical manpower for the technological and economic development of the country.  

To achieve this objective, technical colleges were established to run programs leading to the award of the National Technical Certificate (NTC). Technical Colleges are regarded as one of the principal vocational institutions in Nigeria offering full vocational training to prepare students for entry into various occupations in industries or for self-employment.  

Accordingly, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) (2005) reported that there are 125 Technical Colleges established by both Federal and State governments in all the states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, with female and male enrolment figure of 4,100 and 17,980 respectively. The Technical College program is aimed at making the Technical College graduates achieve among other things the following:  

1. Secure employment either at the end of the whole course or after completing one or more modules of employable skills.
2. Set up their own businesses and become self-employed and also be able to create employment for others.
3. Pursue further education in advanced craft/technology programs in post-secondary technical institutions such as Colleges of Technology, Polytechnics, 15 Colleges of Education (Technical), or Universities (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2004).

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