the effect of webquest on civic education of junior ...€¦ · introduction:this is the most...

Proceedings of INCEDI 2016 Conference 29th-31st August 2016, Accra, Ghana 109 ISBN: 978-9988-2-3994-7

THE EFFECT OF WEBQUEST ON CIVIC EDUCATION OF JUNIOR

SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NIGERIA

BETTY IFEOLUWA ADENIRAN, *AKINYEMI ADETUNMBI LAOLU, AREMU

AYOTOLA

University of Ibadan

NIGERIA

Email: *[email protected]

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to develop a web-based interactive package and to investigate the

effects of the package on achievement in Civic Education of Junior Secondary School (JSS)

students in Nigeria. The study had two phases. The first phase involved design and

development of the webquest package. During this phase a webquest design model that was

developed by Dodge (1995) was used in the design and development of Webquests on

Citizenship Education and Our Values in Civic Education. It consists of seven stages namely:

Overview, Introduction, Questions and the task, Process, Resources, Evaluation and

Conclusion, while the second phase adopted a quasi-experimental design: the pre-test, post-

test, non-equivalent, non-randomized and control group design. One hundred and eighty (180)

Civic Education students were drawn from two selected schools within Nigeria. The

instrument used for the study was Civic Education Achievement Test (CEAT) with reliability

coefficient of 0.82. One hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance and data collected

were analysed using two-way ANCOVA. The results revealed that the WebQuest package had

a significant positive effect on students’ achievement in civic education as the students

performed better in the subject following their exposure to the WebQuest package. Therefore,

teachers should be encouraged to develop the use of WebQuest for teaching and learning. Also,

policy makers and curriculum developers in educational programmes in Nigeria should

incorporate the WebQuest as an instructional tool in organising training to equip teachers with

design and development skills.

Keywords: Webquest, Civic Education, Information and Communications Technology, Junior

Secondary School Students

Introduction

The re-introduction of civic education into the curriculum of secondary schools in Nigeria has

been largely welcomed by all stakeholders. The Federal Government of Nigeria in the year

2009 gave a directive through the National Orientation Agency (NOA) that primary and

secondary schools in Nigeria should re-introduce the teaching of civic education in order to

inculcate in students, national values and consciousness from the foundation level

(Azebamwan, 2010). The national values of honesty, obedience, hard work, tolerance and faith

which are germane to stabilising national life are important for determining the development

and progress of a nation as they regulate the life of the nation and project a good image for the

country. The necessity of re-introducing civic education in the Nigerian primary and secondary

schools became very obvious because of the dwindling national consciousness, social harmony

and patriotic zeal. Since the 1980s, it has become evident that the lack of civic education and

patriotic zeal had led to disorientation in schools and the larger society. The consequences are

being felt in all strata of our society (Ajibola & Habiba, 2014). The prevalence of corruption,

indiscipline, disrespect for both elders and the rule of law, indifference to duties are some of

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the manifestations of negative trends in the Nigerian society. Events of the recent past have

indicated that Nigeria is facing the threat of losing its much cherished sense of nationhood,

cultural identity and indeed, hospitable spirit (Adeniran, 2010). There is therefore need for

urgent value re-orientation because of their far reaching impact on national development. The

re-introduction of Civic Education as a subject to be taught in primary and secondary schools

in Nigeria is expected to address all these issues as well as deepen democratic culture and

encourage qualitative participation of the average Nigerian in the governance process (Federal

Ministry of Education, 2007).

Teachers are very crucial to the success of this bold initiative. Theirs is to inculcate the right

kind of values through effective teaching of civic education. However, its successful

implementation has been limited or restrained by non-availability of teaching and learning

materials such as textbooks, work books, guides and other learning resources for the teaching

and learning of civic education both for learners and teachers. This is due to the fact that civic

education is a new subject with no qualified teachers to write comprehensive textbooks on it

for teachers and students. This consequently affects students’ learning experience, subject

mastery and performance in the subject. One of the solutions to this problem could come in the

form of a technology-based strategy and tool such as the WebQuest.

The founder of Web-Quest concept, Dodge (1995) defines Web-Quest as an inquiry-oriented

activity in which learners interact with resources on the Internet. Web-Quest, as defined by

March (2003), is a scaffold learning structure that uses links to essential resources on the World

Wide Web and an authentic task to motivate students’ investigation of a central, open-ended

question, development of individual expertise and participation in a final group process that

attempts to transform newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding.

WebQuest has been known as a tool capable of enriching students learning experience and

making learning resources readily available to students. Web quests provide fast exposure to

new material. The goal is for students to acquire and integrate new knowledge quickly. It has

the capacity to provide links to resources needed by the students. According to Sunal and Haas

(2002), WebQuests are problem-solving activities for students that incorporate the Internet,

computer-based materials, and other available resources.They provide the opportunity to

combine technology with educational concepts and to incorporate inquiry-based learning.

WebQuests also have the ability to integrate on-line resources with student-centered, activity-

based learning (Pradeep, Vanguri, Cynthia, Elizabeth & Vivian, 2004).

The WebQuest provides background information, specifies the task or product that students

will complete, the process for students to follow in completing their work, and the web sites

students are to use in their research. The process usually consists of students in small groups

identifying individual research assignments then regrouping to share their information and

design a product in common which they will present to the rest of the class or broader

community.

Halat (2008) highlighted the following as strengths of WebQuest:

1. It can be an alternative teaching technique that enhances students’ motivation toward

the class.

2. It could serve as an alternative assessment tool in the assessment of students learning.

3. It helps teachers get an idea of the students’ degree of knowledge acquisition and their

implementation of the gained knowledge.

4. It provides teachers an opportunity to see and assess students’ ability in using

technology in learning. It can enhance teachers’ creativity in thinking and writing, such

as trying to find interesting and funny fictions/scenarios and to adapt and combine these


scenarios with other topics. It also enhances teachers’ higher-order-thinking skills, such

as finding topic-related websites, examining and selecting professional, well-prepared

and reliable websites among others. It requires students to be active learners.

The inclusion of WebQuest in the teaching and learning process of civic education will give

the students opportunity to learn on their own. The students will be motivated to use e-learning

instead of the more traditional modes (textbooks, teachers’ notes and other materials which are

scarce on the subject). Students can find current information on the topics by using a range of

resources that may otherwise be difficult or expensive to use (Halat, 2013). With increased

accessibility to information due to the Internet, students will be able to collect large amounts

of information on any specific topic in Civics (Accun, 2014). Through a WebQuest assignment,

a student would be given a task to direct his/her inquiry within the content and to interact with

the material outside of class time. This will help to enhance the retention of information by

connecting the student with the process of learning, students will be motivated and supported

to take responsibility for their own learning, learn at their own pace and increase their

knowledge of the subject matter which will directly or indirectly improve their performance in

civic education. The potential of WebQuests for learning the new subject –Civics, cannot be

overemphasised. This is why WebQuest was designed and developed to teach Citizenship

Education and Our Values. Furthermore, the study examined the effect of WebQuest on

students’ achievement in civics education.

Statement of the Problem

Civic education is the knowledge of how someone can actively participate and initiate change

in his community and the greater society. However, its successful implementation into the

curriculum of secondary schools in Nigeria has been limited by availability of inadequate

teaching and learning materials such as textbooks, work books, guides and other teaching aids.

This is due to the fact that civic education is a new subject and there are no qualified teachers

to write comprehensively its textbooks both for teachers and students and the consequent effect

is on students learning experience, subject mastery and performance in the subject. It is against

this backdrop that this study developed a WebQuest activity that can be used as teaching

material on teaching civics education. WebQuest is internet-based exploration of content and

an inquiry-oriented activity in which most of all of the information used by learners is drawn

from the Web (Halat, 2008). Students use the web to find information and complete one or

multiple tasks with the information that they have found. Therefore, inclusion of WebQuest

into teaching and learning of civic education process is expected to provide the students

opportunity to learn on their own, learn at their own pace and increase their knowledge of the

subject matter which will directly or indirectly improve their performance in civic education.

Therefore, in this study, a WebQuest based on Citizenship Education and Our Values was

designed to assist in augmenting the inadequate resources that often restrict teaching and

learning civics. The study examined the effect of WebQuest on achievement in civic education

of Junior Secondary School students in Egbeda Local Government of Oyo State.

Hypothesis

There is no significant effect of treatment on students’ achievement in Civic Education.

Methodology

This study was carried out in two (2) phases. The first phase involved design and development

of WebQuest package. The WebQuest design model that was developed by Dodge (1995) was

used in the design and development of WebQuest for civic education. The WebQuest design

model (1995) consists of seven stages, namely; Overview, Introduction, Questions and the task,

Process, Resources, Evaluation, and Conclusion. The second phase adopted a quasi-


experimental design: the pre – test, post – test, non– equivalent, non – randomized and control

group design.

Two WebQuests, were designed and developed on two topics: Citizenship Education and Our

Values. These are topics from the Civil Education curriculum of Secondary level of Education,

in Nigeria.

Webquest for Citizenship Education:

The following is a summary of the WebQuest:

Figure 1: Screen capture of the home page

Introduction:This is the most important part of the WebQuest. Students were introduced to

the topic- Citizenship education. The introduction explained what Citizenship education is all

about and how it could be beneficial to the students and the society. The introduction is to

create awareness and prepare them for the purpose of the activity.

Figure 2: Screen capture of the introduction page

Task: Focuses students on what they are going to do with the WebQuest. The students were

grouped in teams of three to solve problems in the following areas of the content:-

1. Team A: Citizenship Education,

2. Team B: Types of Citizenship Education and

3. Team C: Rights and duties of citizens.

For each of the topics, a scenario was created in form of a problem which would be solved by

analyzing the content of the topics. There is a button to click to link each group to their

assignment. After these tasks, they were expected to give oral presentations of their findings.


Figure 3: Screen capture of the task page

Resources: These included links to different webpages and documents, which were determined

by the teacher to provide the learners with content matter to be analysed and used to solve the

problems posed in the various teams.

Figure 4: Screen capture of the Resources page

Process: The steps students will take to accomplish the task are laid out in the process section

of the WebQuest. It also includes recommendations for learning and steps that students must

perform to achieve the goal. At the end the students will be expected to give oral presentation

detailing the meaning of citizenship and types of citizenship.

Figure 5: Screen capture of process page

Evaluation: A rubric was designed to assess previously defined tasks. Items considered in the

rubric include the use of internet (links provided), WebQuest tasks completed, Power

point/publisher project attractiveness, time use, and grammar, format and spelling. A4- point


grading format was used, they are: exceptional (all points earned), admirable, developing and

needs improvement.

Figure 6: Screen capture of the evaluation page

Conclusion: The conclusion brings closure to the tasks and encourages students to reflect on

the webquest. It also provides some recommendations for further work to the students.

Figure 7: Screen capture of conclusion page in citizenship education

Webquest for our Values in Civic Education

Figure 1: Screen capture of the home page

Introduction: Values

The level of corruption in our country now is alarming, there is insecurity everywhere, Boko

Aram are killing every day, kidnapping is not a news again, people cannot sleep with their two


eyes closed again for fear of armed robbers. The country is faced with different problems and

if everyone especially the youths can be enlightened on the importance of our values, these

problems will be reduced and we will have a better economy and rapid development.

Figure 2: Screen capture of the introduction page

Task: Focuses students on what they are going to do with the WebQuest. The students were

grouped in teams of four to solve the problems on the following topics: - Team A: Our values,

Team B: Types of values, Team C: Forms of values and D: Sources of values. A scenario was

built on each topic to help the students to achieve their goals; there is a button to click to launch

each group to their assignment. After these tasks, they were expected to answer questions

under each scenario and to give oral presentations of their findings.

Figure 3: Screen capture of the task page

Resources: These included different links determined by the teacher to help the learners

perform all the necessary operations to carry out the process.


Figure 4: Screen capture of the resources page

Process: The steps students will take to accomplish the task are laid out in the process section

of the WebQuest. The students will be expected to give a detailed presentation on the topic, it

also includes recommendations for learning and steps that students must perform to achieve

the goal.

Figure 5: Screen capture of the process page

Evaluation: A rubric was designed to assess previously defined tasks. Items considered in the

rubric include the use of internet (links provided), WebQuest tasks completed, Power

point/publisher project attractiveness, time use, and grammar, format and spelling. 4-grading

were formed according to each suitable level of item that is exceptional (all points earned),

admirable, developing and needs improvement.

Figure 6: Screen capture of the evaluation page


Conclusion: The conclusion brings closure by congratulating the students. It encourages the

students having participated in the WebQuest:

1. that they can be a better person in the society and

2. that being aware of our values is not enough but to inculcates them into their daily

activities anytime anywhere.

Figure 7: Screen capture of the conclusion page

Population of the study

The population for the study was Junior Secondary School (JSS) 2 students. Purposive

sampling was used to select two schools (One each assigned to the treatment and control

groups) within southwest, Nigeria. The number of participant’s were180. The main criterion

for the selection of the treatment group was the availability of computers and the fact that

students were already exposed to the use of computers.

Research Instrument

For the second phase of the study, the instrument that was used for data collection was a Civic

Education Achievement Test (CEAT) developed by the researcher. The CEAT was a multiple

choice objective test, which was purported to measure the ability of Junior Secondary School

(JSS) 2 students in the aspect of knowledge, comprehension, analysis, application, synthesis

and evaluation. The content specification table is as provided below.It was administered to 20

JSS 2 students in a secondary school equivalent to the research sample, but which was not

sampled for the study. This was used to determine the reliability of the instrument using Kuder-

Richardson 21 formula (KR-21). The reliability index of 0.82 was obtained.

Procedure for Data Collection The study spanned six weeks during which both pretest and posttest were conducted. The

experimental group were oriented about WebQuest and expected activities. WebQuest was

used to teach the subject during the period assigned for Civic Education on the time table for

the experimental group while the class teacher assisted the researcher to teach the control group

using conventional method with appropriate instructional materials. However, before the

content and WebQuest were delivered both groups were pre-tested. After the treatment of both

WebQuest and classroom instruction, a post – test was conducted for the two groups.


Results

Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistic was used to test the hypothesis stated.

Hypothesis: There is no significant main effect of treatment on students’ achievement in Civic

Education.

Summary of Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) showing the significant main effects of

Treatment on students’ achievement in Civic Education.

Source Sum of square df Mean

Square

F p

Corrected Model 2047.356a 4 511.839 10.858 .000

Intercept 62853.549 1 62853.549 1333.316 .000

Treatment (Web quest) 2047.356 4 511.839 10.858 .000

Error 4006.966 85 47.141

Total 334993.000 90

Corrected Total 6054.322 89

R Squared = .338 (Adjusted R Squared = .307)

The result shows that the treatment, that is, WebQuest, has a significant effect on the

achievement of students in Civic Education at F (4, 85) = 10.858, p < 0.05. Therefore, the null

hypothesis which stated that there is no significant main effect of treatment on students’

achievement in Civic Education was rejected. This implies that the application of WebQuest

in teaching-learning process will influence the achievement of students in Civic Education

because it was observed that the students in the experimental group performed better than the

students in the control group in civic education after they had been exposed to the use of

WebQuest.

Discussion

The findings of the study have shown that the WebQuest developed has produced significant

results. The data analysed showed that there is significant difference in the achievement of

participants taught with WebQuest and those taught using the conventional method.

Participants exposed to WebQuest performed significantly better than the control group, which

were exposed to the conventional method of teaching. The implication of this is that the

package has an effect on the achievement of learners in civic education. As highlighted by

Cramer, Abu-Elwan, Lacina, and Dodge (2007) WebQuest allows students to work

cooperatively to learn and exchange new information while using technology that provides

multiple forms of information needed to understand a new topic. The outcome of this research

could be as a result of some of the user-friendly features contained in the WebQuest used in

the study. Some of these features include easy navigation, using a click menu, pictures, videos,

the interface of the WebQuest, availability of various resources from links provided.

Furthermore, WebQuests have been said to have benefits like promoting students’ motivation

and authenticity, developing thinking skills, encouraging cooperative learning and create a

positive learning environment (Alias, DeWitt, & Siraj, 2014; Chang, Chen, & Hsua, 2011;

Göktepe, 2014). All these most likely influenced the nature of learning by the students and

consequently their achievement. According to the results of Alias, DeWitt, and Siraj’s studies

(2014), the WebQuests present students with opportunities to learn in accordance with their

own learning style. Also, Seda (2013) stated that the most important influence of WebQuest

on the learners in the learning process is interest and curiosity. As a result of actively interacting


with the computer and internet, it increases the interest and curiosity of learners in learning. It

can be motivating and it can improve the capabilities of students (Halat & Peker, 2011).

The implication of the findings is that if WebQuests are developed and introduced to students

in secondary schools for teaching and learning of different topics in Civic Education, the

students will learn better and they will be able to relate whatever they have learnt in the

WebQuest to their environment. Therefore, the use of WebQuest to secondary schools for

teaching and learning should be encouraged especially in Civic Education. WebQuests seems

to be a superior means of learning civic education, especially in a computer-based learning

environment. This is also a good means of technology integration most especially in Nigerian

schools where resources are very scarce. In order words, in most Nigerian schools accessibility

to computers becomes a challenge if students are to work individually. Hence, this problem

can be taken care of by WebQuest whereby groups of students can work on fewer computers

thereby sharing the resources among many users as well as facilitating the learning of computer

programmes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, WebQuest, an inquiry-based activity, has been found to be highly efficient and

a resourceful tool for the teaching and learning process. It can assist students in finding current

information on topics using a range of resources available on it that may otherwise be difficult

or expensive to get via conventional means. As such, WebQuest should be integrated into the

curriculum of secondary schools, as an instructional tool for teaching and learning for students.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of this research it is recommended that teachers should be encouraged to

acquire the skills for developing WebQuests, which is proved to be better than the traditional

method of teaching. This is more so because we are in an era of advancement in technology

where students are faster than their teachers in embracing these technologies. Also, policy

makers and curriculum developers of educational programmes in Nigeria need to incorporate

into secondary education curriculum the use of WebQuest as an instructional tool and support

for teachers to exploit. For an effective acquisition of knowledge, teachers need internet access

to search for relevant information, ideas and resources to be used for their self-development

and that of their students anytime anywhere.

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