Abstract:
The study investigated the effect of information and communications technology (ICT) on students' achievement and interest on basic electricity in technical colleges in Rivers State. The achievement of students' taught with ICT was compared with that of those taught with the conventional teaching method (CTM). Six research questions guided the study while six hypotheses were tested for the study. A quasi-experimental design, specifically, the non-randomized control group design involving four intact classes were used. The population was 212 National Technical Certificate (NTC) II electrical trades students of two technical colleges in Rivers State. These students in their intact classes were assigned either to experimental group (ICT) or control group (CTM). Basic electricity achievement test (BEAT) and basic electricity interest inventory (BEll) instruments were developed, validated and used for data collection. Reliability of the BEAT was 0.77 while that of BEll was 0.94. Means and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while ANCOVA was used to test the hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that ICT has significant effect on students' achievement and interest in basic electricity. Gender is a significant factor in students' achievement and interest towards basic electricity. The effect of ICT and gender combined in students' achievement and interest in basic electricity was significant. It implied from the findings that there is need for basic electricity teachers to employ the use of ICT in teaching as it proved more effective in improving students' achievement and interest in basic electricity. It is recommended that states and federal ministries of education including professional bodies like NATT and examination bodies like NABTEB should organize workshops, seminars and conferences to train and encourage teachers on the use of this innovative technique.
