Instructional Strategies for Enhancing Students’ Competency in Practical Skills in Building Trades in Technical Colleges in Rivers State

Abstract

The study examined instructional strategies for enhancing students’ competency in practical skills in building trades in technical colleges in Rivers State. Three research questions were answered with corresponding null hypotheses that were formulated and tested for the study at 0.05 level of significant. The study adopted descriptive research survey design and was carried out in all the four Government Technical Colleges in Rivers State. The population of the study comprised 178 respondents (Teachers = 15; Students = 163) of Building Trades from four Technical Colleges in Rivers State. The entire population of 178 (15 Teachers and 163 Students) was used for the study. No sampling was done due to the small size of the population which is considered manageable. The instrument for the data collection was a self-constructed questionnaire titled “Strategies in Enhancing Students’ Competency in Practical Skills in Building Trades” designed in the pattern of 4-point rating scale of agreement. The instrument was validated and tested for reliability. A reliability coefficient of 0.87 was established using Pearson Product Moment Correlation method. Research questions were answered using mean with standard deviation, while hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using the z-test. The study revealed that demonstration, guided discovery and project-based strategies enhance students’ competency in practical skills in building trades in Technical Colleges in Rivers State. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that instructional strategies identified in this study should be employed adequately by teachers of Building Trades in the teaching of students in Technical Colleges. Workshop and seminars should be organized by government for Building Trade teachers on current instructional technologies in Building trades from time to time.