Effect of cartoons on pupils’ interest and achievement in environmental education

Thesis Overview

<p> </p><p>INTRODUCTION<br>Background of the Study<br>Basic Science and Technology is one of the core subjects in the primary<br>education curriculum as enshrined in the National Policy on Education (Federal<br>Republic of Nigeria, 2004). McGraw-Hills (2005) has it that science is the knowledge<br>about the structure and behavior of natural and physical world, based on facts that<br>one can prove, for example by experiments. Science and technology can be said to be<br>a system of organizing the knowledge about particular subject, especially one<br>concerned with aspects of human behaviour and society.<br>The term science can be used to refer to a product (body of knowledge), a<br>process (a way of acquiring new knowledge through observation, questioning and<br>experimentation), and an enterprise (an institutional pursuit of knowledge of the<br>natural world/environment (Egbuna, 2010). The current development of science and<br>technology has greatly affected the lives of every human being that no one can fane<br>ignorance of their significance.<br>Basic Science and Technology as defined by Asun, Bajah, Ndu, Oguntonade<br>and Youdeowei (2010) is the foundation knowledge given to primary school pupils to<br>help them learn and understand science and acquire basic scientific training to become<br>creative and capable of innovative thinking. It is an activity-oriented course which<br>follows strick thematic approach whose aim is to make learning science effective<br>through a series of activities and exercises, as well as a modern approach of discovery<br>methods. The overall objectives of Basic Science and Technology curriculum under<br>the Universal Basic Education Programme are to:</p><p>2.<br>i) develop interest in science and technology;<br>ii) acquire basic knowledge and skills in science and technology;<br>iii) apply their scientific and technological knowledge and skills to meet<br>societal need;<br>iv) take advantage of the numerous career opportunities offered by science and<br>technology; and<br>v) become further prepared for further studies in science and technology.<br>The interaction of about 150 million Nigerians with their environment creates<br>indelible marks on the landscape. The Vision 2010 Committee of the Federal Republic<br>of Nigeria (1997) and Omoogun (2004), catalogued Nigeria’s environmental problems<br>to include soil erosion (sheet, gully, coastal), flooding (coastal, river, urban), over<br>population in cities and urban centres, drought and desertification in the northern parts<br>and deforestation in the southern parts of Nigeria, municipal solid waste and loss of<br>biodiversity,climate change and global warming, urbanization, diseases, all types of<br>pollution and poor sanitation as problems confronting Nigeria and other developing<br>countries. Pollution is the introduction of substances that contaminate the environment<br>and are dangerous to the health of human beings and other living organisms (Onoh,<br>2007). Corvalan (2005) reported that the world’s biodiversity is declining at an<br>alarming rate requiring important efforts and new decisions on conservation.<br>According to the McGraw-Hills (2005: 828), the term environment is “the sum<br>of all external factors, both biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) to which an<br>organism is exposed to.” Here, the biotic factors include influences by members of the<br>same and other species on the development and survival of the individual. It is<br>important to note that for each environmental factor, an organism has a tolerance, in</p><p>3<br>which it is able to survive. For this reason, different individuals or species have<br>different tolerance ranges for particular environmental factors. This variation<br>represents the adaptation of the individual to its environment. In general, the<br>environment provides all support systems, in the air, on water and on land, as well as<br>the materials for fulfilling all developmental aspirations.<br>These impacts on the environment occur as the people attempt to satisfy their<br>seemingly endless desires for food, shelter, recreation, infrastructural facilities and to<br>generally subdue the physical environment in order to achieve economic growth. The<br>quest is based on their mentality supported by two assumptions. Firstly, the earth has<br>an unlimited supply of resources for human use for full exploitation to advance human<br>civilization. People employ advanced and sophisticated technology for the<br>intensification of the exploitation of resources within the environment and to subdue<br>the earth. According to Emeh (1997), there is a gradual but painful realization of the<br>falsehood of this assumption evidenced from the myriads of environmental problems.<br>The second assumption is that humans see themselves as separate from the<br>environment, rather than being a part of it. This anthropocentric view of humans has<br>led to a seeming biological terrorism, an attempt to overcoming nature to fulfill their<br>needs with little regard for the consequences (Asoegwu, 2009).<br>Although, these wants and desires contribute to the development of the<br>country, which everybody clamours after, the unwise use of the land and its resources<br>produce negative impacts on the environment, thereby leaving the biophysical<br>environment degraded, sometimes permanently. All these negative impacts amount to<br>unsustainable development (Omofonwan and Osa-Ado, 2008), since development is</p> <br><p></p>