Effectiveness of video as an instructional medium in teaching rural children agricultural and environmental sciences

The study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of video in comparison with selected instructional media for teaching primary school pupils Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. It examined also the effect of gender and grade on the performance of the pupils taught with four instructional media. 240 pupils from 3 rural primary schools in Badagry Local government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria, were taught three topics drawn from Agriculture and Environmental sciences. The non-randomized quasi-pretest posttest experimental design was used in finding out which of the pupils in the four experimental groups - video, realia, charts and No instructional media performed best. The study revealed that the pupils taught with the video performed equally as well as those taught with real objects (Realia). While both groups performed significantly better than those taught with chart and without instructional medium. There was no significant difference in performance based on the gender. With regards to grade (Primary 5 and 6), only the group taught without instructional medium had a significant difference. The pupils in Primary 6 did better than those in Primary 5. The study concludes that video is as effective as the traditional teacher in teaching Primary school children Agriculture and Environmental issues. This confirms the assertion of many researchers of the potential of using video as an instructional medium in teaching varying subjects to adults, youths and children in the formal school system. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. The four methods that can be used by the teacher were recommended. An organisational structure in each state and video equipment needed for effective take off of the video programme in Primary schools in Nigeria were suggested. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]