Effect of Improvised Furnace on Students Achievement and Interest in General Metalwork in Technical Colleges in Katsina State

Abstract

This study was to determine the effect of improvised furnace on students’ achievement and interest in General metalwork in Technical Colleges in Katsina State using four topics in General Metalwork that required the use of furnace namely; heat treatment, soldering, forging and foundry. The study adopted quasi-experimental design. It involved the use of experimental group, control group, pre-test – post test design. The population of 160 students from three technical colleges in Katsina state was used for the study. The instrument for data collection was made up of General Metalwork Achievement Test (GMWAT) developed by the researcher. The achievement test consisted of 40-multiple choice items with four options of AD. The test items were identified and selected from the content of NABTEB syllabus on General Metalwork. Test re-test method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument; the tests yielded 0.86 and 0.70 for the achievement test and interest questionnaire respectively. Three lecturers and one industrial expert in metalwork technology were involved in both face and content validity of the improvised furnace and 40 multiple-choice test items. The results obtained from the test scores were compiled and analyzed using statistical tools such as; percentage, mean, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) in answering two research questions and testing two hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The teacher constructed furnace had positive effects on students’ performance. The difference in achievement between those taught using improvised furnace and those taught using conventional teaching aids was found to be significant at 0.05 levels of significance. Also there was significant difference in interest mean scores. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommended that government, technical college principals and the different agencies should provide fund to procure the materials and component for designing and constructing furnace by the teacher for teaching heat treatment in technical colleges in Katsina State. Also, constant power supply, generators, accumulators, soldering iron, solder, anvil, steel vessel, pipes and electric blower should be provided and distributed by the ministry of education to the technical colleges for construction of furnace for effective teaching of soldering and forging in Katsina State.