EXPLORING CONSTRUCTIVISM APPROACH TO IMPROVING TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

The study focused on constructivist approach where learners are actively involved in a process of meaningful knowledge construction as opposed to passively receiving information. This study investigates the level use of constructivist teaching awareness, usage, benefits and barriers on tertiary institution computer science student learning achievement in tertiary institutions. The population of this study comprised all computer science lecturers in tertiary institutions in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select fifty computer science lecturers. The study made use of three research questions with a self constructed questionnaire to elucidate respondents’ opinions. Simple statistics mean was used to analyze the information gathered. The findings revealed that the majority of the institutions and their lecturers do not adopt constructivist approach as a teaching method but they were aware of the constructivists approach  as teaching method, that constructivist approach to teaching positively impacts student achievement regardless of intelligence levels by promoting active collaborative engagement, student motivation, critical thinking and problem solving skills, that the lecturers do face some barriers like uneven attitudes on group work and assignment, large class sizes, inadequate lecture time and shortage of practical educational materials as a hand on approach coupled with students’ preference for conventional lecture method militates against adoption of constructivist based approach. Based on the findings, there is need for curriculum design build on learners centre that emphasizes active learning, critical thinking and interdisciplinary approaches that align with constructivist principles, adequate funding to cater for technological materials.