Assessing the use of teaching aids in teaching geography subject: experiences from public secondary schools in Kinondoni municipality

This study assesses the Use of Teaching Aids in Teaching Geography subject in Public Secondary Schools in Kinondoni Municipality. The objectives of the study were to: investigate the availability of geography teaching aids in public secondary schools; examine the usefulness of teaching aids in teaching and learning of Geography; examine the aspects that hinder the use of teaching aids in the teaching of Geography in public secondary schools; and establish measures for improving the use of teaching aids in public secondary schools. The study utilized a mixed approach in concurrent embedded research design. Data were collected from a sample of 65 respondents: 16 geography teachers, 4 heads of school, 4 heads of department, 1 inspector and 40 students. Participants of the study were selected through simple random sampling, stratified random sampling and purposive sampling. The data collection methods included interviews, focus group discussion and classroom observation. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis, where as the quantitative data were descriptively analysed for frequencies and percentages. The findings of the study indicated that the use of Geography teaching aids in public secondary schools was inadequate due to inadequate facilities. The findings also showed that teaching aids were useful in teaching and learning since it facilitated understanding, simplified teaching and enabled retention of concepts. Moreover, it was also found that large number of students in the classroom made teachers ignore the use of teaching aids for the reason that it was difficult for them to make close supervision. Finally, it was recommended that schools administration and government should be responsible in ensuring that teaching aids and other learning materials are available and teachers must use them to facilitate teaching and learning process. It is therefore recommended that, government should prepare in-service programs for teachers. Likewise, school administration should address the problem of shortage of teaching aids. It should also motivate and emphasize teachers to use available teaching aids during lesson development.