Assessment of Availability and Utilization of Information Technology (IT) for Effective Teaching of Science in Secondary Schools in Cross River State, Nigeria

The knowledge-driven world is a new economic order that has science and technology as its bedrock. Effective teaching and learning of science is a function of the availability and appropriate utilization of instructional materials which majorly include Information Technology (IT) systems. This study was designed to assess the availability and use of IT systems for effective teaching of science subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology among secondary schools in Cross River State. The survey involved 600 science teachers drawn through disproportionate stratified sampling from science teachers who attended the 2009 Science Teachers’ Re-training Workshop in the 3 centres in Cross River State. A 24-item structured questionnaire tagged Information Technology System Availability and Utilization Questionnaire (ITSAUQ) with a Cronbach Alpha reliability estimate of .65 was used to collect data for the study. Data analysis technique adopted was the one – sample mean t-test. The result showed that both availability and utilization of IT systems in secondary schools in Cross River State are significantly low. Based on the findings, conclusion was drawn and recommendations were made