SENIOR SCHOOL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ AWARENESS AND UTILIZATION OF INNOVATIVE TEACHING STRATEGIES IN ILORIN METROPOLIS, NIGERIA

Poor student academic performance in both internal and external examinations has been attributed to a variety of factors, one of which is the teacher's teaching method, which is teacher centered, and thus there is a need for teachers to employ various innovative teaching strategies that can assist them in effectively discharging their duties while also significantly improving students' learning. Therefore, this study assessed senior secondary school agricultural science teachers’ awareness and utilization of innovative teaching strategies in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria. The study used a descriptive survey design approach. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The target population for this study was all the agricultural science teachers in public senior secondary schools. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 89 agricultural science teachers who participated in the study. A researcher designed questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using percentages, mean, t-test and ANOVA. Result of the findings showed that the senior secondary school teachers’ awareness of innovative teaching strategies and its utilization in teaching agriculture was high. The study revealed that there was no significant difference in the senior secondary school agricultural science teachers’ awareness and utilization of innovative teaching strategies based on gender, years of teaching experience and qualification. It was concluded that senior school agricultural science teachers’ awareness and utilization of innovative teaching strategies were high. Since agricultural science teachers are already familiar with the teaching strategies, workshops, seminars and symposia should be organized for in-service agricultural science teachers in order to sustain their level of awareness and utilization of innovative teaching methods.