CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH SCIENCE TEACHERS’ UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIAN SENIOR SCHOOLS

Marafa, Murtala Ph.D & Akintola, David Akinjide

Abstract

The current trend for Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) education worldwide is to explore the opportunities which Information and Communication Technology (ICT) create for both teachers and students in educational settings. In this regard, this paper examined the challenges associated with science and mathematics teachers’ utilization of ICT in Nigerian senior schools. It was widely established in the literature that utilization of ICT offers many means of improving teaching and learning in the classroom. From the extensive literature reviewed, this paper found that major challenges associated with science and mathematics teachers’ utilization of ICT are: poor infrastructures, lack of qualified ICT expert, lack of teacher competence, attitude of teachers, inadequate ICT tools and poor ICT policy implementation strategies among others. Based on the challenges, it was concluded that science and mathematics teachers were not fully equipped for ICT integrated teaching. It was also suggested that adequate ICT tools should be provided and science and mathematics teachers’ should regularly update their knowledge and competencies through training and re-training, workshops and conferences on ICT utilization.