STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING THE ACQUISITION OF PSYCHOMOTOR SKILLS BY BUILDING CONSTRUCTION GRADUATES OF TECHNICAL COLLEGES IN TARABA STATE

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Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to determine the strategies for enhancing the acquisition of psychomotor skills by building construction graduates of technical colleges in Taraba State. Five research questions guided the study while the five null hypotheses formulated were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted survey research design. The population for the study comprised  57  respondents which  included  8  site  supervisors and  49  building  construction craftsmen. There was  no  sampling because of the  manageable size of the  population. The instrument used for data collection was structured questionnaire. Three experts validated the instrument. Cronbach alpha reliability method was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument and 0.82 reliability coefficient was obtained. Mean and standard deviation were used for answering the research questions while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level  of  significance.  The  study  found  fifteen  strategies  for  enhancing  acquisition  of psychomotor skills in setting out, fifteen strategies for enhancing the acquisition of psychomotor skills by graduates in foundation, ten strategies for enhancing the acquisition of psychomotor skills of graduates in flooring, fifteen strategies for enhancing the acquisition of psychomotor skills in walling and fourteen strategies  for enhancing the acquisition of psychomotor skills by graduates in roofing. There was no significant difference in the mean responses of craftsmen in technical colleges and site supervisors on strategies for enhancing the acquisition of psychomotor skills in setting out, foundation, flooring, walling, and roofing. Based on these findings, it was recommended that all the strategies identified for enhancing the acquisition of psychomotor skills by building construction graduates should be strictly utilized for training of building construction graduates. Skilled and experienced trainers should be employed so that training activities  can  be  friendly,  and  these  will  provides  building  construction  craftsmen  and supervisors with wholesome psychomotor skills in setting-out, foundation, flooring walling and roofing. The major limitation of this study is inherent in its scope and methodology hence suggestions for further research were highlighted.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The extent of technological development and growth of any nation is dependent on the quality and effectiveness of technical and vocational education. Technical and vocational education system according to Okoro (2006) provides the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary for employment in specific occupations. According to Momoh (2005) technical and vocational education is a programme of education organized to prepare students for entrance into a particular chosen vocation or to upgrade workers; and this type of programme is obtainable in technical colleges.

Technical colleges  are  institutions where  individuals acquired  knowledge and skills in occupations for effective performance at workplaces. Technical colleges according to Okoro (2006), are regarded as the principal vocational institutions in Nigeria that give full  vocational training intended to prepare students for entry into various occupations as operatives or artisans, craftsmen and advanced craftsmen. Okorie (2001) stated that technical colleges in Nigeria are established to prepare individuals to acquire practical skills and basic scientific knowledge. Bakare (2009) explained that technical colleges admit junior secondary school graduates as their intakes and train both males and females in the areas of electronics technology, electrical technology, mechanical/automechnics technology, metalwork technology and building technology.

involves acquisition of skills in woodwork and building construction. It is a type of technical education programme designed specially to improve efficiency of a person in specific occupation.

Building construction is one of the technical courses offered by the students of technical colleges in order to learn practical skills. In building construction, students work with materials, tools, equipment and machines to carry out building activities such as  molding  of  blocks,  carrying  out  site  operations,  concreting,  block  molding  and flooring.  Building construction and woodwork in some institutions covers carpentry and joinery, plumbing, pipefitting, painting and decoration. Building construction/woodwork is directly related to preparation of individuals for paid or unpaid employment or for additional preparation for a career. Building construction satisfies man’s needs for shelter and  infrastructures  such   as  houses,  schools,  offices,  hospitals,  shops,  factories, recreational facilities, warehouses, banks and churches. Building construction in technical colleges is geared towards the graduation of craftsmen who have skills and knowledge to meet the demand of society. The technical college graduates who major in building construction are  called  building construction craftsmen.  They  are  trained  under  the guidance of teachers of building technology. At work place, these craftsmen are under site supervisors. A site supervisor is a high ranking officer that oversees the activities of craftsmen on  job  site.  The  knowledge, psychomotor skills and  attitudes in  building construction are taught by building technology teachers. Onuh (2005) explained that the

essence of building construction as parts of technical education occupations in technical colleges is to equip students with knowledge and psychomotor skills.

Skill is the ability to do something well. Psychomotor skill is a learnable skill required by someone to carry out assigned manual tasks. Olaitan and Mama (2006) defined psychomotor skill as requisite abilities for performing tasks adequately with the muscles in response to sensor-stimuli. Mohammed (2007) described psychomotor skills as ability of learner to acquire and apply skills appropriately. To posses’ psychomotor skill is to demonstrate the habit of acting, thinking and behaving in a specific activity in a way that the process becomes natural to individual through repetition or practice. Skill acquisition requires manipulation of one hands and tools provided. Skills acquisition by technical college graduates helps in developing and advancing intrinsic potentials in individuals for self sustenance. Federal Government of Nigeria (2008) indicated that one of the goals of the technical college shall be to acquire both physical and intellectual skills, which enable graduates to be self reliant and useful. Government’s major aim has always been to develop meaningful and appropriate strategies for meeting the country’s technology skill need to improve the quality of life of the citizens for enhanced economic development.

Technical college is a place where individuals suppose to acquire knowledge and psychomotor skills. Acquisition of psychomotor skills enables one to practicalise the theory learnt in the classroom and makes one to be functional or productive at workplace. Observation and report of employers of the building construction graduates reveal that

these graduates at their various workplaces perform below expectation in terms of the manipulation of their hands and tools or equipment to perform assigned tasks. This could be traced to lack of psychomotor skills. When most of these graduates are still in schools, they considered practical work irrelevant and not significant because of the hardship and risks involved in it. They usually run away from practical class and this denies them from acquiring needed psychomotor skills for effective performance at workplace. There is need to involve these graduates in practical activities so that they can acquire needed psychomotor skills for effective performance. Some strategies therefore need to be put in place to involve building construction graduates in practical activities

Strategy is  a  planned series  of  actions for  achieving something. Oziegbunam (2012) defined strategy as a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose. Strategy according to Lemo (2004) is a broad term to achieve policy objectives. According to Egbita (2006), strategies are decision about organizing people, materials and ideas to provide  learning.  Also,  Hamzat (2010) posited that  strategy requires comprehensive instruction that include attention to promote knowledge (what to do), procedure (how to do it), condition (when and why to do it) as a coherent and substantiate logic for making one set of choice rather than other. Strategy is the total pattern of decision, which shapes the long-term capabilities to the overall strategy. Strategy is the reconciliation of the technical requirements with operational procedure (Umar, 2012). Strategy therefore is an important feature that can be used to promote the effectiveness of a programme or an attempt to bring solutions to any areas of difficulties.

Building construction is one the programmes offered in technical colleges in order to improve the pace of the nation’s technological development, graduates of (building construction) are expected to have acquired technical skills relating to principles of production, management, construction and  maintenance of  building, through psychomotor skills learning activities. The learning activities increase skills in setting out, foundation, walling, flooring and roofing, so that building construction graduates from technical  college  may  gain  employment in  related  ministries  and  construction industries, be self employed or pursue higher technology education (National Board for Technical Education, 2006). Activities in building construction include setting out, foundation, walling, flooring and roofing.

Setting-out is a component and one of the major activities in building construction which inculcates into graduates a requisite knowledge of basic process and effective utilization of materials, tools and equipment in layout of building plan and arrangement of blocks to form a sub-structure. It goes along with theory and practical learning in transferring architectural design outline to form wall shape on super-structure (Ezeji,

2004). Appropriate uses of manual or mechanical instruments of setting-out are other skills to be acquired by graduates when in school. Foundation follows the setting out of building plan.

Foundation is the basis on which something is grounded. Foundation setting equips graduates with skills in making solid and adequate foundation for building or structure; determine the water table in the ground before excavation among others. What elongates

the life span of a building is solid foundation. The necessary skills acquired in this area helps a lot in construction work. Other areas where graduates acquire skills in foundation include designing of slab and beam formwork, for either precast or cast in situ use in foundation.  It also ought to equip graduates with psychomotor skills in construction of timbering to trenches in loose firm ground.

A floor of a building generally provides a wearing surface on top of a flat support structure. Its form and materials are chosen for architectural, structural, and cost reasons. A ground-supported floor may be of almost any firm material, ranging from compacted soil to reinforced concrete. It is supported directly by the subsoil below. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal, or any other material that can support the expected load. In flooring, individuals acquire skills in using of hand tools and materials for floor finishing. Flooring also meant to equip students with skills in mixing mass concrete and damp proof course materials to achieve habitable floor screed finish in building. The removal of top soil using technical techniques of handling digger and shovel are part of skills individuals learn in flooring.   According to Onuh (2005) the beauty of modern structure strongly depends on floor and other finishes including walling, which promote the life span of a building.

Walling equips graduates with psychomotor skills on how bond are formed using block and brick, mixing of cement and sand to form mortar are part of practical skills graduates need to acquire in building construction at technical college. Walling also equips someone with skills in handling float and hawk for plastering and rendering

(Olabiyi, 2010). Meanwhile building construction graduates from technical college with skills in wall and floor finishes are liable for better employment opportunity in the world of work. Roofing is an important part of building.

A roof is part of a building envelope. It is the covering on the uppermost part of a building or shelter which provides protection from animals and weather, notably rain or snow, but also heat, wind and sunlight. The construction of a roof is determined by its method of support and how the underneath space is bridged and whether or not the roof is pitched. Roofing in building construction equips students with skills in roof construction and roof maintenance. Selection of timbers and method of timber conversion to get roofing plank requires technical skills, which technical colleges graduates ought to have acquire while in school (Bukar, 2011). Most of the building construction graduates from technical colleges are not skillful enough to demonstrate work habit in roof maintenance despise the training they receive.

Technical colleges in Nigeria have been training people to become craftsmen and technicians. It aims at providing graduates with psychomotor skills as well as scientific knowledge in  trade  cluster (Rufus, 2010).  Skills  training given to  technical college graduates qualifies them for jobs in both public and private sectors of the economy. Both sectors, according to Ndomi (2005), require well-trained and competent technicians who can operate and maintain the available technical equipment. Therefore, there is need for qualitative technical colleges to produce graduates that can perform competently in their chosen vocation without (a need for pre-employment training (Aliyu, 2014). The major

goal of technical education is to prepare graduates with skills for successful employment in the labor market.

However, the acquisition of relevant psychomotor skills has been elusive. Festus (2012) noted that most technical colleges do not equip their building construction graduates with adequate training skills to fit them for productive work in ministries and construction industries. Asserting more specifically from the standpoint of quality and education level, Ikeoji (1991), noted a high level of inadequacy and ineffectiveness in building construction graduates of Technical Colleges. Ikeoji noted that situation abound where graduates of building construction from technical college are unable to carry out simple practical activities in setting out, foundation, and roof construction even when necessary materials, and equipment are made available. This denotes inefficiency in teaching psychomotor skills to students. It is against this background that the study is set to determine, strategies for enhancing the acquisition of psychomotor skills in building construction by technical colleges graduates.

Statement of the Problem

Today’s world of technology depends largely on highly skilled manpower for productivity.  Technical  college  have  major  role  to  play  in  the  production  of  this competent manpower for building industries. It is expected that technical college graduates posses psychomotor skills which will enable them perform in their area of discipline. Acquisition of psychomotor skills enables one to practicalise the theory learnt in the classroom and makes one to be functional or productive at workplace. Observation

and report of employers of the building construction graduates reveal that these graduates at their various workplaces perform below expectation in terms of the manipulation of their hands and tools or equipment to perform assigned tasks. This could be traced to lack of psychomotor skills. When most of these graduates are still in schools, they considered practical work irrelevant and not significant because of the hardship and risks involved in it. They usually run away from practical class and this denies them from acquiring needed psychomotor skills for effective performance at workplace. There is need to involve  these  graduates  in  practical  activities  so  that  they  can  acquire  needed psychomotor skills for effective performance. Some strategies therefore need to be put in place to involve building construction graduates in practical activities. The problem of this study therefore is to determine strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in building construction.

Purpose of the Study

The major purpose of this study was to determine strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills by building construction graduates in Taraba State. Specifically, the study sought to determine:

1.  Strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in setting-out.

2.  Strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in foundation.

3.  Strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in flooring.

4.  Strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in walling.

5.  Strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in roofing.

Significance of the Study

The  finding  of  the  study  will  be  beneficial  to  the  graduates  of  building construction, Ministry of Education and researcher, building industries, curriculum planners, technical education teachers, students and the society at large.

The findings of the study will benefit the graduates of building construction in that the identified strategies could be used to enhance or improve the level of acquisition of psychomotor skills so that these graduates can be effective on the jobs. Effective acquisition of psychomotor skills by graduates of building construction will help them establish their own workshop and earn living to cater for their families.

The findings of this study will be beneficial to the Ministry of education in such a way that, they can use the result of the study to organize training workshop and seminar for  building construction teachers  in  order  to  update  their  skills  and  knowledge in building construction. The ministries will also use the findings of the study to employ teachers, for instance use by the technical colleges.

The findings of the study will be beneficial to building industries where technical college graduates seek employment upon graduation. Building construction graduates will be better equipped with practical skills to perform more effectively in tier various jobs and assignment in the industries. This will help the industries minimize the huge financial expenditure on retraining of technical college graduates upon employment.

The  findings  of  the  study  will  provide  suitable  information  that  will  aid  at objective  planning and  successful curriculum, beneficial  to  curriculum planners and training institutions. In that this institution will be able to incorporate the aspect of teacher competency required, as identified acquisition of psychomotor skills in the curriculum. The findings will help the curriculum planner aimed at persuading building construction teachers, supervisors to improve construction practice as well acquire new skills, knowledge and attitude favorable to change in today building industries.

The findings will be beneficial to supervisors of building construction; it will bring out the ideas of new skills needed in foundation forming, wall and floor finishes and roof finishes, providing employment to craftsmen in building construction work.

The findings of the study will beneficial to technical college graduates particularly in building construction, because if the qualities of skills required of these graduates are upgraded and display in flooring and walling with the findings of this study, if this is achieved, parents will sees skills acquisition as basic needs for employment. This invariably will promote the profession of building construction education among school leaver seeking admission to technical college.

The society will also benefit from the findings of the study. The graduate with expected skills reduces the problem of quack builder, thereby, offering good services to reduce the high rate of building collapses in the society. This will go long way in achieving the much- needed technology development in Nigeria.

Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1.  What are the strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in setting- out?

2.  What  are  the  strategies  for  enhancing  acquisition  of  psychomotor  skills  in foundation?

3.  What  are  the  strategies  for  enhancing  acquisition  of  psychomotor  skills  in flooring?

4.  What are the strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in walling?

5.  What are the strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in roofing?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were formulated tested at 0.05 level of significance:

H01:   There is no significant difference in the mean responses of craftsmen and site supervisors  on  strategies  for  enhancing  acquisition  of  psychomotor  skills  in setting-out

H02:   There is no significant difference in the mean responses of craftsmen and site supervisors on strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in foundation

H03:   There is no significant difference in the mean responses of craftsmen and site supervisors on strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in flooring.

H04:   There is no significant difference in the mean responses of craftsmen and site supervisors with regards to strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skills in walling

H05:   There is no significant difference in the mean responses of craftsmen and site supervisors  on  strategies  for  enhancing  acquisition  of  psychomotor  skills  in roofing

Scope of the Study

The study was delimited to strategies for enhancing acquisition of psychomotor skill in setting-out, foundation, flooring, walling and roofing. It is also delimited to graduates and supervisors in Taraba State on strategies for enhancing psychomotor skills in building construction, other aspect of building construction like theoretical are not covered by the studies.



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