ABSTRACT

This study examined the influence of Technology-Based Practices and leachers Instructional Effectiveness in Agricultural Science at Upper Basic levels in Abia State, Xieeria. 1 he slud) adopted sunej research design. Six specific purposes, icsearch questions and Hypotheses guided the study. A population of 2176 male and. female Agricultural Science teachers at Upper Basic School level made up ol 937 male teachers and 1239 female teachers was used. The sample for this study was 253 Agricultural teachers which comprised 113 male teachers and 240 female teachers. Multi stage sampling procedure was used. The instruments for data collection was a 30- item researcher’s developed questionnaire titled: Technology-Based Practices in Upper Basic Schools’ Agricultural Science Questionnaire (TBPUBLASEQ). The instrument was divided into two sections; section A contains the personal data of the respondents such as school and gender, while section B contains 6 clusters and 4-point response scales of Very High Extent (VHE), High Extent (HE), Low Extent (LE) and Very Low Extent (VLE) with 4, 3, 2, and 1 rating respectively that addressed the research questions. The face validation of the instrument was carried out by three experts: two from Curriculum and Instruction; and the third one from Measurement and Evaluation - all in the College of Education, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike. The reliability of the instruments was determined using Cronbach alpha statistic which yielded an overall index value of 0,797, The data was collected by the researcher with the help of three briefed research assistants. All copies of the administered instrument were collected and thus used for data analysis. Mean was used to answer the research questions: standard deviation was used to determine the closeness and homogeneity of the mean t- test was used to lest the six null hypotheses at .05 level ofsignificance. The results showed among others that Teacher’s use of classroom management system influence teachers’ instructional effectiveness. The use of educational apps influence teachers’ instructional effectiveness. The use of social media technologies influence teachers’ instructional effectiveness. Professional development skills influence teachers’ instructional effectiveness. Teachers’ use of ICT influence teachers’ instructional effectiveness and Technology-based practices influenced the teaching of Agricultural science Education in Upper Basic Schools in Abia State. It was recommended among others that school management should consider integrating more technology-based practices, such as classroom management systems, educational apps, social media technologies, and professional development in ICT, into Agricultural Science education instruction to enhance teachers’ instructional effectiveness. Also, Teachers should be provided with ongoing professional development and support to effectively integrate technology into their teaching practices.