Innovative Teaching Practices and their Impacts on Economics Students’ Academic Engagement in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract

The nexus that exists between student engagement and teaching methods has been a sustained and distinct focus for colleges and institutions of higher learning. Educators are tasked with developing new pedagogical, communication, and assessment strategies to ensure the delivery of quality instruction to students. The study examined the impact of innovative teaching practices on academic engagement of Senior Secondary School (SSS) economics students in Kwara State. The multi-stage sampling technique employed involved simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The population of the study was all senior secondary school Economics teachers while the sample consisted all SSS Economics teachers from 45 SSS randomly selected from the senatorial zones of Kwara. The instrument used was a researcher designed questionnaire validated by test experts and subjected to reliability analysis and a co-efficient of 0.8 was obtained. The study revealed that teachers mostly employ teacher-centered methods which were non-innovative methods for teaching Economics. It also shows clearly the importance of the role of a teacher in learning of economics as teachers who bring their wealth of experiences in teaching; arouse the interest of the students to academic excellence. Based on these findings, teachers are employed to put to use student-teacher centered methods in teaching Economics. Such innovative approaches significantly improve student engagement by fostering active participation, collaboration, and motivation.