MOTIVATING PARENTS TO ENCOURAGE THEIR CHILDRENDEVELOP INTEREST IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Dr. Timothy O. popoola

Department of Adult EducationFaculty of EducationUniversity of LagosAkoka-Yaba

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MOTIVATING PARENTS TO ENCOURAGE THEIR CHILDRENDEVELOP INTEREST IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT: Interest is defined as the most important factor ofsocio-psychological motivation of human's activities. parentsare seen not merely as illiterate but as integral parts ofgovernmental bodies who shape and implement policy on Scienceand Technology. To the schools offering Science and TechnologysUbjects/courses, the parent's roles may be as problem, as police,as para-professional aide, and as pre-school educator. AdultEducation strategies of motivating parents to play their roleseffectively in encouraging their children develop interest inScience and Technology are discussed. These include involvingparents in schools' Science and Technology programmes, acceptanceof pre-school role, concern for children out of school hours,reflecting the community in the school's Science and Technology,reflecting school's Science and Technology in the community and,finally, acceptance of an Adult Education role in identifyingand meeting the challenges of Science, Technology and TeacherEducation in Nigeria beyond the year 2000.

INTRODUCTION

The children of today will be the elders of tomorrow. Hence,if their interest is developed properly in Science and Technologytoday, they will not deviate from pursuing the path tomorrow.Every child has scientific and technological ability, at least,to some extent. For instance, every child has the innatequalities such as curiosity, inquisitiveness, manipulative andadaptational skills to changing environment which are the basisfor Science and Technology (National Science Foundation, 1984).

Science and Technology play important- role in the nation'sdevelopment. They enable us to find new and better ways of doingthings. And in this age of tough international competition,resource scarCity, and high labour and equipment costs, anything

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that leads to more efficiency and effectiveness operationsincreases the chance of our nation's survival and development.

However, children's natural needs to think reflectively,adapt to and manipulate the environment so as to functioneffectively are not enough to encourage them to participate intheir schools' basic activities relating to Science and Technology.To sustain them in the fields, their interest must be developedto the point when such interest becomes tenacious and selfsustaining. This paper now considers the dynamtsm of interestas the most important factor of socio-psychological motivationof any human's activity. This is followed with the discussionof parents' roles with respect to schools' Science and Technology,and how to motivate parents to play their roles effectively inencouraging their children develop interst in Science andTechnology.

DYNAMISM OF INTEREST

Interest functions as the most important factor of socio-psychological motivation of people's activity. Interest is adialectical unity of the subjective and objective moments, aunity of the psychic and the material. Interest springs out fromthe fact that it is always conditioned by certain social needs.Social needs may exist without interest ,_but interest cannotexist without social needs. Thus, the objective needs of thechildren to know more and more, and to manipulate their environ-ment functionally will not always produce an interest in practicaland enduring participation in Science and Technology. The needsmust be socially channeled ~nto interest in the fields so as toproduce the desired effect. That is precisely what explains thedifferent levels of participation in Science and Technologybetween people in developed and developing countries. In otherwords, the ratio of the number of Scientists and Technologiests

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to the general population is high in developed countries such asJapan and low in developing countries such as Nigeria because ofthe difference in genuine interest for Science and Technologybetween the nations, and not because citizens of certain countrieshave more natural abilities for Science and Technology than others(Meighan, 1986).

Interest is a product of psyche and exists under the influenceof such psychic elements such as norms, values and attitude. Thismeans that the interest of a child in Science and Technology isa product of his socio-economic nature (which the parents determine),attitudes of other people (most especiall the parents) to Scienceand Technology, and the child's position in the structuredsociety (Which, too, depends on the parents' position).

Another important characteristic of interest, according toMakin (1995), is that if it is developed properly, it can existindependently of the need on the basis of which it arose. Maybe, this is why we still have devoted academicians in Science andTechnology in Nigeria today despite a lot of problems they face(Obiaga, 1997; Ajayi, 1997). This paper now examines parents'roles vis-a-vis their children's interest in Science andTechnology.

PARENT ROLES

It is easy for the Science and Technology teachers toexclude the parents of their pupils/students in educationalactivities meant to facilitate the development of the fieldssince most of the parents in Nigeria are illiterate. Meigham(1986) reports that such attitude toward parents was observedin the UK in 1870, and the involvement of parents in the develop-ment of Science and Technology is one of the most importantfactors responsible for UK's progressive development in Science

and Technology today. Parents' involvement in this issue is

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important because, apart from the facts that they are integralpa~ts of governmental bodies at all levels (Military or Civilian)who shape and implement policy on Science and Technology in alleducational institutions, their roles to individual schools maybe as problem, as police, as para-professional aide, and as pre-sChool educator. The way and manner parents play any, all, ora combination of some of these roles may encourage or destroytheir children's interest in Science and Technology.

parent as Problem

parents may interfere with their children's interest inScience and Technology by directly discouraging the childrenverbally and, at times, with sanctions. The interference may bein form of neglecting the needs of their children in Science andTechnology. In other words, such children's interest is notreinforced. Playing any of these negative roles may lead tothe extinction of the children's interest in Science andTechnology (Morrish, 1972).

The parents' role with respect to their children's interestin Science and Technology is likely to be negative if they arenot well informed about the way the school operates its Scienceand Technology and the ideological foundation of the operation.This can easily be observed from the attitudes of some parentswhen their children come home late from school because of beingengaged in practicals, when children come home with straneous andtime-consuming assignments, or when the children request for moneyto buy texts and materials for Science and Technology (which areusually extensive and expensive). Many parents still viewappropriate education as that of developing skills only inreading, writing and numeracy. Therefore, they need to beclearly informed about the benefits of skills in Science andTechnology to their children.

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parent as Police

The parents through the parent Teachers Association usuallyform the majority of the members of schools' governing bodies/councils. Thus, the parents are able to police the activitiesof the school and its staff most especially with respect toactivities pertaining to Science and Technology. The significanceof this is that parents do dictate the pace of Science andTechnology in sChools. Parental influence may explain why someschools have sophisticated and well e~uipped Science Laboratoriesand Technology Workshops while others do not have, and even waste(by failing to instal) the Science and Technology materialssupplied by Governments.

parent as Para-professional Aide

Parents could be part of the solution to the challenges ofdeveloping Science and Technology in schools rather than beingpart of the problem. In this case, parents are made to serve asresources for the school and its teachers. The most sustainedeffort appears to have been made in this line by the establishmentof Adult Education Community Centres which give adults e~uivalenteducation to what their children receive in primary and secondaryschools (Federal Republis of Nigeria, 1981). If these centresare effectively managed, they will enable parents to understandclearly what the teachers and schools have to cope with inteaching Science and Technology. Such parents would willinglyrespond positively if called by the school and teachers toassist in teaching the subjects successfully, thus, becomingpara-professional aide.

parent as Pre-school Educator

The education of children for the first five years of theirlife is largely in the hands of their parents. There are a fewexceptions in the case of children brought up in institutional

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care. Educational psychologists generally agree that the methodsuse.to educate children in this period of life can develop ordestroy any potential ability in a child to a large extent(Widlake and Macleod, 1993; Meighan, 1984). Widlake andMacleod (1993) asserts that children innate qualities whichcould lead them to become prominent Scientists and Technologistsare well nurtured when parents use flexible, democratic andchild-centred methods in educating their children rather thanrigid, authoritarian and parent-centred methods.

The roles of parents discussed above show that parentsneed to be motivated to encourage their children develop interestin Science and Technology in order to meet the challenges ofScience, Technology and Teacher Education in Nigeria beyond theyear 2000. This paper now turns to how parents can be motivatedor involved in this herculean task.

HOW TO MOTIVATE PARENTS

I shall use six headings in my attempt to categorise andsummarise the various strategies of motivating and involvingparents in encouraging their children develop interest in Scienceand Technology. The strategies are products of theories of howadults learn (Kidd, 1972; Bonanni, 1994; Nyerere, 1982).

Involving Parents In School's Science and Technology Programme

To involve the parents in their children's Science andTechnology programme, a number of steps should be taken. parentsshould be told simply and clearly how their children are gettingon in Science and Technology programme. They should be told howand why their children are being taught in certain ways. Theyshould be invited to see the school in action on big open daysor for observation during the time their children are doingpracticals. They should be called to help the school, perhaps

with the preparation and development of materials their children

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require for practicals. When the knowledge of the parents grow,they should be involved in decision about the organisation ofthe school and its curricula in Science and Technology.

Acceptance of a Pre-school Role

To ensure that the innate qualities in children which couldhelp them in Science and Technology later on are developed ratherthan being destroyed during pre-school period, the schools shouldnot wait until children are at the age of entry before they startto work with the family. In order to facilitate meaningfulinteraction between the school and the parents at this crucialperiod in children lives, a 'Ready for School' Workshop forparents and their children could be organized every year inwhich parents are educated on how they could rear their childreneffectively. The workshop would provide opportunities for theexchange of values and attitudes as well as more basic informationabout the Child, the family and the school's Science andTechnology programme.

Concern for Children out of School Hours

Many schools demonstrate this concern in some ways. They,however, vary considerably in the extent to which they take thisconcern in terms of activities pertaining to Science and Technology.To demonstrate this concern, apart from regular home assignmentsgiven to children, a holiday kit may be sent home with the childrenso that children may practise their Science and Technology during

- -long vacations. Parents might also be encouraged to visit withtheir Children specifically named institutions which may promotetheir interest in Science and Technology. A Science andTechnology youth club may also be organized and run by the schoolinvolving parents and teachers.

Reflecting the Community in the School

The immediate and the wider community should serve as a

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resource to the content and the delivery of the curriculum ofschools' Science and Technology. In order to achieve this thechildren and teachers should be observant so as to substituteas many as possible imported materials used in Science andTechnology with indigenous ones. The sChool should participatein activities in the community involving traditional Scienceand Technology. Indigenous language should be used as much aspossible to write text books and teach Science and Technologyin schools.

Reflecting School Science and Technology in the Community

This would enable anybody who walk around a catchment areaof any school to get indications that there is a school nearbywhere the teaching and learning of Science and Technology takeplace. This lowers the barriers between the school and thecommunity and promote a two way interchange. It would heightenpublic awareness of the school's activities in the area of Scienceand Technology and thereby motivate the community to rise inmeeting the needs of the school in this area. School's activitiesin the fields of Science and Technology may reflect in thecommunity if children's work in these fields are well displayedin the community shops, clubs, clinic, halls , and other educationalinstitutions. The school may also initiate community serviceswhereby students and teachers would use_ their know~edge andexperience in Science and Technology to identify and solvecommunity problems.

CONCLUSION

The role of Adult Education has to be accepted in order tomotivate parents to encourage their children develop interest inScience and Technology. This, however, does not necessarily meanprovision of adult classes, seminars, workshops and conferenceswhere parents would be taught the benefits of Science and

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Technology to their children and their communities, althoughactjvities may develop into such provisions. At first, allthat is necessary is simply a change of attitude on the part ofthe teachers of Science and Technology in order to see anyinteraction with a parent or parents as a learning opportunityfor all the adults involved.

For instance, if a parent expresses displeasure over thecostly text or material her son is requested to buy for Scienceand Technology and the teacher involved spends a few momentshelping the mother to stand back a little from the problem ofcost and to see the usefulness and indispensability of the textor the material to the development of the child's knowledge andskills in Science and Technology, then that is a small butimportant piece of Adult Education (Kidd, 1972). If suchexchanges are allowed to develop into teachers and parentsdiscussing together the problems pertaining to creating acondusive atmosphere for the teaching and learning of Scienceand Technology in the school, then everyone will be learning.Such meetings, together with the use of other strategies thathave been discussed in this paper from pre-primary to evenuniversity levels can draw adults back into Science andTechnology education, motivating them to develop their ownabilities further and also in incouraging their childrendevelop more and more interest in the fields.

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REFERENCES

Ajayi, K. (1997): "Science Teachine; and the Nigerian Child" inEjiogu, A. and Ajayi, K. (eds) Emergent Issues in NigerianEducation, Vol. 2, pp. 356-364.

Bonanni, C. (1994): Education for Human Needs. New Delhi:Indian Adult Education Association.

Federal Republic of Nigeria (1981): National Policy on Education.Lagos: N.E.R.C. Press.

Kidd, J.R. (1972): How Adults Learn. New York: Association PressMakin, M.M. (1995): Interest as an Imsortant Motivating Factor.

3rd edition. Moscow: Progress Fa lishers.Meigham, R.C. (1986): A Sociology of Education. London Cassell

Publishers.Morrish, I. (1972): The Sociology of Education: An Introduction.

London: George Allen and unwin.-.

National Science Foundation (1984): Science and TechnicalManpower Resources. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government:printing Office.

Nyerere, J .K. (1982): "Adult Education and Development" inSocialism and Rural Development. Dar es Salaam: GovernmentPress.

Obiaga, T.I. (1997): "Nigerian University'and the Improvementof Indigenous--Technology, Problems and Prospects" inEjiogu, A. and Ajayi, K. (eds) Emergent Issues in NigerianEducation, Vol. 2, pp. 133-141.