A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AVAILABILITY AND USE AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: Computer science plays a vital part in the lives of all people. As stated by Bajah, the government's ambition to produce a scientifically educated populace, as well as the necessity to successfully equip her industry with much-needed manpower, necessitated a complete reevaluation and enhancement of the technique employed in teaching computer science (1970). This will improve understanding and, to a degree, encourage interest in natural and physical sciences, which are the foundation for most technology transfer. Using integrated computer science resource materials appeals to their senses and sentiments, which helps them learn. Resources materials are useful learning tools, especially when they are skilfully integrated into instructional procedures by the instructor; they act as aids to relevant instructions (Egbede, 1993).

Before we can effectively analyze the performance level of students in any topic, we need to comprehend the students who get educational instructions from us, and we need to investigate all of the elements impacting the pupils. According to research, students' performance in computer science and integrated science, as well as any other topic, has deteriorated over time (Fakuade, 1976 and Egbede 1993). This might be due to a lack of equipment and resources at the schools, rather than a shortage of courses. Lack of qualified and experienced teachers, a hostile environment, a lack of space, children often changing schools, and so on. It's worth noting that the majority of kids in elementary and secondary school have varying levels of computer science proficiency.

These educationists, according to Bajah (1970) and Farnant (1964), demonstrate that education is child-centered and that the goal of education is to develop the child in all fields of human endeavor, including computer technology. In today's educational system, the importance of the kid and computer science is critical. Nigeria is now classified as a developing country due to its lack of technological growth. As a result, it is common knowledge that in order for Nigeria to develop its technologies, solid foundations in computer science courses are required (Fakuade, 1976). Manufacturing of hardware and sophisticated materials, which enabled many countries to progress and industrialize, was only possible with a thorough understanding of computer science fundamentals.