Integrating Digital Tools into Agricultural Science Instruction in Secondary Schools: Opportunities and Challenges for Curriculum Developers in Delta State

Publication Details

Publication Date

10/11/2026

Volume / Issue

Vol 1, Issue 6 (2026)

Article No.

092

Journal

British Journal of Contemporary Research

DOI

https://doi.org/10.67693/BJCR-KYDF3D7M

Received

27 Oct 2026

Views

29

Downloads

17

Abstract

This study explored the opportunities and challenges for curriculum developers and educators in integrating digital resources into agricultural science instruction in public secondary schools in Delta State, Nigeria. The present study adopted a convergent parallel mixed-methods design (QUAN + QUAL). The quantitative strand sampled 280 agricultural science instructors using a stratified proportionate sample across nine Local Government Areas in the Delta North, Delta Central and Delta South senatorial districts, with 268 verified questionnaire returns (95.71% response rate). The qualitative arm included 12 purposively selected key informants: curriculum planners from the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, inspectors of the Post Primary Education Board (PPEB), and heads of departments. Data were collected using the validated Electronic Tools Integration in Agricultural Science Questionnaire (DTI-ASQ; \alpha = 0.88) and semi-structured interview techniques. Descriptive analysis showed that classroom technology use was primarily limited to consumer messaging platforms (x̄ = 2.89) and online video clips (x̄ = 2.58). Conversely, agronomic technologies such as digital soil sensor kits, virtual farm simulation software and GIS mapping tools are largely underutilised (x̄ = 1.48 to 1.76). Educators unanimously confirmed the instructional value of digital resources in rebranding agriculture from harsh physical labour into a modern agribusiness discipline x̄ = 3.56) and visualising complicated biological cycles x̄ = 3.48). One-Way ANOVA tests of inference showed substantial differences in barriers to integration between senatorial districts (F(2, 265) = 35.835, p < .001) and across school ecologies (F(2, 265) = 87.523, p < .001) by area and location. Post-hoc Tukey HSD tests indicated that Delta South riverine and rural schools are severely disadvantaged in infrastructure and experience chronic power outages, expensive data tariffs and acute hardware shortfalls. Thematic qualitative analysis showed curricular stasis due to terminal assessment regimes (WAEC/NECO) which privilege static pen-and-paper testing over applied digital proficiencies. The study finds that policy for educational technology has to shift from a general deployment of hardware to an instructional redesign that is responsive to context. Major proposals include furnishing riverine and rural schools with transportable solar-powered kits including offline-first Open Educational Resources (OER) and offering agricultural TPACK-specific teacher professional development.

License

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Free to read, share, and adapt with attribution.