Utilization of Instructional Materials for History Teaching and Learning in Nigerian Schools: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

This study concerned itself with the assessment of instructionalmaterials to the teaching and learning of history in the growingpace of technological innovations, focusing on Nigerian schools.The last few years has witnessed a kind of resonance, well vibratedby the national government to reinvigorate the potentials of Historyas a tool for societal reconstruction in the basic academiccurriculum. The reasons for this resonance are not farfetched fromthe fact that societal values, especially in retrospect, are better learnedthrough the subject of History than any other related subjects at allschool levels. History has been differently defined by various scholars,and the definition point to the common belief that it is the art ofstudying the past in a skillful and organized manner (Carr, 1961).Invariably, it is a narrative based on scientific interpretation of pasthuman endeavours (Ajetunmobi, 2010). By this definition, Historyis not story telling because its interpretation requires professionalskills that differentiate the historian from a story teller or any kingof mythology.