INTRODUCTION
This article entails the introduction to freehand cutting in sewing and fashion designing in Education. This is a study done by a researcher who performed diagnostic checks on basic school pupils and realized their inability to use freehand to cut fabrics or materials. Continue reading- Chapter One.
This chapter comprises the background to the study, perceived problem, diagnoses, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objective of the study, research questions, and significance of the study, delimitations, limitations and organization of the study.
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Basic Design and Technology (BDT) according to United States education system, it is the integrated study of multiple fields of home sciences and humanities, including fashion, technology and dietary.
The term was first coined by American educators around the turn of the 20th century. BDT is important to the nation as a whole because, it breeds vocational traits, and informs healthy living.
The overall goal of the Ministry of Education is to provide relevant and quality education for all Ghanaians, including the disadvantaged, to enable them acquire skills which will make them functionally literate and productive.
This helps to facilitate poverty alleviation and promote the rapid socio-economic growth of the country (Ministry of Education, 2012). Preparing students for the 21st century cannot be accomplished without a strong and sustaining emphasis on BDT (Ministry of Education 2012).
BDT provide the skills that are the key to opening doors for a more diverse, competitive workforce and responsible citizenry. Students use critical thinking, self-assessment, reasoning, problem-solving, collaboration, research, and investigation to make connections in new and innovative ways as they progress through vocational education.
These standards outline the knowledge and skills needed to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world (Shulman, 1986).
The National Council for BDT divides the subject into three categories: pre-technical skills, Home Economics, and Visual Arts (Barr, 2005).
The subject is also addressed in the objectives declared by the Ghana Education Service for both elementary schools and senior high schools (Ghana Education Service, 2007). Each of these provides the basis of curriculum development for senior high schools in Ghana.
Ghana’s Ministry of Education state that BDT at the senior high school level is concerned with equipping the students with an integrated body of knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help the student develop a broader perspective of Ghana and the world.
The subject probes the past and provides knowledge for the students to understand his or her society and be able to solve personal and societal problems.
Freehand cutting is a method of cutting a style of apparel directly on the fabric without the use of a pattern (Efajemue & Lily, 2011).
Many types of apparel worn these days apart from ready-to-wear apparel are usually made from free-hand cutting. Forster and Adamtey (as cited in Foster and Ampong, 2012) noted that, little has been done on documentation on free-hand cutting.
Shailong and Igbo (2009) described free-hand cutting as a method of cutting the fabric marked with chalk based on a measurement and cut directly without the use of a paper pattern. The measurement of the individual is utilized directly on the fabric in freehand cutting.
From the above description of BDT and teaching freehand cutting skills in both Ghana and the world at large, one could attest to the fact that, an exploration into using demonstration method to enhance the freehand cutting skills has a great bearing on academic performance.
PERCEIVED PROBLEM
During the macro-teaching program instituted by the University of Education, Winneba in collaboration with Ghana Education Service, the researcher was posted to Abor R/C Basic School in the Ketu South District of the Volta Region of Ghana. The researcher was attached to the Junior High School cluster.
Through the researcher’s observation on a lesson on freehand cutting method witnessed, the researcher observed learners’ difficulty about the topic. It was again observed that the teacher used an approach which seem confusion to the learners yet they could not voice their inability to understand the lesson.
DIAGNOSES
After the lesson when their understanding was tested, they poorly performed.
It is against this background that the researcher decided to undertake the study so as to enhance the ability of freehand cutting of the basic eight (8) learners of Abor R/C Basic School using demonstration method of instruction.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
During the researcher’s final year attachment course, enough observation showed that basic eight (8) learners of Abor R/C Basic School could not understand the concept, freehand cutting based on the teaching technique used during the lesson and without using any relevant teaching and learning material(s).
This was clearly observed after assessment were conducted.
As stated, MOE; preparing students for the 21st century cannot be accomplished without a strong and sustaining emphasis on BDT (Ministry of Education 2012).
The overall goal of the Ministry of Education is to provide relevant and quality education for all Ghanaians, including the disadvantaged, to enable them acquire skills which will make them functionally literate and productive.
This helps to facilitate poverty alleviation and promote the rapid socio-economic growth of the country (Ministry of Education, 2012).
With respect to the above, it is realized that there is no provision to resource the teaching and learning of the subject with the needed TLMs.
This has prompted the researcher to use demonstration method of instruction to enhance the ability of the learners about the topic.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is to use demonstration method of teaching to enhance the ability in freehand cutting among the basic eight learners of Abor R/C Basic School.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Among many other things, the researcher to:
a. Identify the cause(s) of lack of understanding of the topic freehand cutting.
b. Develop strategies to help solve the problem of learners lack of understanding in freehand cutting.
c. Develop interest of learners in the lesson through the use of teaching and learning materials to teach the topic freehand cutting.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
a. What are the major causes of the basic eight (8) learners of Abor R/C Basic School’s lack of understanding in the studying freehand cutting?
b. What strategies can be employed to enable the understanding of the basic eight (8) learners of Abor R/C Basic School in studying of freehand cutting?
c. What suitable teaching and learning material can be used to develop the interest of the learners in teaching freehand cutting?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study will go a long way to improve the academic performance of learners in the subject. This is because it will help teachers to find the need in adopting motivational strategies in teaching the subject.
Secondly, the study will be a reference material for teachers and anyone who will like to undertake research on similar study.
DELIMITATION
This problem may be present in other schools but to make the work of the researcher fruitful, the research work was limited to the Abor R/C JHS, basic eight as that is where the problem was found.
Again, the researcher limited work to the study of the cause of the problem, strategies to solve the problem and the use of TLM to stimulate the interest of learners.
LIMITATION
Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample therefore the result cannot be generalized. However, it serves as a foundation for major research.
ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This section of the chapter discussed how the study was organized. The chapter one has to do with the following subheadings: Background to the study, Statement of the problem, Purpose of the study, Objective of the Study, Research questions, Significance of the study, and Delimitation.
The second chapter deals with the review of related literature. This is followed by researcher methodology as the third chapter. The fourth chapter consists of analysis of data and discussions. The last chapter of the study covers summary, conclusion and recommendation.
Forward to Chapter Two
Forward to Chapter Three
SOURCE: bbcpulse.com