Thesis Abstract

<p> Clay is used in Nigeria for different purposes. Among these<br>are the making of utilitarian objects such as pots, moulding of<br>animal figures in front of houses in Yoruba land, and mixing with<br>mud to build houses with elaborate decoration, in the north.It<br>has been observed that some secondary school students do not use<br>clay as a creative art material. The study was therefore designed<br>to ascertain the ‘ position of the use of clay in the junior<br>secondary schools.<br>Methods and procedures. A total of 300 students and four art<br>teachers in Zaria post-primary schools were involved in the study.<br>The instruments included two sets of questionnaires one for the<br>art teachers and the other for sampled form three students.<br>The art teachers and students were also observed during some<br>clay-work activities, although the observational study was not<br>absolutely acceptable due to possible observer effect. Discussion<br>was also held with the principals of the schools to ascertain the<br>authenticity of the information provided by the teachers. Major<br>findings were Majority of the students demonstrated a moderatelypositive<br>attitude towards clay-work; some of the art teachers were<br>not; qualified professionally to teach art, and there was acute<br>i<br>shortage of art teachers; students and art teachers lacked<br>important physical facilities for art education and clay-work in<br>particular. Lastly, time allocated for art on the time-table is<br>short that clay activities had little or no time at all.<br>(vii)<br>Conclusion There is some indication of students’ strength<br>positive attitude towards clay-work, and so the research work<br>suggests ways to enhance and strengthen the status of clay-work<br>aspect of three diemensional art programme in our schools in these<br>years of indigenous technological development. <br></p>

Thesis Overview