An investigation into the integration of Information Communication and Technology in the teaching and learning of Geography in five schools in Chitungwiza District

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating the integration of ICT in the teaching and learning of geography. The data used in this research was obtained from one hundred geography students drawn from form twos, four and six, twenty-five geography teachers and five school heads from five schools selected in Chitungwiza district in Harare Metropolitan Province. Data was collected through questionnaires and semi structured interviews. Findings from interviews were presented, analyzed and interpreted using descriptive method whilst findings from questionnaires were presented in form of tables, pie graphs and bar graphs. The findings revealed that in high schools they had the potential to use a variety of ICT tools such as laptops, smart phones, and cameras, white boards, projectors, desk top computers, televisions photocopiers, scanners but these resources are a scarcity to fully utilize them in the learning of Geography. The internet being the most used ICT tool by both teachers ,learners and administrators but a lot of challenges were being faced like poor signal ,unrecompensed websites accessed by learners and lack of guidance on the part of learners. The ICT integration in schools were hindered by lack of equipment, lack of ICT skills and power cut and other factors. These challenges are the main drawbacks mentioned by schools in effective ICT integration in teaching and learning of Geography, they need to be dealt with as matter of urgency to improve ICT integration by geography teachers and learners as they highlighted that it benefits them a lot.