CHAPTER ONE

1.0       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Effective communication in the classroom is essential to the success of both the student and the teacher. The kind of communication as well as the amount of communication that occurs in the classroom has long been thought to be partially a function of the seating arrangement of students. Where there probably is an infinite number of ways of arranging a classroom, three are most common; traditional, horseshoe and modular.
The traditional arrangement for classroom typically consists of about five or six perfectly straight rows, each containing five to seven chairs equidistant from each other or as Rosenfield and Civikly say, “something like tombstones in a military cemetery”. Historically, Sommer explains the straight-row arrangement evolved to make the best use of the only adequate lighting then available-natural light from side windows. In spite of development in lighting which make the straight-row arrangement unnecessary, this traditional arrangement persists, in fact dominates. A recent survey of classrooms on a University Campus found over 90 percent of the classrooms to have this arrangement.
TRADITIONAL ARRANGEMENT SEATING

                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

H = High interaction seat; M = Moderate interaction; L = Low interaction.

The Horseshoe or semi-circular arrangement is frequently employed in smaller classes, such as seminar. Some rooms are not physically conducive to this arrangement for large classes because of the “dead space” in the middle. Consequently, a “double horseshoe”, two semi-circular rows with one inside the other, is also frequently observed.
The modular arrangement is found mostly in specialized classrooms, e.g. Home Economics, Science Laboratories and in classrooms of the lower elementary school levels.

1.1       SEATING, VISION, READING AND LEARNING
The importance of good vision to reading and learning has been the subject of considerable study. Numerous clinical and research studies have shown that good visual abilities are beneficial to learning to read and to read with understanding. Children with normal eyesight (20/20) can have visual problems which affect how their eyes focus, team together, or move along a line of print when reading.
These learning-related vision problems cause children to struggle unnecessarily, and this can result in their being mislabeled as learning disabled or having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Fortunately, effective treatment for these types of vision problems is available through vision therapy.
Vision therapy is an individually prescribed program of procedure used to change and improve vision abilities. Developmental Optometrists use vision therapy and special lenses to train the eyes and the brain to work together more effectively. Improvements in visual function enable the child to become more effective learner.

1.2       HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF KWARA STATE POLYTECHNIC, ILORIN
The Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin formerly known as Kwara State College of Technology, Ilorin. It is owned by government and financial institution of tertiary learning. It was established by his Excellency, the then Military Governor of Kwara State, Colonel David Bamigboye. The decision to establish the polytechnic was announced during the launching of the four year development plan in 1971.
The college eventually comes into existence following the promulgation of Kwara State Edict no. 4 of 1972 (now overtaken by the edict no. 21 of 1984; edict no. 13 of 1987 and edict no. 7 of 1994 as a body empowered by statute to provide for studies, farming research and development of techniques in arts and language, applied science, engineering, management and commerce, education and well as in other sphere of learning.
The Kwara State Polytechnic finally commences operation in January 1973 with administrative machinery patterned closely after the existing University in the country.
The polytechnic has its motto:
TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION AND SERVICE
The applied science, engineering, management and commerce was opened in January 1973 with 110 students, 11 members of teaching staff and 3 senior administrative staff, the original background paper in the proposal to establish the institution stress the polytechnic must be developed in the area of what is needed and not what is merely desirable. It was in pursuance of this intention that the Kwara State Polytechnic was established in 1972 to meet the learning of her citizen to bring polytechnic education to the state.
History will not be complete without mentioning the succeeding governing council under whose chairmanship the polytechnic has been steered since its inception namely; Professor M.O. Oyawoye; Professor S.A. Toye, Professor T.O. Aro and so on.

THE GENERAL FUNCTION OF THE POLYTECHNIC

• To promote and accelerate economic development of Kwara State as a component of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
• To ensure adequate representation for Kwara State in Nigeria institution of Higher learning by providing cheaply and effectively a centre where Kwarans can be given pre-university preparation.
• To serve as a centre for education excellent.

1.3       SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY
The need for a good vision cannot be over emphasize in any level of learning. The need to have a good vision will enhance better academic performance.
The seating arrangement/distance contributes a lot to the student vision.
Hence, the research work goes a long way in assisting the students in visual challenges and the over-all performance of students academically and how students can allocate their seat space/positions.

1.4       SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The research work tends to examine students with visual disability and the effect of seating position on the students’ visual, hence the need to involve all students irrespective of department as their targeted population for sampling for the coverage frame for the survey on their seating and sight level for the selected sample students.

1.5       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
There are a lot of challenges/factors contributing to the academic performance of the students in Higher Institutions; one of such is the visual/sight problem, the research work tends to examine these factors among the students with respect of their seating/position. This will go a long way in identifying the students with eyes defect and their seating location.

1.6       AIM AND OBJECTIVES
GENERAL

• To examine students’ vision with respect to seating arrangement.

SPECIFIC

• To examine which of the seating position is with high defect.
• To examine frequency of vision defects (Problems)
• To examine the students’ vision status.

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