THE GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS PERFORMANCE IN BIOLOGY IN SECONDARY SCHOOL
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page
Certification
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Table of contents
Abstract
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the study
1.2
Statement of problem
1.3
Purpose of the study
1.4
Research Question
1.5
Significance of the study
1.6
Scope of the study
1.7
Limitation of the study
1.8
Definition of terms
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF
RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Concept of biology
2.2 Theoretical frame work
2.3 Mental retardation and parental age
2.4 Intelligent quotient of parents
2.5 The Genetic Basic and academic of students
2.6 Beliefs about genetics influences of biology achievement
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Population of the study
3.3 Sample and Sampling Technique
3.4 Research Instrument
3.5 Validity of the Instrument
3.6 Reliability of the Instrument
3.7 Instrument for Data Collection
3.8 Method of Data Analysis
CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS OF
DATA AND RESULTS
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendation
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
ABSTRACT
This study sought to find
out the genetic and environmental factors affecting the performance of student
in biology in some selected secondary school in Ikere-Ekiti Local Government
Area, Ekiti state. One hundred secondary school Biology students were drawn by
simple random sampling from ten (10) secondary schools within Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, six research
hypothesis guided the study.
Data were
collected using a researcher constructed questionnaire. The result revealed
that family structure and educational level of parents did not have significant
influence on students' achievement in Biology. Based on the findings, the study
concluded that parents occupation have much influence in students' achievement
in science (Biology) as against what most previous studies portrayed.
Researches should therefore focus on other possible factors that contribute to
students 'poor performance in Biology and science generally in order to find
out lasting solution to the problem. Some recommendations were also made.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The overall importance of
education in general and science
education in particular to mankind cannot be
over-emphasized . No nation can afford to neglect science education at any level of
education ad hope to thrive in any field of human endeavour. Science education
is imperative for useful living in any society, it is at the centre for producing
resources necessary for socio-economic, scientific and technological
development needed for advancement of any nation.
The above
notwithstanding, much has been said about secondary school students poor performance
in science generally and Biology in particular. Over the years, performance in
Biology has been dwindling. For instance Okoye and Okeke (2007) in their study
found that in 2002, 2003 and 2004 the percentages of candidates who passed West
African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) at credit level and above (grade
1 - 6) in Biology were 30.3%, 42.1% and 30.2% respectively. Similarly, Egbunonu
and Ugbaja reported that only 30.2% of the Biology students who sat for the
WASCE between 2000 and 2005 passed at credit level above (Al-C6) in 2008,
WAEC Chief Examiners
reported a decline in performance in Biology especially the theoretical aspect
(WAEC, 2008). Again, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) on March 17th,
2010 reported that National Examination Council (NECO) recorded 74% failure in
their Nov/Dec. 2009 SSCE Examination result. Statistics from May/June 2007 — 2032 Senior Secondary
Certificate Examination by WAEC shown in Table 1 tell the same story.
The implication of this
persistent poor performance of students in Biology is that a great percentage
of them fail to get grades that will take them to higher institution for higher
studies. This has been a source of concern to well-meaning Nigerians, parents,
researchers and science educators. Thus, researchers in science education in
Nigeria have continued to seek for ways of improving the situation and maximize
meaningful learning of Biology by the students.
Biology is
described as a science of life and plays a very vital role in the life of every
human being. It is very vast with many divisions including Zoology, Botany,
Ecology, Genetics, Morphology, Anatomy, Physiology, Histology, Microbiology,
Biochemistry, evolution and the more advanced cell Biology, Molecular Biology,
among others. Apart from the inter-related ness that exists among these
branches, Biology is closely related with other science subjects like
agricultural science Chemistry, Geography, Mathematics and Physics. Little
wonder then that Biology finds application in may specialized areas like
medicine, pharmacy, food production and processing industries, biotechnology,
genetic engineering, agricultural and horticulture, environmental protection,
tourism industry (Biology gardens) and so on.
Considering Biology's many
branches and vast applications in every field of human endeavour as enunciated
above, its importance in a nation's economic development cannot be over-emphasized. It therefore becomes very necessary that
efforts are geared towards finding a lasting solution to student's poor
performance in the subject. To this end, several factors have been identified
by researchers as being responsible for the persistent poor performance
recorded in Biology especially at Senior Secondary Certificate Examination.
Some of the factors include lack of teachers, lack of educational facilities
like laboratories, overloaded syllabuses, laziness, poor attitude and lack of
interest on the part of the students, poor teaching methods by teachers, large
class size/high teacher student ratio and family/home background of the
students. Despite the fact that many educationists believe that family
background has influence on children's performance in school considering the
fact that education starts from the home, not much empirical studies have been
carried out in recent times to support this ascertain especially in Anarnbra
State (most of the available studies are old). Besides, much of the data
available on this topic are theories and opinions of individuals. It is also
not certain that such study has been carried out in Biology as these researchers
could not lay their hands on any. Hence, these is need to carry out this study
to obtain an authentic and current information on how family background
influence student's performance in Biology.
The family has the potential
to influence a child's academic achievement. This is because it is the first
environment of the child. The initial experience that would mould the child's
values, aspirations, emotions, interest and attitudes are offered by the
parents/family (Okeke, 2009) What the child learns at home and how his family
motivates him towards education contributes to the child's success in school (Essien,
2002) Similarly. Obas, (1999) observed that were making sure that the children
are prepared for school in the morning is important for the children's
successful achievement at school.
Family background is a
collective terminology comprising of social class/status, economic status,
family size, family structure, parents' educational level, occupation and other
factors pertaining to family life- family background in the context of this
study refers to family structure, parents' occupation and parents' level of
education. By family structure is meant whether the family is monogamous or
polygamous. Monogamy refers to a system of custom whereby a man or woman is
allowed to have only one spouse at a time while polygamy is a system which
allows one to have more than one wile, as in Nigeria and many other African
countries. Parents' occupation is considered in two levels in this study -
civil service and trading which are the dominance occupations of people living
in the area of study. With regards to level of education, parents are
classified into high level (those with M.sc, Ph.D), middle level (those with
OND/NCE) and low level (those with FSLC, SSCE). The problem of this study,
therefore is to determine the influence of family background on Senior
secondary Two (SS2) students' achievement in Biology.
The significance of this
study lies on the fact that it will awaken the consciousness of Biology
teachers to the fact that students came from different family background and
therefore have different upbringing. So they will definitely exhibit different
characters and behaviours. The outcome of the study will therefore enable the
teachers to pay more attention to students' individual differences as they
carry out their pedagogical activities in the classroom. This will go a long
way to encourage the weak ones to begin to improve.
Statement of Problem
Biology
plays significant roles in our society. Therefore Biology cannot just fold
their arms and keep on looking and allow the standard of the subject to fall
down completely without have anything done. The new National Policy on
Education (1984) gave Biology a very strong position in the curriculum thereby
making it a key subject at the secondary level of education and equally made it
a compulsory subject at the institution level (school of sciences).
In the light of this concern,
the research would be examining the following areas of interest
1. Genetics and
2. Environment.
Many have debated on the
relative significance of hereditary arid environmental factor in development.
The theory of tabular Rassa by John Locke explains how the environment
influences people. He emphasized that the children are influence by their immediate
environment.
These factors are
divided and would
be examine at two
different levels via:
1. Genetics factors
2. Environmental factors
Genetics Factors
1. Hereditary
2. Age of woman/parental age
3.
Malnutrition
4.
Excessive use of X-ray therapy in some pregnant women
5. Mental retardation
6. Intelligent Quotation of the parent
7. Dominant and recessive gene of
parent.
Environmental Factors
1. Parental care
2. Availability of competent Biology
teachers
3. Good environment setting
4. Readiness of the students
5. Type of the people in the environment
of the child
6. Availability of necessary teaching
aids
7. The types of environment in which the
child lives (urban or rural)
Purpose of Study
Some of the important aims carrying out
this study are:
1. To find out some of
the general factors that influence student's performance in secondary school in
Biology as a subject in Ikere Local Government Area.
2. To find out some
environmental factors influencing students performance in Biology in Ikere
Local Government Area.
3. To provide possible
solution to the problem.
Research Questions
1. Malnutrition has no
effect on the performance of students in Biology.
2. Parental assistance has
no significant effect on the performance of students in Biology.
3. Hereditary has no
effect on the performance of students in Biology.
4. The
I.Q of parent has no effect on the performance of students in Biology.
5. Readiness of students
has no effect on the performance of students in Biology
6. Teaching aids
contribute to the poor performance of students in Biology.
Significance of the Study
The specific objective of
the study is to identify some genetic and environmental factors that affect students’
performance in secondary school in Ikere Local Government Area in Ekiti State.
The study will help people
or make people realize that having genetic test is a crucial thing before
marriage.
It will also enable the
parent to consider types of environment in which they will develop their
children.
It will enable the parents
to take good care of one another in terms of food they should take during
pregnancy.
Scope
of the Study
This is the reason why the
work is centred on one town in Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
The scope of data collection
will be restricted to the period of study.
This particular investigation covers only 10 secondary school teacher
within Ikere Local Government Area.
Limitation of the Study
The study is limited to ten
secondary schools in Ikere Local Government Area namely;
1. Demonstration Secondary School, Ikere-Ekiti
2.
Amoye High School, Ikere-Ekiti
3.
St. Louis Grammar School,
Ikere-Ekiti
4. Bobas
International High School, Ikere-Ekiti
5. Eleyo
High School, Ikere-Ekiti.
6.
Government College,
Ikere-Ekiti
7.
A.U.D. Grammar school,
Ikere-Ekiti.
8. Comprehensive
High School, Ikere-Ekiti
9. Annunciation
Secondary School, Ikere-Ekiti.
10. Ajolagun
Secondary School, Ikere-Ekiti
This study would have been
designed to cover mere extensive area, but the researchers is constrained by
lack of money; time constraint and transport problem to the remote areas.
Definition
of Terms
1.
Indisputable: That cannot be disputed.
2. Exceptional
student: Student with a very high intelligent quotient.
3. Dishearten: Cause to lose confidence
4. Genetics: This is the science of the hereditary and related
organism as produced by the interaction of the genes, the inherited feature and
characteristics of an organism or group and types of organisms.
5. Environment:
This is the place where people live, it contains the structures, topography,
people living together the interaction between people and other factors.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED
LITERATURE
This chapter presents review
of related literature under the following sub-headings:
1.
Concept of Biology.
2. Theoretical framework.
3. Mental retardation and parental age.
4. Intelligent quotient of parents
5. The genetic basis and academic of
students
6. Beliefs about genetic influences of
Biology achievement.
