CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Biology as a branch of science plays a
vital role in providing knowledge of relevant concepts, scientific skills,
environment and natural phenomena. It helps to develop science process skills
and scientific attitude. Education on the other hand is a designed process for
training an individual by which knowledge is acquired (Eya, 2010). He opined
that it is a vital developmental process which is directly related to the
effectiveness of trained manpower. Biology Education is a process of imparting
knowledge, skills and attitudes in Biologyto a learners at any level. It gives
the learner a sound academic knowledge, skills and ample opportunity to apply
this knowledge. According to Okenyi (2012), Biology Education is an application
of principles of education in teaching and learning of Biology. It is also the
act of teaching and training in order to inculcate or transfer the knowledge of
Biology to students
Biology is the study of natural
phenomena and environment which results from curiosity oj man (Nlewem, 2005). Biology
is also a branch of science which has been structured to equip the students
with the knowledge of relevant concepts and scientific skills (Adepoju (2016).
Biology is all the knowledge of living things that has come to us from the
past. It is therefore the science of life. Biology education is the act of
teaching and learning in order to inculcate or transfer the knowledge of Biology
to the student (Okenyi, 2012). Educating people in science especially Biology
has been widely acknowledged as a way of promoting economic development,
eliminating poverty and introducing social welfare (Nwagbo, 2005).
Over the years, science
education in Nigeria has faced various Problems. The school curriculum offers a
child-centered teaching-learning approach as students are encouraged to take up
the science related subjects including biology, which occupies a unique
position in the school curriculum and is central to many science related courses (Aina 2012). In Nigeria, the
inclusion of science subjects in the school curriculum is to promote national
development as the nation adopts more science oriented policies and programmes
in education (Oriahi et al., 2010). Poor performance of students is mainly due
to lack of motivation for teachers; poor infrastructural facilities; attitude
of students to learning; lack of teaching skills and competence by science
teachers; and lack of opportunities for professional development of science
teachers (Braimoh and Okadeyi, 2001; Olaleye, 2002). Other factors include
syllabus, teacher’s qualifications, workload, experience and disposition,
general lack of teaching skills and ineffective style of delivery of subject
matter are also identified as some of the causes (Adepoju, 2016; Salau, 2016).
Scientific issues involve the teaching of biological concepts through
technology so as to develop science through interesting contexts. The inclusion
of science-technology-society (S-T-S) issues in the school curriculum (Osborne
and Collins, 2000) will achieve the engagement of students in problem solving
activities. Ideal teaching refers to the teaching and learning process as it is
expected to take place in a classroom in an ideal situation. Actual teaching is
the teaching and learning process that actually takes place in the classroom in
relation to the prevailing academic and environmental conditions. Quality
teaching is the process of continuously improving teaching and learning in
order to bring desirable education goals in the school system. It is the
principal measure of the effectiveness of education and the most attribute to
suffer. Teaching and learning are improved continuously and maintained to bring
the desired goals (Aminu, 2015). Quality teaching in biology is crucial for
developing scientifically literate citizens and improving economic productivity
for sustainable development. It enhances students achievement and strengthens
public confidence in schools. Quality teaching helps students to attain a deep
conceptual understanding (AAAS, 1989). Quality teaching is characterized by an
adequate knowledge of subject matter; encouraging inquiry and hands-on approach
to learning for students; and recognizing individual students as learners as
the teacher builds on learner’s strengths rather than trying to stamp out their
weaknesses. Quality teaching helps teachers to focus on the educational
improvement of learners through the integration of adequate knowledge of the
curriculum content areas, functional pedagogic skills, critical reflective
teaching, empathy and commitment to the educational process and the acquisition
of managerial competencies within and outside the school context. Quality
teachers of biology are knowledgeable about biology, learning and science
teaching and they create an environment in which students are regarded and
treated as active learners. Teaching and learning of biology involves teachers’
knowledge of subject matter and teaching pedagogy (Ball and McDiarmids, 2010).
Biology as one of the science subject is
bent in making one to be conversation with the environment he/she lives in
appreciate the meaning of scientific life, to develop unbiased mind and to be
intellectually homes with serve as ideal to the future citizen. Fortunately, it
is a fact that Biology is the commonly chosen science subject of most secondary
pupils are confirmed by the west Africa Examination council (WAEC) record.
Effective
teaching of Biology is a process by which a Biology teacher adopt all the possible
method used in teaching in the classroom to make sure that students understand Biology
and be able to respond positively during assessment or to produce a good
result. Teachers’ effectiveness is exhibited in the teaching method, classroom
managements, the material as well as the way students are being handled, a good
teacher always bear in mind the individual differences of the students while
presenting the lesson and frequently check the student’s understanding of his
or her points to make sure that they are getting of understanding his lesson.
This also includes the ability of the teacher to answer question asked by the
students, having knowledge about his or her subject matter and ability to show
students how to conduct appropriate research.
Effective
teaching is crucial, in order for students to reach educational success in and
outside classroom setting, therefore, there has been some factors militating
against effective teaching of Biology in senior secondary school in Ikere Local
Government Area, which some of them are as follows:
1. Unqualified Biology teacher: Inappropriate
training background of science teachers especially Biology teachers and
qualification of Biology teachers are the major factor that militate against
effective teaching of Biology because some Biology teachers in some senior
secondary school did not undergo enough training to enable them get skills,
qualities and enough knowledge of the subject matter and how to impact the
knowledge to the students.
2. Poor method of teaching Biology in senior
secondary school: For teaching to be effectives one must use different methods
of teaching. According to Eke (2001), teaching is effective if only it produces
or yields the desired results, the ability of the teacher to adapt to different
situations and produce a desired result in the classroom is a mark of teaching
effectiveness. Vennier and Faith (2001) are of the opinion that all the
teaching activities are supposed to produce learning, so that test of effective
teaching will be amount of learning that occurs.
Students' difficulties in learning biology
have been studied by various researchers across the world (Johnstone and
Mahmoud, 2016) . Many concepts or topics in biology, including water transport
in plants, protein synthesis, respiration and photosynthesis, gaseous exchange,
energy, cells, mitosis and meiosis, organs, physiological processes, hormonal
regulation, oxygen transport, genetics, Mendelian genetics, genetic
engineering, and the central nervous system can be perceived as difficult to
learn by secondary school students. Tekkaya et al. (2001) also found that
hormones, genes and chromosomes, mitosis and meiosis, the nervous system, and
mendelian genetics were considered difficult concepts by secondary school
students. Experiencing difficulties in so many topics in biology negatively
affects students’ motivation and achievement (Özcan, 2003). Students’
difficulties with many topics in biology have stimulated researchers to
investigate why students experience such difficulties and how to overcome these
difficulties.
There
are many reasons why students have difficulties in learning biological concepts
( ;Zeidan, 2010). The nature of science itself and its teaching methods are
among the reasons for the difficulties in learning science, while according to
Lazarowitz and Penso (
2012),
the biological level of organization and the abstract level of the concepts
make learning biology difficult. Overloaded biology curricula, the abstract and
interdisciplinary nature of biological concepts, and difficulties with the
textbooks are the other factors preventing students from learning
biology effectively (Tekkaya et al., 2001). Chiepetta
and Fillman (2008) state that overloaded biology curricula may not contribute
to students’ achievement and lead them to learn the material through memorization.
This, of course, prevents meaningful learning. Designing learning environments
while ignoring students’ interests and expectations causes several learning
problems as well as decreasing their interest in biology ( Atav, 2006; Zeidan,
2010). Fraser (1998) indicates that there is a close relationship between
students’ perceptions of their classroom learning environment and their
success. Osborne and Collins (2001) also report that students’ diminishing
interest in learning science was due to the curriculum content being overloaded
and not generally related to working life, the lack of discussion of topics of
interest, the absence of creative expression opportunities, the alienation of
science from society and the prevalence of isolated science subjects. Another
reason reported by many researchers, specifically in Turkey, is that due to the
nature of biological science, biology learning is generally based on
memorization. Biological science includes many abstract concepts, events,
topics and facts that students have to learn. This makes it hard for students
to learn them (Anderson et al., 1990; Efe, 2002; Özcan, 2003; ;Durmaz, 2007). Teachers’ styles of biology
teaching and teaching methods and techniques may also be factors that affect
students’ learning in biology (Çimer, 2004). If students are not happy with the
way that biology is taught, they may show disinterest in and negative attitudes
towards biology and its teaching.
Also, in addition to
determining the factors that negatively affect students’ learning in biology,
understanding students’ views on what makes their biology learning effective is
crucial, as many researchers suggest that in order to improve the quality of
teaching and learning in school, students’ views must be taken into consideration
by researchers, teacher educators, schools and teachers (Fullan, 2011; Ekici,
2010). They argue that what students say about teaching, learning and schooling
is not only worth listening to but provides an important perhaps the most important foundation for
thinking about ways of improving teaching, learning and schools. For instance,
Phoenix (2000) states that student views of teaching may reflect the ways that
they learn best. Indeed, schools that acknowledge the significance of student
views have found that these views can make a substantial contribution to
classroom management, to learning and teaching, and to the school as a social
and learning place (Macbeath et al., 2000). It is thought that how students
perceive the learning environment in biology affects their attitudes towards
biology and its learning ( Telli et al., 2009). Therefore, understanding
secondary school students’ perceptions of biology will help policymakers,
teachers and teacher educators plan more effective teaching activities that can
help students learn biology better and have more positive attitudes towards it.
In
summary, ineffective of teaching of Biology in OndowesLocal Government Area
could be due to the several reasons such as classroom management,
communication, teachers qualification, supply of Biology equipment, teachers
personality, negligence of seminars, and workshop by the teachers of Biology,
inadequate illustration and practical aspect of Biology is another factors,
infrastructural facilities and absences of laboratories etc.
Statement Of The Problem
Generally,
secondary schools students find the study of biology very hard to cope with,
many of them drop the subject for other simpler subjects. This is of course the
reason for poor performance in biology in WAEC and other examination.Most
often, the student are very interested and eager to learn but either due to
inefficiency of laboratory or the attitude of the master handling the subject
may discourage them from continuing.At times students complain that the subject
is very fast and the periods allocated for it is not enough to do the theory
and the practical aspect. This situation that makes coverage difficult, it is
at the expense on in-depth attention some of the secondary schools do not have
biology laboratories and in some cases where biology laboratories are available
they are not properly equipped, the absence of trained laboratory attendants
hinder the effective use of the laboratories.
In
the recent times there has been an explosion in the number of schools and
students and enrolment has risen astronomically especially in biology without a
corresponding increase in the number of teachers.This makes class management
and individuals attention difficult most time, students attribute the cause of
their continuous failure in biology to their teachers, who may not have
relevant teaching experiment most of these unqualified teachers engage in
teaching activities which eventually turn out to be a jumble of unrelated
activities and an expensive waste of time thus impairing the performance of
students.
The
important of biology to mankind can not be over emphaisies, Biology is one of
the core science subjects, which is supposed to be the most interesting subject
to students in senior secondary schools. It has been discovered that the
effective teaching of Biology has been very important. But the rate at which
students fails Biology in result time’s shows that effective learning has not
been attained by these students. It
could be revealed that many secondary schools, especially the public schools
have insufficient competent teachers as well as biological equipment in their different
schools. Therefore, there is the need to answer certain questions to re-enforce
their effectiveness in teaching.
Purpose Of Study
The
purpose of the study is to find out the constraint of effective teaching and
learning of Biology in Ondo West local government area.
Specifically the study aims at finding out.
1.
the
Constrint facing teaching and learning of Biology in Ondo west
2. to
determine if teachers’ attitude towards the teaching and learning of Biology affect students
performance
3. to
find out if teacher qualification affect
the teaching and learning of Biology?
4. To
determine if the use of instructional materials affect students academic
performance in Biology
Research
Questions
The
following research questions were formulated for the study
1
What are the constraintsfacing teaching and learning
of Biology in Ondo West Local Government
Area?
2
does teachers’ attitude towards the
teaching and learning of Biology affect
students performance
3
To what extent does teacher
qualification affect the teaching and
learning of Biology?
4
Does the use of instructional materials
affect students academic performance in Biology
Research Hypothesis
The following null hypothesis would
be tested at 0.05 level of significance
1. Problems encounter in teaching Biology
does have significant different in teaching Biology
2. Teachers attitude does not have significant
different in teaching and learning Biology
3. Teachers qualification does not have
significant effect on the teaching and learning of Biology
Significant Of The Study
This research will be beneficial to:
1. Teachers: The result of this research will
enable teachers to use different teaching methods in teaching Biology
2. The result of this study will enable
educational supervisors (government officials)
to check the activities of schools and show that qualified teachers are
used.
3. To provide adequate information in the
availability of the scientific specific Biology equipment in senior secondary
schools in Ikere Local Government Area.
Scope Of Study
The study is aimed at investigating the problems in teaching Biology in
selected secondary schools in Ondowest local government. Five selected secondary
schools were randomly selected in the study area
Definition Of The Basic Concepts
Factors: Are one of the element contributing to
a particular result or situation.
Militate against: This is a process of making
something less likely to happen or succeed. According to Oxford Advanced
Learner’s dictionary militate against is to prevent something or to make it
difficult for something to happen or exist.
Teaching: this means to impart knowledge to or
to instruct someone as to do something. Okonkwo (2005) in Oforkansi (2008)
defined teaching as a deliberate effort by a mature or experienced person to
impart information, knowledge, values skills, norms (standard behavior) more
(moral values) attitude language and so on to an immature or less experienced
person through the process that is morally and pedagogically acceptable.
Effective teaching: is a process by which a
teacher adopt all the possible skills or method used in teaching in the
classroom to make sure that students understand the lesson and be able to
respond positively during evaluation and produce a good result.
Biology: Biology is the study of life and
living things. It is also a natural science concerned with the study of life
and living organisms including their structure, function, growth, evolution
distribution and taxonomy.
Senior secondary school: This is a period of
study from senior secondary school one to senior secondary school three.
