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TEACHERS
PERCEPTION OF DIFFICULT AREAS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY CURRICULUM
ABSTRACT
This study
sought to identify teachers’ perceptions of difficult areas in senior secondary
school biology curriculum in Lagos state of Nigeria. Based on a review of
literature, five research questions guided the study while three hypotheses
were equally tested. A survey design was used for the study. A multistage
sampling procedure involving simple random sampling techniques by balloting and
cluster sampling techniques were adopted to compose the sample of 120 biology
teachers in four Education Zones of Lagos State. A Structured Questionnaire
Titled Biology Topic Assessment Questionnaire (BTAQ) was used to collect data
from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard
deviation and one-way ANOVA to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of
significance. The analysis of the data yielded the following results: the
teachers find the teaching of chromosome, Evolution, Glycolysis, Germination,
Genetics and Skeleton difficult. Gender, academic qualification and location of
services of the teacher have no significant influence in the difficulty levels
of topics in the biology curriculum. It was recommended that in-service
training, constant workshops, higher degree programmes, provision of modern
instructional materials, use of computer and its softwares, re- equipping of
school library, using teachers past performance for promotions, frequent
supervisions by ministries, employing more qualified teachers, supplying
relevant textbooks, holiday tutorials and Biology laboratory are necessary for
improvement on the difficult topics.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study
Science provides
a body of
knowledge for use
in addressing various forms
of human, material and
environmental problems. It
can also be
viewed as composed of
two major complementary modes:
accumulation of knowledge through exploration
and discovery efforts about the natural world,
and the use of such
knowledge for human
and material development. Science is
studied and practised in
all parts of
the world, including
Nigeria. Nigeria is a
developing nation with an
increasing demand for
science based skilled
manpower. The achievement of
this can start
with the learning
and application of
science subjects as in biology,
chemistry, integrated science,
and physics at
secondary school level. Among
these science subjects: biology,
chemistry, integrated
science and physics
taught in Nigerian secondary schools,
only biology was discussed. This is because; the study was focused on
biology curriculum.
Biology is
one of the
senior secondary school
subjects taught in
Nigeria. Biology is an integral
science subject which
provides contents in the training
of students who want
to study medicine, nursing,
pharmacy, forestry, fisheries
and so on. Requirement
for a credit pass
and above in
biology is needed
for science related vocational
discipline. Majority of senior
secondary school students choose biology
in the West
African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) or
National Examination Council’s
Senior School Certificate
Examinations (NECOSSCE). Also,
for some senior
secondary school students, biology is a subject
of first choice
because they find
it to be an interesting subject as a
subject that is
more related to
nature. Biology is
one of the
subjects in the national curriculum for
senior secondary schools,
first published by the
Federal Ministry of
Education in 1985.
Biology
curriculum was first introduced in 1977. At that time the duration for
secondary school education was five years. The
biology teaching was
started in class four
and in class
five the students took
the West African
School Certificate
Examination. In keeping
with the dynamics of
social change and demands
on education, there
was the need
to broaden the
curriculum. The quest for improving
the method of
teaching and learning
of secondary school
biology began in 1982
by the Nigerian
Education Research Council
(NERC, 2005). The Federal Government in
collaboration with Esselte
(Swedish non-governmental
organization) initiated the National
Secondary Science and
Mathematics Project (NSSMP). They
worked hand in hand
with the federal
government of Nigeria. The
basic aim of
that project was
to inculcate learning through
the use of
a wide variety of
instructional materials. The
outcome of this was
the emergence of the
new biology curriculum
in 1985 published
by the Federal Ministry of Education.
In this 1985
curriculum, many more
topics in biology
were introduced and the number
of years to
be spent in
secondary school increased from five
years to six years.
It is the
implementation of National
curriculum for 13 Secondary School
Biology that the present
study is designed
to evaluate.
The biology
curriculum has a spiral arrangement of
content. The content of
biology curriculum are: Concept
of living; Basic
ecological concepts; Plant and
animal nutrition; Variations and variability; Evolution
and Genetics. Based on
this spiral arrangement,
the concepts to be
taught are arranged
in such a way
that topics are
repeated yearly, throughout
the three years of
the course; to cover
the 62 units
in the biology
curriculum. Any repeated
concept is discussed in
greater complexity and
depth as the
course matures over
the three year period. The
contents of the
senior secondary school
biology curriculum places emphasis
on field studies, guided
discovery, laboratory techniques
and skills. The curriculum
for teaching biology in
senior secondary schools emphasized the
relationship between living
and non-living things;
relevance of biology to
agriculture; the structure
and physiology of
organisms; some basic
ecological concepts; the
use of natural
resources; lands, plants
and animals-their
variations, populations and
implications, adaptation; theories
of evolution and application of the principle
of heredity in
agriculture and medicine.
The objectives of
secondary school biology
curriculum have been derived
from the National Policy on
Education first introduced
in 1977 and
revised in 1981, 1998
and 2004 (FRN,2004). The cardinal objectives are to
prepare students to acquire:
1. Adequate laboratory
and field skills in
biology;
2. Meaningful and
relevant knowledge in
biology
3. Ability to
apply scientific knowledge
to every day’s
life in matters
of personal and community health and agriculture.
4. Reasonable and functional scientific
attitude. Biology is the study of living things. It is the study of life. Biology
can also be defined
as the study
of plants and
animals. Content of biology curriculum the content of biology curriculum
are:
i. Concept
of living
ii. Basic
ecological concepts
iii. Plant
and animal nutrition
iv. Variations
and variability
v. Evolution
vi. Genetics
The
objectives of the
biology curriculum have
been adjudged as
laudable according to Agu (2006),
Soyibo (2008) and
Yabugbe (2009); and
there is evidence to
show that even
though many students find
biology interesting, thereby registering
for it in
the senior secondary schools, many
of them obtain poor
results, year in
and year out
in it as
shown by Okebukola and
Akinbola (2008).
In the
recent past government and non governmental agencies in most developing
countries in the world, recognizing the importance of science and technology
are putting much in terms of resources and fund to encourage teaching and
learning of science in senior secondary schools. This justifies its inclusion
in the school curriculum, right from primary to tertiary levels in Nigerian
schools.
Biology has
come to take a vital place among the three basic science, more so since the
national policy on education requires secondary school students to offer at
least one basic science subject of secondary school level.
Nigeria
educational research and development council NERDC (1993) was organised because
of recurring annual poor performance of students in science, Workshop on
"Difficult concepts" in science and mathematics. It was then reported
that, some concept are difficult and claimed this to be responsible for
students poor performance.
The NERDC
classified the reasons for the perceived difficult biology curriculum to be:
student related reasons, teachers in the field reasons, learning environment,
nature of concepts and resources materials. Emphasis was also placed on
teachers misconceptions, poor knowledge of subject matter, non currency of the
teachers in the field. Poor teacher made tests and teaching methods as factors
responsible for poor students performance in examination.
Biology learning and teaching in secondary
school includes many factors which are determinants of learning quality. These can be classified as affective and
cognitive factors. For the
cognitive domain, reasoning ability, information processing
and academic achievement
are among the most studied constructs. Under the affective title, some
well-defined constructs are included. Those among the
most frequently emphasized
factors of the affective
domain in the
science and biology education literature are
attitude, self-efficacy, anxiety
and motivation. As
an affective factor, giving
more importance of motivation
for science education over the other affective today’s world. Biology learning
includes understanding biological
organization from molecules to
ecosystems. To understand systems and their
organs are one of the most
important steps of learning
the organization of
life. So, to learn
and teach organs as a
school subject are important task for
biology teachers.. Although
learning and teaching biology
begin at elementary grades,
under the title of
biology, they begin
to occur in
secondary school years. Motivational
preparedness of teachers as mediators
of curriculum to
teach and learn
any subject matter of
a curriculum and related perceptions
on the subject matter
are important to reach
aims of a curriculum,
because every curriculum is
needed to be considered in instructional level and teachers
are important factors in this
level, above scenario moved the researcher into difficult areas in
senior secondary school (SSS) biology curriculum from the perception of the
biology teachers.
1.2
Statement of the Problem
Several
research works carried out on curriculum in Nigeria particularly in lagos State
have revealed the nonchalant attitude of teachers in the secondary schools
towards certain areas in biology curriculum. One of
the major goals
of science education
in Nigeria is to produce scientists for national
development (FRN, 2004).
In spite of
Nigerian government’s desire to
promote science education programme
in the country, the
quality of science
students produced by the
secondary schools seem
to be deteriorating. In the particular case
of biology, one is
led to observe that
despite the importance of
biology as a
science subject, evidence
have shown that students are
not doing well
in this subject
at both West
African Secondary School
Certificate Examination (WASSCE)
and National Examination Councils’ Secondary School Certificate Examination
(NECOSSCE).In Nigeria today, teachers attitude and students lack of
interest have been reported to be major factors responsible for students
perceived difficulty in sciences. Teachers attitude towards science(biology)
can either motivate students or discourage them, such recurring annual poor
performance of students. There is therefore a problem of which concepts did
teachers find difficult to teach. Then what could be responsible for this?
Could it be Teachers academic qualification?, teaching experience? or gender?.
Could it be that teachers themselves neglect or do not teach some areas in the
class? Are the methods the teachers use
in teaching some areas in biology inappropriate? This research is an attempt to
answer the above questions.
1.3 Purpose
of the Study
The main
purpose of this study is to identify the difficult content areas in secondary
school biology curriculum that science teachers find difficult to teach. It
also sought to determine whether teachers academic qualification, teaching
experience and gender as factors responsible for perception of difficulty which
leads to poor performance of students in science courses (biology).
Specifically, the study was directed at finding out;
1. The areas in biology curriculum which
senior secondary biology teachers find difficult to teach.
2. Whether academic qualification and
teaching experience of teachers, are factors which influences the area of
difficulty in senior secondary school biology curriculum.
3. Whether gender of teacher, is a factor
which influences the area of difficulty in senior secondary school biology
curriculum.
4. Strategies to
be employed in
solving the problem
of difficult topics
found in the senior secondary school biology curriculum.
1.4 Research
Questions
The
following research questions were raised.
1. What content areas in the senior
secondary school (SSS) biology curriculum do teachers find difficult to teach?
2. To what extent does academic
qualification of the teachers influence perceived area in biology curriculum?
3. To what extent does gender of the
teachers influence perceived area of difficulty in senior secondary school
biology curriculum?
4. What strategies can be employed in
solving the problem of difficult areas found in senior secondary school biology
curriculum?
1.5 Research
Hypothesis
The
following hypotheses were formulated to guide the study
H01: Teachers`
gender has no
significant influence on
the perception mean scores
of the teachers in the
senior secondary school biology
curriculum.
H02: Teachers
academic qualification has no significant
influence on the
perception mean scores of
the teachers in
the senior secondary school
biology curriculum.
1.6
Significance of the study
The
researcher was compelled to engage in this study work of difficult content
areas in the secondary school biology curriculum, by the present alarming
increase in the failure of biology subject by students in senior school certificate
biology examinations.
As earlier
noted, the knowledge of biology prepares students for various fields like
medicine, pharmacy; agriculture etc. For instance, if the problem of cells,
genetics, mitosis and meiosis are dealt with as regards to heredity and cell
division, the people in the society will be able to choose the best life
partner and be aware of cell divisions in them during embryonic formation in
the area of reproduction. Disease among the population will be prevented and
also living condition will improve. The suggestions will be of great help to
the teachers and students in those areas of difficulties.
Moreover,
the findings of the study will be of immense benefits to biology researchers
and book writers in biology. It will also help institutions preparing teachers
of biology to be familiar with important data for planning biology course for
potential and present biology teachers in our secondary schools.
Governmental
bodies entrusted with curriculum planning will know where to amend while
planning biology curriculum when this work must have been completed by the
researcher. And this will eventually lead to a sustainable development and
improvement in the teaching of biology in schools.
1.7 Scope of
the Study
The scope
of this study
was delimited to
thirty biology teachers in Lagos
State. This work was
also limited to gender,
location, academic qualifications and experience as factors
that influence teachers perceptions
of difficult areas
on the senior secondary school biology curriculum.
This work
also intended to
provide possible remedial strategies
that may be
employed as means of
alleviating the perception
problems and the difficult contents of the biology curriculum.
1.8 Definition of terms
1. Perception: conscious understanding of
something.
2. Teacher: a person who teaches,
especially one employed in a school.
3. Difficult: hard, not easy, requiring
much effort.
4. Curriculum: the set of courses,
coursework and content, offered at a school or university.
5. Biology: study of all life or living
matter.
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