Influence Of Biology Practical Activities On Academic Achievement Of Senior Secondary School Students In Biology
Need help with a related project topic or New topic? Send Us Your Topic
DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE PROJECT MATERIAL
Influence Of Biology Practical Activities On Academic Achievement Of Senior Secondary School Students In Biology
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
Background Of the Study
Science is a vast industry on which nations rely for technological advancement. As a result of its importance and relevance to life and society, science is heavily emphasised in education. Ezeh (2013) defines science as both a process (scientific method) and a product (knowledge, facts, and principles).
Science education, which is a specialised sort of education, teaches both the process and the output of science. Science has a vital part in society because it is relevant to our daily lives and careers.
The importance of science in our society prompted the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Education, to include science topics in the nation’s high school curriculum. Biology is one of the subjects introduced.
Biology is described as the study of living things and their structure. Biology is the study of living things, including the structure, behaviour, distribution, origin, and interaction of plants and animals to their environment (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 2009. According to Abugu (2007), biology is a natural discipline that studies living organisms, including plants and animals.
Biology knowledge aids in the prevention of environmental degradation such as desertification, erosion, water hyacinth, and pollution of land, air, and water.
The primary goals of biology education are to prepare students to acquire adequate laboratory and field skills in biology, meaningful and relevant knowledge in biology, the ability to apply scientific knowledge to everyday life in matters of personal and community health and agriculture, and finally reasonable and functional scientific attitudes (Federal Ministry of Education 2004).
Biology in senior secondary school can provide students with essential concepts, principles, and theories to help them tackle obstacles before and after graduation.
Practical biology is the scientific study of the lives and structure of plants and animals, as well as their related environments, in a real or experimental setting rather than focussing on theory and ideas (Opuh, Eze, and Eze Magu, 2008).
Practical activities in biology allow students to really conduct science rather than just learn about it. According to Nzewi (2008), practical exercises can be viewed as a way for making a teacher’s (teaching) role more tangible to pupils, as opposed to abstract or theoretical presentations of fact principles and concepts of subject topics.
Nzewi believed that practical exercises should engage students in hands-on, mind-on activities, employing a variety of educational materials/equipment to reinforce the lesson.
According to Nwagbo (2008), biology teachers should use practical activities (approach) to teach biological concepts as a rule rather than an option if we want to produce students who can acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and competence to meet the nation’s scientific and technological demands.
Practical work stimulates learners’ interest in the science subjects they are studying; when they are made to personally engage in useful activities, knowledge obtained through practical work and experience promotes long-term memory that theory alone cannot do; as a result, it becomes obvious that learners acquire more in any science lesson, if giving the opportunity to do activities ranging from manipulating apparatus, classifying, designing, experimenting, hypothe
As a result, there is an urgent and critical need to justify the presentation of biology practical activities, as well as investigate their impact on student progress in biology.
Unfortunately, the bulk of our secondary schools face an unattractive situation in which students are not exposed to practical tasks. This adds to continued poor performance in biology.
According to Nwagbo (2008), a number of factors have been identified as contributing to secondary school students’ failure to acquire skills, which invariably leads to poor performance. One of these elements is the teacher variable, or the teacher’s method of teaching.
Furthermore, Okoli (2006) indicates that many science teachers prefer the traditional expository/lecture method of teaching, which is a teaching technique in which one person, the teacher, presents a spoken discourse on a specific subject, rather than activity-oriented teaching methods that are student-centered, such as the inquiry method, discovery method, and investigative laboratory approach.
Nwagbo (2006) found that a teacher-centered approach that views the teacher as the exclusive proprietor of knowledge and students as passive recipients of knowledge may neither improve achievement or foster a good attitude towards biology. Aside from teaching methods, gender influences students’ academic performance in biology.
Gender refers to the duties and obligations that men and women are assigned within their families, societies, and cultures. Gender refers to societal expectations about the qualities, attitudes, and likely behaviour of both men and women (masculinity and femininity).
Nigerians often believe that guys are superior than girls in terms of physical development, intelligence, and thinking. According to Okeke (2007), gender and gender stereotypes have resulted in discrimination in academic attainment, which is a major concern for educators.
Okoli, Iwuozor, and Obioma (2011) found that gender has no bearing on scientific achievement. Because the gender findings are equivocal, the researcher wants to look at the impact of biology practical activities on senior secondary school biology academic achievement.
Statement of Problems
In Nigeria, students’ performance in secondary school biology has been disappointing. Despite the goal for technological advancement, which necessitates biology instruction, students’ academic achievement in the subject remains inadequate, particularly in practical biology. Many factors contribute to students’ poor performance in biology practicals, including teachers’ use of inappropriate instructional approaches, a lack of adequate laboratory facilities, poor organisation of laboratory activities
a lack of commitment to laboratory work by both teachers and students, a partial or total absence of a laboratory, a lack of qualified biology teachers, and the mode of laboratory activities used in biology laboratories.
According to studies, teachers typically utilise a teacher-centered approach when conducting laboratory activities. The inadequate instructional methodologies utilised by secondary school biology teachers raise concerns regarding the feasibility of achieving the objectives of biology education in Nigerian secondary schools as stated in the National Policy on Education (Federal Ministry of Education, 2004).
Most instructional approaches to teaching biology in the classroom or laboratory, such as lecture and demonstration, encourage rote learning and provide little opportunity for students to manipulate materials and reflect on what they do during the teaching and learning process. Student participation during laboratory activities could help to concretise learning.
Among all the issues that contribute to students’ poor performance in practical biology, the researcher is particularly interested in the impact of biology practical activities on students’ academic progress in biology.
The purpose of the study
The primary goal of this study is to determine the impact of biology practical activities on academic achievement among senior secondary school students.
Specifically, the study aims to:
Determine the impact of biology practical activities on senior secondary students’ academic performance in biology.
Determine how the teacher’s lack of proficiency with laboratory equipment affects students’ biology achievement.
Determine how students’ attitudes regarding biology practical affect their progress in biology.
Determine the effect of gender on students’ academic achievement in biology.
Significance of the Study
Practically, the following people will gain from this study’s findings: students, biology teachers, and the government. The study’s findings may help students understand the value of both group and individual laboratory work situations for studying biology subjects.
It could also assist pupils gain knowledge in the following areas: communication, problem solving, self-confidence, and critical thinking. These are the kind of knowledge that students are intended to gain through practical activities, which may lead to an improvement in their academic performance.
The findings of this study will be useful to science teachers because they will enable them to identify the appropriate style of laboratory work in teaching and will assist students in understanding biology ideas with the ability to successfully complete practical tasks.
The instructor will recognise that biology principles should not be taught in isolation, but rather as part of practical practice to maximise accomplishment.
The study will persuade the government, through the ministry of education, of the importance of providing science equipment to schools and posting qualified biology teachers to secondary schools; it is not an issue of jack of all trades master of none, but rather of professionalism and specialisation.
Scope of the Study
The study looks at how biology practical activities affect the academic achievement of senior high school biology students. The study is limited to senior high school students in Enugu East Local Government Area, Enugu state. The scope is confined to senior secondary two biology students’ achievements.
Research Questions
The research questions that led the study were as follows:
How much do biology practical activities effect students’ academic performance in biology?
How does teachers’ inability to use laboratory equipment effect students’ biology achievement?
To what extent do students’ attitudes about biology practical effect their achievement in biology?
To what extent does gender effect student academic achievement in biology?
Need help with a related project topic or New topic? Send Us Your Topic