CONSTRAINTS OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF BIOLOGY

1.1 Introduction

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). Biology Education is a process of imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes in Biology to 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.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

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).

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 is confirmed by the West Africa Examination council (WAEC) record. The term biology is derived from two Greek words “bios” and “logos” which mean life and study respectively. Biology therefore means the study of life or study of living things. Biology is the study of natural phenomena and environment which results from curiosity of 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).

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).

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 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 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.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Constraints of Effective Teaching and Learning of Biology.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that 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 cannot be over emphasis, 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.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to find out the Constraints of Effective Teaching and Learning of Biology in Okpe Local Government Area. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the constraint facing teaching and learning of Biology in Okpe Local Government Area;
2. To determine the use of instructional materials affect students academic performance in Biology;
3. To find out if teacher qualification affect the teaching and learning of Biology; and
4. To determine whether teachers’ attitude towards the teaching and learning of Biology affect student’s performance.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• What is the constraint facing teaching and learning of Biology in Okpe Local Government Area?
• What is the use of instructional materials affect students academic performance in Biology?
• What is the teacher qualification affect the teaching and learning of Biology?
• What is the teachers’ attitude towards the teaching and learning of Biology affect student’s performance?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: Problems encounter in teaching Biology does have significant different in teaching Biology
• H1: Problems encounter in teaching Biology have significant different in teaching Biology

Hypothesis Two

• H0: Teachers attitude does not have significant different in teaching and learning Biology
• H1: Teachers attitude have significant different in teaching and learning Biology

Hypothesis Three

• H0: Teacher’s qualification does not have significant effect on the teaching and learning of Biology
• H1: Teacher’s qualification has significant effect on the teaching and learning of Biology

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1.7 Significance of 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.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Constraints of Effective Teaching and Learning of Biology in Okpe Local Government Area, Delta State.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

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.

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.

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.