Influence of Biology Practical Activities on Academic Achievement of Senior Secondary School Students in Biology
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to find out the influence of biology practical activities on academic achievement of senior secondary school students.
Specifically, the study intends to:
- determine the influence of biology practical activities on academic achievement of senior secondary students in biology.
- determine how teacher’s incompetence in the use of laboratory equipment affects student’s achievement in biology.
- determine how the student attitude towards biology practical affect their achievement in biology.
- determine the influence of gender on academic achievement of students in biology.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The view of literature for this study is organized under the following sections and sub-section conceptual framework, theoretical framework, review of related empirical studies and summary.
Conceptual Framework
- Concept of Biology
- Biology Practical Teaching
- Concept of Academic Achievement
- Concept of Gender
- Factors that Affect the Achievement of Secondary School Biology Student
Theoretical Framework
- Paiget’s Cognitive Constructivist Learning Theory
- Vygotsky’s Social Constructivist Learning Theory
Empirical Studies
Summary of Literature Review
Conceptual Framework
Inquiry process involves asking question that stimulate students to think critically which enables students to develop scientific knowledge and scientific habit such as curiosity, creativity, and open minded etc that is needed for understanding biological concepts. Biology as science of life provide potentials for the use of many inquiry method. Abugu (2007) stated that biology is natural science in which we study living organisms plants and animals. The knowledge of biology helps in checking environmental degradation such as desertification, erosion, water hyacinth, land, air and water pollution.
The cardinal objectives of biology education are to prepare students to acquire: adequate laboratory and field skills in biology; meaningful and relevant knowledge in biology, ability to apply scientific knowledge to everyday life in matter of personal and community health and agriculture and lastly reasonable and functional scientific attitudes (Federal Ministry of Education 2004). The study of biology in senior secondary school can equip students with useful concept principles and theories that will enable them face the challenges before and after graduation. Practical biology is the scientific study of the life and structure of plant and animals and their relative environment in real or experimental set-up rather than dwelling in the theory and ideas (Opuh, Eze, & Eze Magu, 2008).
Biology Practical Teaching
Biology practical teaching are important in order to understand biology concepts. If science education aims to enhance the understanding of the natural world by students and how it functions, then the students have to experience and observe the relevant of science phenomena. Recent studies advocate for a change in teaching methods so that students participate fully and understand different science concepts (Miller, 2010). Students shouls understand processes and structure; develop skills in manipulation, processing of science information and conducting scientific investigations. Hence, the teaching methods such as learners design, reciprocal, inclusion, divergent and self-check could enhance the teaching of Biology practical lessons (Capel, Least & Turner 2009).
A study conducted by Obiekwe and Chinwe (2015) in Nigeria on the teaching of biological concepts using the 5E (Egagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration and Evaluation) model revealed that student who were exposed to the 5E method achieve better results than those whose teacher use the lecture method. Some teacher laid too much emphasis on content and the use of “chalk and talk approach which does not enhance the teaching and learning of biology. This slackness and shy-away attitude from activity based-approach of instructional delivery has led to abstraction, which makes the students passive and more inclined to role memorization (obiekwe & Chinwe, 2012). Such teacher-centered method that put the students as passive recipients of knowledge and the teacher as the only source of knowledge might not improved achievement towards biology practical lessons (Nwagbo 2006).
Concept of Academic Achievement
Ifeakor (2010) regarded achievement as a change in behaviour exhibited at the end of a given period of time or within a given time range. Aronson (2012) explained academic achievement as the degree of attainment by student in schools, colleges and universities either in class, laboratory, library, project or field work in which the student is sufficiently exposed to. Aniekwe (2009) sees achievement as a test for the measurement and comparison of skills in various fields of academic study. Hence achievement could be described as a task which has been accomplished successfully, especially by means of exertion, skill practice or perseverance.
Academic achievement enables us to obtain information on the extent to which a student has attained the criterion performance. It also enables us to determine the relative position or rank of individual student with respect to their performance (Etuk, Koko & Eno, 2011). Students, teachers, parents and the society are much concerned about the academic achievement of students. Some of the purposes of academic achievement are itemized by Ekhasemomhe (2010) as follows:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter describes the procedures the researcher used in carrying out the research work. These include the design of the study, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, instrument for data collection, validation of the instrument, reliability of the instrument, method of data collection and method of data analysis.
Design of the Study
The design adopted for this research is descriptive survey design. This design is a useful way of obtaining information about people’s opinions, attitudes, preferences, and experiences simply by asking questions. This design was used for this study since a group of people have to be studied systematically by collecting and analyzing data from a chosen few considered sufficient representative of the entire population.
Area of the Study
The study was carried out in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State. It covered all the ten (10) public secondary schools found in the local government.
Population of the Study
The population for this study comprised of all the public senior secondary school (SS2) biology students in all the public secondary school in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State which is one thousand four hundred and ninety one (1491) (Statistical unit PPSMB Enugu Education Zone 2017/2018).
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF RESULT
In this chapter, the results were presented in tables according to the research question.
Research Question One: To what extent do biology practical activities influence students academic achievement in biology?
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATION AND SUMMARY
In this chapter, the researcher discussed the results of findings, conclusion, implication of the study, recommendation of the study, limitation of the study, suggestions for further studies and summary.
Discussion of the Study
From the finding, practical activities influence student academic achievement on biology in senior secondary school in Enugu East L.G.A. This is in agreement with that of Kiladare and Okoro (2007) who established that student understands better when they involves themselves in practical experiment, thus matching theory with practical. This also affirmed that fact for an effective teaching to take place, the theoretical aspect must go inline with the practical aspect so as to attain a positive behavioral change in the life of the learner(s). Students understand well when they are been taught with practical. Biology practical helps to make abstract ideas more concrete for learners, such that basic concepts could be understood. The use of practical work in teaching biology and other subjects make learning interesting and fun, keeping the student active, create a conductive atmosphere for a participation class during teaching, making students to discover facts and new ideas by themselves. The finding revealed that despite the importance of the use of practical work in the teaching and learning of biology in senior secondary schools in Enugu east. There are some problems that are still militating against it the problems are teachers incompetency in the use of laboratory equipment, student wrong attitudes towards biology practical, inadequate supply of biology equipment and poor method of teaching in senior secondary school.
From the finding biology teachers are still unable to prepare and design a robust practical or experiment for the biology lesson. Biology teachers should proficient on how to plan better steps. According to Erin and Alicia (2009) designing learning instructions, setting goals and structuring teaching steps are important; the study shows that teachers are still inefficient in handling laboratory equipment and could not manage a systematic and effective experiment.
From the finding the word gender does not mean that there are clear difference between female and male on academic achieved in biology. If there are difference, they are based on hierarchical structures within the culture of what is suitable for male and female respectively.
Considering the findings of different people, it is clear that there is not yet a consensus as to whether gender influences academic achievement in biology.
Conclusions
The conclusion of the research were as follows:
- Influence of biology practical activities increase student academic achievement in biology in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State.
- Teachers incompetence in the use of laboratory equipment negatively affect students achievement in biology.
- The wrong attitude of students towards biology practical influence them in a negative way within the area.
- Influence of gender on academic achievement of student in biology.
Implication of the Study
The finding of this study have some educational implications for students, teacher and government. Active participation of the students in the class and retention makes the lesson more meaningful. This is because as the student participate and manipulate equipment/materials, they apply their five senses and other skills to their lessons more than when they would have learned in abstraction or remained less active in class.
The finding of this study have implications on the teachers who should adopt practical activity method of teaching which is the student centered method. Students learn better when they are involved in the laboratory activity. Activity-based methods enhance understanding of biological concepts and increase the ability to acquire scientific skills by the learners.
Furthermore, the finding of the study showed that there is no clear different between female and male on academic achievement in biology. The implication of this finding is that most instructional approach used in teaching biology does not take care of gender difference in student. Therefore gender has to be considered during instructional delivery so that both male and female students will have equal opportunity to learn.
The finding of this study also have implication on the curriculum planners who are expected to plan for conceptual change over period of years. This is because learning involves the restructuring of prior knowledge to gain new ones for effective learning to take place. Therefore, since the use of practical activities enhances students’ high performance in biology, it follows that curriculum planners can create the awareness of this method in teachers by including it in the biology curricula. Also they should include within the existing subjects contents of the biology curriculum, some corresponding indigenous knowledge. They can do this by re-examining existing units of the subject matter taught in schools and identifying their corresponding indigenous knowledge and instructional materials. This will make the teaching of biology interesting and more meaningful.
Recommendation of the Study
Based on the finding, the following recommendations were made:
- Teachers should encourage students to develops interest in practical activities by engaging them in practical and providing instructional materials that will challenge them to be actively involved during practical lessons.
- Ministry of Education and professional organization like STAN should organize workshops, seminars and conferences for biology teacher.
- Biology concepts should be taught with practical activities so that the students will do science instead of learning about science.
- the government/ministry of education should provide more adequate qualified competent biology teachers to all the public secondary schools in Enugu East local government area.
- The government should provide fund for schools so as to enable them procure the relevant resources for effective teaching and learning of biology in all the public secondary school in Enugu East local Government Area.
Limitation of the Study
The generalizations made with respect to this study are however subject to the following limitations.
- Since different teachers were used for different groups, it could be assumed that they might not have been of equal attributes in terms of cognitive, personality and affective functioning, this might have introduced error in the study.
- There was also the problem of absenteeism among the students. The fact that some students skipped classes may have influenced their performance.
Suggestions for further Study
Based on the finding and limitations of this research, the following topics are suggested for further research.
- The study should be replicated in other science discipline like basic science, chemistry and physics.
- The study should be also replicated with other practical topics in biology
- Another study should be conducted to find out the effect of biology practical activities on students achievement and attitude to biology.
Summary of the Study
The study investigated the influence of biology practical activities on academic achievement of senior secondary school. Four research question guided the study.
The review of literature in the study was organized under conceptual framework, theoretical framework and review of empirical studies. In the conceptual framework, concept of biology was reviewed, biology practical teaching and concept of academic achievement was reviewed and factors affecting the achievement of secondary school biology students. Pieget’s cognitive constructivist learning theory and vygotsky’s social learning theory were also reviewed under theoretical framework. The empirical study examined studies on influence of biology practical activities on academic achievement of student in biology, and studies on gender and academic achievement in biology.
Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The study was carried out in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu state. The sample for the study comprised of one hundred and fifty (150) students drawn from the population of study using simple sampling techniques. The instruments for data collection in this study is questionnaire and analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The results revealed that students understand better when they involve themselves in practical experiment, thus matching theory with practical. Biology practical activities, stimulate creating, curiosity and critical thinking, there is no clear different between female and male on academic achievement in biology. The studies also revealed that there are some problems that are still militating against it, the problems are teachers incompetence in the use of laboratory equipment, students wrong attitudes towards biology practical and inadequate supply of Biology equipment.
In line with the finding of the study, the educational implications of the findings were highlighted and the recommendations were equally proffered among others that science (biology) teacher should encourage students to develops interest in practical activities by engaging them in practical and providing instructional materials that will challenge them to be actively involved during practical lessons, Ministry of Education and Professional Organizations like STAN should organized workshop, seminar and conferences for biology teachers, the government should provide more adequate qualified competent biology teachers to all the public secondary schools in Enugu East.
Finally, the limitation of the study and suggestion for further studies were equally made.
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