CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Biology is a natural science that deals with the living world. How the world is structured, how it functions and what these functions are, how it develops, how livingthings came into existence, and how they react to one another and with their environment (Umar, 2011). This includes medicines, pharmacy, nursing, agriculture, forestry, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and many other areas (Ahmed & Abimbola, 2011).
Biology is seen as one of the core subjects in secondaray school curriculum. Because of its importance, more students enrolled for biology in the senior secondary school certificate examination (SSCE) than for physics and chemistry (West African Examination Council, 2011). Biology is introduced to students at senior secondary school level as a preparatory ground for human development, where career abilities are groomed, and potentials and talents discovered and energized (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2009). The quality and quantity of science education recieved by secondary school students are geared toward developing future scientists, technologist, engineers, and related professionals ( Kareem, 2006).
Inspite of the importance and popularity of biology among Nigerian students, performance at senior secondary school level has been poor (Ahmed, 2008). The implication of this failure in education is that Nigeria may have shortages of manpower in science and technology-related disciplines. This may affect Nigeria’s vision to become one of the 20 industrialized nations in the world by year 2020.
Poor teaching methods adopted by teachers at senior secondary school level in Nigeria have been identified as one of the major factors contributing to poor performance of students in biology (Ahmed & Abimbola, 2011; Kareem, 2006; Umar, 2011). The convectional teaching method is classroom-based and consists of lectures and direct instructions conducted by the teacher. This teacher-centered method emphasizes learning through the teacher’s guidance at all times. Students are expected to listen to lectures and learn from them. The teacher often talks at the students instead of encouraging them to interact, ask questions, or make them understand the lesson thoroughly. Most classes involve rote learning, where students depend on memorization without having a complete understanding of the subject. Just passing the tests, consisting of descriptions, matching, and other forms of indicators, is all that matters to complete the curriculum (Adegoke, 2011; Umar, 2011).