This study focused on teachers' academic self-concept and academic stress as predictors of academic achievement of Biology students' in Enugu Education Zone. Six (6) null hypotheses were postulated for the study. The study adopted ex-post-facto research design. The population of study comprised 74 Biology teachers in 33 public secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone with SS 2 biology students' population of 4,737. The sample consisted of all the Biology teachers' in the Zone and a sample of 10% of the students' were sampled from the Biology teachers' classroom. The instrument used for data collection were three (3) Marsh teachers' academic self-concept scale, Balamurugau and Kumaran academic stress scale and Students' scores from their promotion examination 2022/2023 academic year were used to measure their academic achievement in Biology. The instruments were validated by three experts and the internal consistency reliability was determined though Cronbach Alpha method. The teachers' self-concept scale yielded a reliability index of 0.92 while teachers' academic stress scale yielded an index of 0.88 coefficients. The data collected were analysed using Simple and multiple regression analysis with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. The findings of the study showed that: Teacher academic self-concept significantly and positively predicted students' academic achievement in Biology in Enugu Education Zone; likewise, teachers' academic stress significantly and negatively predicted students' academic achievement in Biology in Enugu Education Zone. Based on these findings it was recommended amongst others that Biology teachers should arrange learning activities, in such a way that it will help students to be self-directed in their learning in order to have significantly positive achievement in Biology.
Cause and effect of biological phenomena seem to remain ambiguous to most people, including biology students. Understanding the concept of biological phenomena requires proper articulation of biological concepts and scientific reasoning. This study on enhancing the understanding of biology students on how and why biological phenomena occur through causal reasoning was carried out in Enugu North local government area of Enugu State, Nigeria. The population of the study was 4,612 biology students in Enugu North local government area. The sample size was thirty (30) biology students. This was made up of one (1) male and one (1) female, biology student that were sampled through simple random sampling, by balloting, from each of the three senior secondary school classes of five public co-education schools in Enugu North local government areas. Pre-teaching and post-teaching of causal reasoning interviews were conducted on the students to determine the impact of teaching causal reasoning to the students. Data collected from their interview responses prior to the teaching and after the teaching of causal reasoning about biological phenomena were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and subjected to Chi-Square test at 0.05 level of significance, to determine the impact of the teaching on their understanding of how and why biological phenomena occur. The Chi-Square test result indicated that there was significant association between causal reasoning with enhancement of the understanding of biology students on how and why biological phenomena occur. It was, therefore, recommended that teaching towards understanding how and why biological phenomena occurred, should be approached through scientific reasoning, by the teachers. Biology teachers should teach their students on how to think analytically and scientifically in order to understand and interpret biological phenomena.
This study was conducted to determine the effect of computer assisted instruction on student academic achievement and retention in nutrition content of secondary school biology in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra State. The study adopted a quasi - experimental design using prettest and posttest. The population for the study consisted of 5,626 SS1 Biology students in all the 32 secondary schools in Onitsha education zone of Anambra State with a sample size of 252 biology students (116 male and 136 female ) undertaken using multi -stage sampling technique. Four research questions and four corresponding null hypotheses guided the study. The instrument for data collection was a Biology Achievement Test developed from nutrition in living organisms with multiple choice questions consisting of 50 items with options lettered A -D. The instrument was validated by three experts while the reliability of the instrument was determined usin g Kuder Richardson's formula 20 technique. The internal consistency reliability index was 0.74. The data collected were analyzed using mean scores. The hypotheses formulated for the study were tested at 0.05 level of significance using Analysis of Covariance. Findings of the study revealed that the students taught Biology using Computer assisted instruction, CAI achieved higher than students taught using lecture method. Also, there is a significant difference between the mean academic achievement scores of students taught nutrition in living organisms using CAI and that of those taught using lecture method. It was recommended that the government should assist Biology teachers in the use of CAI for effective services delivery in secondary schools in Anambra State.
This research investigated the effect of Peer Instructional Strategy (PIS) on the academic achievement of Secondary School Biolo gy Students in Enugu Education z one of Enugu State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study employed non-equivalent control group design involving 528 (227 male and 301 female) SSII Biology students drawn from six randomly selected co -educational schools out of the ten secondary schools in Enugu Education z one that met the inclusion criteria. Two intact classes from each of the six schools (twelve classes) were randomly assigned to either Peer Instructional Strategy and Expository Method group by balloting. U sing the assigned method for each group, trained research assistants taught the same content to the respective groups, simultaneously. The instrument for the study was a researcher -made Biology Achievement Test (BAT), validated by three experts, and pilot tested. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to carry out test-retest reliability of the instrument, r = 0.74. The BAT was administered (pretest) before the interventions, after 4 weeks long intervention (post -test).. To avoid distribution bias; scores of forty -four students who completed the study procedures and took all the appropriate tests were randomly drawn from each of the twelve intact classes through software randomization. The scores were processed for data a nalysis. Statistical tools of mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Variance was used to test the hypotheses at.05 level of significance. The researcher concluded that P IS improves the academic achieveme nt and of both ma le and female secondary school Biology students better than the expository Method.
The aspiration of every living individual is to continue to enjoy 'good' health. Incidentally, some organisms both visible and invisible t end to distort the normal health of other organisms. The most disturbing is the actions of invisible ones such as viruses which are invisible to naked eyes except with electron microscope and naturally proved very difficult to capture physically. This paper then identifies some of the viruses that affect humans and cause different ill health. The most ravaging one currently is the corona virus of 2019, alternatively called SARS -COV-2 or COVID -19. The paper loo ked into the structure of this virus, its mode of contact, its symptoms in humans when contracted. Then, the steps biology teachers could take to educate the secondary school students in controlling the spread of COVID -19. These steps are in line with the directives of centre for disease control and World Health Organization. Such steps are: Wearing of face mask especially in public places, avoiding hand shake or skin to skin contact with people, washing hands often with soap and clean running water, applyi ng alcohol-based sanitizer on hands, maintaining social distancing, inhaling steam as well as taking warm water regularly among others. Recommendations were made on how to improve and Sensitize students to adhere to COVID-19 protocols in order to control the spread of the virus.
Stephanie N. Ozota, Angela C. Asuzu, Chidimma O. Nwafor
The relative decline in the academic achievement of students in Biology in Senior Secondary Schools has necessitated this study. Thus, the study sought to find out the appraisal of instructional resource utilization for teaching and learning of Biology in Senior Secondary Schools in Enugu North L.G.A. of Enugu State. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The researcher adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was made up of thirty - one (31) Biology teachers in Enugu North L.G.A. No sampling was carried out as the population size was manageable. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Cronbach alpha Statistic was employed in determining the internal consistency of AIRUTLBSSS.in which the overall reliability coefficent index of 0.873 w as obtained. The data obtained were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for answering the research questions, and t- test statistic for testing the null hypotheses. The study arrived at the following findings: Biology teachers use the available resou rce teaching materials in teaching and learning of biology to a high extent. Biology teachers had positive attitude towards utilization of instructional materials in teaching of biology. There are impediments to utilizing instructional resources for teaching and learning biology in senior secondary schools. The hypotheses showed that there was no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female biology teachers on the extent to which teachers use the available resource teaching materials for teaching and learning of Biology and their attitude towards utilization of instructional materials. The hypothesis also showed no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female teachers on the impediments in utilization of instructional materials in teaching and learning of Biology. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that teachers should be encouraged to the method of use of instructional materials in teaching and learning of biology in senior secondary schools.
In recent times, there have increase in laboratory accident such as fire outbreak, heat burns, cuts and scrapes, spill of chemical and the likes, in biology laboratory. It becomes expedient that in general des ign of biology laboratory, lighting, ventilation, spacing of tables and stools, wider walkways to avoid congestion during emergency and proper supervision during biology laboratory work are not put into consideration. Entrance and exit doors are not properly fixed for easy movement. The fact that some Biology Laboratory assistants are well trained to do the job bring about their inability to arrange and label chemical and reagent bottles properly has contributed greatly in biol ogy laboratory accident. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the implementation of laboratory safety practices among senior secondary biology students in Awgu Education zone. Specifically, the study sought to find out extent to which general design of Biology Laboratory is relevant to implementation of safety practices and also the l aboratory assistant's ability to arrange and label chemical and reagent bottles ensure implementation of safety practices in biology laboratory. Two research questions and two research hypotheses guided the study. The presentation and analysis of the result was done according to the research questions and research hypotheses. The recommendations are that in general design of the Biology Laboratory, safety of the students and all laboratory users should be the priority, among others.
The study examined the effect of Peer Instructional Strategy (PIS) and expository method (EM) on the retention of Secondary School Biology Students. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of peer instructional strategy relative to expository method on the retention of secondary school Biology students. The area of the study was Enugu Education Zone of Enugu State. Two research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The study was a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest, non-equivalent groups research design; involving 528( 227 male and 301 female senior secondary school 2 Biology students drawn from six randomly selected co -educational schools out of the ten secondary schools in Enugu Education z one that met the inclusion criteria. Two intact classes from each of the 6 schools were randomly assigned to either PIS or EM group by balloting. The instrument for the study was a researcher -made Biology Achievement Test (BAT), validated by three experts. C ontent validity was ensured using text blueprint. The Pearson's product moment correlation c oefficient was used to carry out test -retest reliability of the instrument, r = 0.74. The BAT was administered 2 weeks after posttest. The results showed that PIS group significantly performed better than EM group in terms of academic level of retention. The researcher recommends PIS should be used in teaching and learning of Biology.
The research investigates effects of guided and unguided discovery methods on students' retention in biology in Nsukka education zone. The sample comprises 155 SS1 students from secondary schools in Nsukka Educational Zone of Enugu State. The experimental group was exposed to guided discovery method while the control group was exposed to unguided discovery method. Data we re collected using Biology Retention Test (BRT) which was validated by three experts, content validity was ensured using Test Blue Print (TBP) and Reliability indices of 0.89 was obtained using Kuder Richardson formula 20 (K-R-20). The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the research hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at.05 level. The findings revealed that there is a significant difference in the mean retention score of students taught using guided discovery method and those taught using unguided discovery method. Based on the finding, the researcher recommends among others that Biology teachers should adopt the use of guided discovery method of teaching over the unguided discovery method for e nhancing academic retention. It also establishes that science educators and curriculum planners should incorporate innovative pedagogical strategies like guided discovery method in science teaching.
