THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING BIOLOGY IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study is to examine the effectiveness of instructional material in teaching and learning of biology in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State. The population of the study consisted of the entire 15 principals and 29 biology teachers, within the 15 public secondary in Enugu South L.G.A. of Enugu State. The estimated population of the principals and biology teachers in the study areas was 44 and therefore, there was no sampling. Three structured research questions were used. The questionnaires were administered to the principals and biology teachers and were collected by the researcher. The data collected was analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and frequency percentage. The result from the analysis showed that, the availability of instructional materials in these schools is poor, including the most important ones. Biology teachers do not have much access to the available instructional materials. It is also revealed that the extent of use of instructional material for effective teaching and learning of Biology is very low. Some solutions include: the Government /Ministry of Education should provide adequate qualified Biology teachers, and the ministry of education should regularly supervise schools to make sure that they always meet up the appropriate standard. Hence, there is much need for sufficient qualified and competent biology teachers, adequate availability and utilization of instructional materials for effective teaching and learning of Biology in all the secondary schools in Enugu South Local Government Area.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Biology as a subject of life and living things needs to be taught not just theoretically but practically for it be functional and to lay the base foundation needed for science and technological development. Erickson (2005) noted that for a science teaching and learning to be effective every student must be given an opportunity to handle the materials of science and experience science personally. Biology is the study of life and living things, so a resourceful teacher does not have any reason for teaching biology, supporting him Asiabaka (2010:266) education is the key to national development, it provides the intellectual capability needed by man to enhance the human and material resource for scientific and technological advancement.

To address the objectives of senior secondary education, the teaching and learning process have to be in order. Thus, Curriculum is planted at different levels of education system by different people. The curriculum of any school is carried out for the purpose of bringing about a change in the behavior of students, it is part of the school academic programme which the school presents to the student in response to societal demand. According to onyedikachi (2011), in educational setting it is impossible to teach without tools. We use new tools to spice up the teaching and learning process to make it possible for students to teach themselves. This is why Ezekoka (2008) states that instructional materials constitute an important component in the teaching and learning environment. She viewed it as the vehicles that carry messages or information from a transmitting source (teacher) to the receiver (learner).

Since the objectives of any biology teaching determines the content, materials and materials needed for achieving such: objectives. The materials use for enhancing instructional effectiveness are aspect of media employed for achieving the instructional objectives recent emphasis on teaching and learning method is on that in which learners are made to have active  participation. Active participation of learners will increase motivation and also minimize abstraction associated with learning. Thus, increasing learning experiences (Afokloi and Adeleke, 2010:406). This can be facilitated by making use of instructional materials and resources which can minimize abstraction associated with learning. Teaching can only be effective when adequate and relevant instructional materials in teaching.
To this end, Onasanwa and Omosewo(2011) defined instructional materials as a system components that may be used as part of instructional process which are used to disseminate information message and idea or which make possible communicable in the teaching process.

Teaching aids are important catalyst of social re-engineering and change in learners. The role of instructional materials or teaching aid to enhance teaching for desired social and behavioral changes cannot be fully accomplished without the use of instructional materials. In modern teaching and learning situation, the utilization of instructional materials have become prominent because several experts and scholars are of the view that teaching will be better done if teaching aids or audio-visual aids are used and skill, students learn better if they are exposed to use the teaching materials no matter how prototype it would be.

It is against this background that the researcher deemed it necessary to investigate the effect of using instructional materials to teach biology in senior secondary schools in Enugu South local government area of Enugu-state.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The ultimate goal of any instructional activity is to facilitate effective teaching and meaningful learning and the teacher is responsible for the translation, and implementation of educational policies, curriculum, instructional materials package and assessment of a school outcome. When a curriculum is developed without adequate support by appropriate and sufficient materials and information technology support, there is a waste and when teachers are inadequately trained to interpret the curriculum and to create and use learning materials there is also a waste (Amoo, 2002). It has been observed that public schools lack basic instructional facilities, in some cases students are achieved to buy chalks and other instructional materials for the teaching and learning process. Consequently, students academic performance have been poor as it can be seen over the years through public examination and other examinations. In our senior secondary schools, teaching materials needed for teaching biology subjects are not made available to teachers and at affordable price to students where necessary, the teachers and students are therefore denied of the requisite exposure to such materials. This study therefore pose as a question, what are the effect of using instructional materials to teach  biology in senior secondary school in Enugu South local government area of Enugu-state.

1.3 Purpose of the study

The general purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of use of instructional materials in teaching biology in senior secondary schools in Enugu South local government Area of Enugu-state, but specifically the study will attempt to:

To ascertain if teachers use instructional materials in teaching and learning of biology in senior secondary schools in Enugu South.

Ascertain the extent to which instructional material help to facilitate effective teaching and learning and understanding concepts.

To ascertain the challenges hindering teachers from using instructional materials in teaching and learning process.

To ascertain how effective teaching and learning can be achieved in the classroom situation by using instructional materials.

1.4 The Significance of the study

This study is significant in many way as I will be beneficial to educational management, policy makers, teachers and students, through the following ways:

To the educational managers, state government and federal government, it will enable them to organize seminars and workshops for teachers soars to improve their quality of secondary school education. The study will serve as a feed back to the education sector especially the department of teachers training and development, curriculum and evaluation.

The findings of this study if discussed at seminars and workshops in the area of this study, it will enable teachers have a clear knowledge on effectiveness use of instructional materials and also learn to take appropriate measure to improve the situation.

To the students, the study will help them if adequate instructional materials are provided, it will help them to reach learning and understanding classroom instruction very well.

Finally, the findings of this study will be beneficial to scholars and researchers since it will serve as reference materials on the related topics and also show case ways of improving students’ academic performance and to achieve better learning.

1.5 Scope of the study

This study covers all the public secondary schools in Enugu South local government area of Enugu-state, thus, investigating the effects or the effectiveness use of instructional materials to teach biology in senior secondary schools in Enugu South local government area of Enugu-state (source: Semb 2012). The study will cover the utilization, functions and constraints, types of Instructional materials.

1.6 Research Question

The following research questions guided the study:

The researcher formulated the following research questions to guide the study:

Do teachers use instructional materials in teaching and learning process in secondary schools in Enugu South L.G.A?

To what extent do instructional materials help to facilitate effective teaching and learning and understanding concepts?

What are the challenges hindering teachers from using instructional materials in teaching and learning process in secondary schools.

How can effective teaching and learning be achieved in the classroom situation by using instructional materials?

To what extent are instructional materials made available to biology teachers in secondary schools?

To what extent do teachers have access to the instructional materials in teaching of biology in secondary schools?

To what extent do teachers utilize the instructional materials in teaching and learning of biology in secondary schools?