EXAMINATION OF STUDENTS PERCEPTION ON DIFFICULT TOPICS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY CURRICULUM

EXAMINATION OF STUDENTS PERCEPTION ON DIFFICULT TOPICS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY CURRICULUM

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Science is a structured body of knowledge comprised of concepts, laws, theories, and generalizations. Urevbu (2001) defines science as the study of nature and natural phenomena in order to discover their principles and laws. According to Ezendu (2002), science is a body of knowledge gained through observation and systematic experimentation. According to Ogbonna (2000), science is a complex human activity that culminates in the production of a body of universal statements that serve to explain the observable behavior of the universe or a part of it and have predictive characteristics.

Several scholars have studied the difficulties that students face when learning biology in other countries such as Scotland, Nigeria, Turkey, and Israel (Johnstone and Mahmoud 1980). Johnstone and Mahmoud (1980) proposed in their findings

that genetics was one of the most difficult topics in biology for secondary school students. Cells, physiological processes, and hormonal regulation were identified by Lazarowitz and Penso (1992) as biological concepts that posed learning difficulties to secondary school students. According to Johnestone (1999), monohybrid, dihybrid crosses, and linkages in genetics, meiosis, the central nervous system, alleles, and genes were widely perceived as difficult topics by students.

Over the years, there has been a consistent decline in student performance in public examinations administered by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO) in sciences across the country (Agogo, 2003; Samba & Eriba, 2012). According to Ahmed and Abimbola (2011), Biology is the most popular subject because of its numerous applications.

Candidates taking the senior secondary school certificate examinations across the country have a choice of science subjects.

Despite the popularity of Biology, according to WAEC Research Reports (2008) and (2009), research studies consistently revealed poor student performance in the subject. The findings revealed that a wide range of factors are to blame for the students’ poor performance, including difficult biological concepts (Tekkaya et al., 2001; imer, 2004; Zeidan, 2010); the nature of science and its teaching methods (Lazarowitz and Penso, 1992), as well as the biological level of organization and the abstract level of the concepts. Many concepts or topics in biology, such as water transport in plants, protein synthesis, respiration and photosynthesis, gaseous exchange, energy, cells, mitosis, and so on, according to imer (2011),

Secondary school students may perceive meiosis, organs, physiological processes, hormonal regulation, oxygen transport, genetics, Mendelian genetics, genetic engineering, and the central nervous system as difficult to learn.

While Tekkaya et al. (2001) discovered that secondary school students found hormones, genes and chromosomes, mitosis and meiosis, the nervous system, and Mendelian genetics to be difficult concepts. zcan (2003) emphasized that having difficulty with so many topics in biology has a negative impact on students’ motivation and achievement. The difficulties that students have with many topics in biology have prompted researchers to investigate why students have such difficulties and how to overcome these difficulties. Biology difficulties can be attributed to a variety of factors, including the classroom learning environment, a lack of interest in learning science, overloaded curriculum content, and the delineation of learning objectives.

Science from society, for example. Despite teachers’ full knowledge of the difficulties students face in learning some of these biology topics, which actually lower their overall performance in biology exams, teachers have taken no serious steps to rectify the situation. This is due, in part, to teachers’ lack of specific research-based information on how to teach such problem topics, which could otherwise serve as a tool in alleviating the aforementioned students’ difficulties in learning the aforementioned topics. As a result, this study identified the topics in biology that were perceived as difficult, investigated the students’ difficulties in learning biology, and highlighted some of the possible teaching strategies that biology teachers could employ to address the learning challenges.

1.2 THEORY STATEMENT

For more than a decade, various senior high school students have demonstrated unsatisfactory performance in some biology topics that are perceived as difficult to learn, and the reasons for their learning difficulties are unknown. While adequate research has been conducted in other countries around the world on biology topics perceived as difficult and students’ learning challenges, very little research of this nature has been conducted in Nigeria, particularly in Bayelsa State. The researcher also discovered that if a teacher has difficulty understanding certain biology topics, he or she will be unable to teach such topics to the students’ good understanding, so such a teacher will likely avoid such topics and students will likely not understand the area of study.

The biology curriculum is not taught by teachers, and students may not be well prepared for external examinations in such topics. Because the syllabus and questions are based on the senior secondary education curriculum, this may result in poor performance in the senior secondary certificate examination. Based on this premise, the study seeks to ascertain students’ perceptions of difficult topics in senior secondary school curriculum in Bayelsa state.

1.3 THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE

The primary goal of this study is to discover secondary school students’ perceptions of difficult topics in biology curriculum in Bayelsa state. More specifically, the study intends to:

i. To ascertain the level of difficulty encountered by students in the biology curriculum.

ii. To

Examine students’ perceptions of difficult topics in the biology curriculum.

iii. Identifying factors that contribute to students’ difficulty understanding some biology topics.

iv. Determine whether difficulties in understanding some biology topics will impair students’ academic performance.

1.4 HYPOTHESIS OF RESEARCH

Ho1: Students in the biology curriculum have a low level of difficulty.

Hi1: Students in the biology curriculum face a high level of difficulty.

Ho2: There are no significant effects of difficult topics on students’ academic performance in biology.

Hi2: Difficult topics have a significant impact on students’ academic performance in biology.

1.5 THE STUDY’S SIGNIFICANCE

A great deal of research has been conducted on students’ difficulties in learning biology all over the world. generally. However, according to the literature, little research has been conducted on students’ learning difficulties in biology in Kogi state, Nigeria. As a result, this study is critical because it will provide useful data on students’ learning difficulties in biology. It is hoped that the findings of this study will be useful to policymakers and curriculum designers at the Ministry of Education, who may make changes to teaching methods. The study’s findings would be equally useful to educational institutions, school administrators, biology teachers, parents of biology students, and other stakeholders who want to improve classroom teaching and learning. It is also hoped that this study will inspire other academics to conduct similar research into students’ learning.

difficulties in biology and other science subjects, or expand this work beyond the borders of Bayelsa state.

1.6 THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE

This study will be conducted in Yenegoa, the capital of Bayelsa state, and will focus on students’ perceptions of difficult topics in senior secondary school.

1.7 THE STUDY’S LIMITATIONS

The researchers encountered minor constraints while conducting the study, as with any human endeavor. The significant constraint was the scarcity of literature on the subject because it is a new discourse, so the researcher incurred more financial expenses and spent more time sourcing for relevant materials, literature, or information and in the data collection process, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited sample size. Only secondary schools in Yenegoa, Bayelsa state’s capital, are covered. As a result, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to other junior secondary schools in other Nigerian states. Furthermore, the researcher’s involvement in this study while also working on other academic projects will impede maximum dedication to the research. Nonetheless, despite the constraints encountered during the research, all factors were minimized in order to provide the best results and make the research a success.