EFFECTS OF IMPROVISED INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA ON NIGER STATE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ACHIEVEMENT IN SELECTED BIOLOGY CONCEPTS

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of improvised instructional media on secondary school students’ achievement in biology in Niger State. It also investigated gender and ability levels effects on achievement. Two hundred and seventy (270) students were drawn from nine public senior secondary schools. The design adopted was pretest posttest control group factorial design. The treatment involved teaching the experimental group 1 with the use of improvised models, the experimental group 2 with developed video DVD instructional package and the control group with lecture method. A 40-item Structured Biology Achievement Test (SBAT) was developed and validated for data collection. Its reliability coefficient was found to be 0.83. Seven hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The ANOVA Statistic was used to test the hypotheses. Scheffe’s post hoc test was conducted where significant difference existed among more than two groups. The major findings of the study showed that-there were significant differences between the groups (1 (models) and 2 (video DVD)) respectively and the control group. (F-cal. 83:12 > F-tab.  3.92; P < 0.05) and (F-cal. 112.9 > F-tab. 3.92; p<0.05). There were also significant differences between the male and female experimental groups (1 and 2) respectively and male and female control group.  (F-cal. 28.38> F-tab. 2.68; P < 0.05) and (F-cal. 48.58 > F-tab. 2.68; P< 0.05). There were significant differences between the three ability levels of students (high, average and low) in both experimental groups 1 and 2 and their counterparts in the control group. (F-cal. 9.11 > f-tab. 2:29; P< 0.05) and (F-cal. 22.48 > F-tab. 2.29; P< 0.05). Based on the above findings, it was recommended among others that the use of improvised instructional media should be fully encouraged in the absence of instructional media resources; either improvised models or video DVD package could be used by teachers of biology and other science subjects.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1: Background to the Study

The importance of science as a requirement for the development of any nation is no longer in dispute. Science has contributed in no small measure to the development and comfort of the modern world. For instance, for any nation to attain the status of self- reliance, science must be an important component of the knowledge to be given to all citizens of that nation irrespective of race, creed or sex (Nsofor, 2001).  Indeed, science has come to be recognized as the foundation upon which the bulk of the present day technological breakthrough is built. No wonder Abilu (2005) expressed the opinion that Nigerian citizens should pursue science, technology and mathematics education to prevent Nigeria from being perpetual slave to the developed world. The prestige and political power of any nation also resides largely in its level of scientific achievement.

Consequently, the pursuit of science as an imperative endeavor for achieving prosperity and advancement is conspicuous in the national development plans of many developed and developing nations. In Nigeria, these facts underscore the importance and priority accorded science as manifested in various policy statements and steps that encourage her citizens to pursue science courses (Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), 2004). Such policies include the establishment of special science schools, increasing the ratio of students’ enrolment in sciences in tertiary institutions (60:40 in favour of science), and the introduction of basic science in primary school curriculum. All these are done with the hope that a solid foundation in the sciences would equip millions of Nigerian students for successful science-based careers, thereby contributing to the much-needed scientific and technological advancement.

Unfortunately, literature in science education is replete with the fact that the performance of science students in Nigerian schools still leaves much to be desired right from the primary school through secondary school to the tertiary level of education (Adewunmi, 1992; Kareem, 2003; West African Examination Council,2007;). A general review of Nigerian students’ performances in the three science subjects {Biology, Chemistry, Physics} in the West African Senior Secondary Certificates Examination (WASSCE) from 2000 to 2007 revealed fluctuations and down-ward trends in students’ performance (See AppendixA). Appendix A reveals that the students’ performance in the sciences, which are the foundation subjects for scientific and technological take-off, is not encouraging, especially in biology.

Biology is one of the science based career and compulsory subject for senior secondary school. Biology, an integral part of the natural science, is of Greek origin, coined from ‘bios’, meaning ‘life’ and ‘logos’ meaning ‘the study of life (Ewusie, 1980). Biology is conceptualized as a unique life subject which deals with animate objects, their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution and distribution. Being a science of life, biology occupies an important position in the school curriculum. It is designed ultimately to educate individuals who may or may not pursue biological related careers, but could at least acquire the knowledge as prerequisite for pursuing careers in science related disciplines.

Basic principles and applications of biology have led to the design and production of a number of artificial organs in the body. Also the applications of these basic principles of biology (as in biotechnics and genetic engineering) have made man to perpetuate desired favorable traits in the production of high breeds of crops and animals through hybridization and cloning respectively. The knowledge of biology helps in conservation of natural resources and checkmating population explosion. The inherent potentials of biology may explain why biology is recognized and accorded a special position in the school curriculum as the only core science subject made compulsory for both arts and science students at senior secondary school level of the Nigerian education system. Thus, it has become very popular among students as evidenced by large enrolment rate (see Appendix A)

Bearing these points in mind, one expects students’ performance in biology to justify its continuous popularity among them. But on the contrary, it is sad to note that the students’ performance in the subject is not encouraging. For example, the percentage passes at credit level and above in Biology between 2000 and 2005 fluctuated between 19.3% and 42.2%. It increased from 19% in 2000 to 42% in 2003 and decreased again to 29.08% in 2004. Since credit pass in biology is a prerequisite for admission into most disciplines at the tertiary level of education, it then means that only these few students, who sat for WASSCE in the year 2000 to 2007, were qualified to get admission into the university, while the remaining students would have no admission into any Nigerian University.

Similarly, when students’ result in biology is compared with that of other sciences like Physics and Chemistry, Biology result is usually the poorest (Ezekannaya and Ikeagu (2004). The analysis in table of appendix A reveals that most of the students who sat for biology between 2000 and 2007 failed while majority secured ordinary pass grade, which will not qualify them for admission into any tertiary institution. There were very few students who passed at credit level, for instance, in the year 2000, out of 620,291 students who sat for Biology examination, 315,919 representing 50.93% failed. Also, 184,603 representing 29.76% had ordinary pass while only 119,769 representing 19.30% passed at credit level and above.

Similarly in the  year 2001, 995,346 students sat for the examination, 468,216 (47.04%) failed, 295,654 (29.70%) had ordinary pass and only 231,475 (23.25%) passed with credit and above. In 2003, 1,005,553 students sat for the examination, 266,222 (26.47%) failed, 271,058 (26.95%) had pass and 424,636 (42.22%) passed with credit and above. The trend continues till date. A close look at the failure rate of students in biology, chemistry and physics (as evidenced in Appendix A) showed that biology ranked the highest with the mean percentage failure of 42.82 % as against 31.52% and 25.56 % for chemistry and physics respectively.

Specifically, a review of Niger State students’ performances in biology, chemistry and physics showed the same trend of high enrolment figure and high failure rate in biology. This was evident from the analysis of the statistics of entries and results for May/June WASSCE 2000-2008 as shown in (see Appendix B). From the analysis of the results in appendix B above, it could be observed that students who registered for biology almost doubled or tripled those who registered for physics and chemistry. It is also clear that despite the high enrolments for biology, students’ performance is poor. Even though students’ performance in the three science subjects is generally poor over the years, it is lamentable that the performance in biology from 2000 to 2008 has been found to be the poorest of the three science subjects. This is because it has the mean percentage failure of 65.29% against 53.91% and 45.58% for chemistry and physics respectively. Furthermore, it can be deduced from the result that the percentage of students that passed biology at credit level and above was consistently less than 20%.

This trend in students’ performance in biology is supported by the WAEC Chief Examiners’ report which had consistently remarked that from 1992 up to date, there is no appreciable improvement in students’ performance in the WASSCE biology results. This unimpressive performance in biology has been very disturbing and if it is not checked, it may jeopardize the placement chances of students into tertiary institutions not only in biology related areas but also in other science based disciplines. These problems have raised a-lot of eyebrows in Nigeria and constitute a major catalyst for initiating the present study.

The desire to know the causes of the problem of poor performance in biology has been the focus of researchers in recent times and has culminated into diverse researches. Ajayi (1998) reported that students perform poorly in biology because the classes are usually too large and heterogeneous in terms of cognitive ability level, while Bassey (2002) observed that the laboratories in schools are sub-standard and ill equipped. In continuation, Bassey pointed out that in some laboratories where there are few equipment and materials; they are not in good condition, usually they face technical, operational and maintenance problems owing to sophistication in construction and operation. The few that are in good conditions are not enough to go round the students.  In support of this, Adelakun (2003) echoed that there is serious shortage of instructional materials in schools while    Adebimpe (1997): 55 lamented thus:

There is a total or partial absence, inadequacy of the science teaching resources, grossly inadequate finances for the purchase of science equipment, galloping inflation, rising enrolment of students, general downward trend in students’ performance in science, poor maintenance culture and at times uncooperative attitude of some school heads towards science and science equipment.

Foin (2001) went further to identify population explosion in schools, where the student in-take out-weighed the number of staff available, classrooms and other school facilities as other factors that contributes to poor performance of students in biology.

Ibe (2004) and Madu, (2004), in their various studies on why students perform poorly in biology, revealed that the excessive use of expository method of teaching where the instruction is more teacher-centered is a factor. Nsofor (1991), Nateinyin (1995) and Ameh and Gunstone (1996) reported that misconceptions and difficulty of certain biology concepts are also among the causes of poor performance in it. Ojiaku (2003) shared the same view and pointed out that students blamed their poor performance in biology on the complex nature of most concepts especially those relating to the internally situated organs and systems which ordinarily they do not have access to. Such complex and abstract internal systems include digestive system, excretory system, respiratory system, nervous system, and blood circulatory system among others. Okwo, Amaka, Okoye, Ugwu and Onyeka (2008) further noted that the students rated excretion and circulation highest in complexity.

The question that comes up at this juncture is how best could these concepts be effectively taught in the classroom? It has therefore become necessary for researchers to continue the search for solutions to the multifarious problems confronting the teaching and learning of biology concepts like the ones highlighted above. Reacting to the above demand, Adewoyin (1991) pointed out that most of the problems confronting the teaching and  learning of biology concepts  could  be alleviated  if  instructional  technology is employed. Instructional technology according to (Adewoyin 1991) is a component of educational technology which seeks to improve learning by ensuring the installation of efficient and effective instructional system and managing the human and other resources optimally. Indeed, instructional technology is technology applied to education. It comprises of such components as the teacher, learner, subject matter and instructional media. When these components, especially instructional media are efficiently manipulated and managed in any instructional process, learning becomes effective. Based on this, Onasanya and Adegbija (2007) emphasized on the need for massive use of instructional media in the classroom.

Instructional media are projected and non-projected information carrying technologies that constitute an integral part of the instructional process used for the delivery of educational information very quickly, widely and effectively (Adewoyin, 1991). Some of the wide ranging instructional media materials that could be used for biology instruction in secondary schools are non-projected two and three-dimensional materials (charts, diagrams, models and others) and projected media materials (film strips, audio-tapes, video CD and DVD and others). Umeoduagu (2000) emphasized that for effective instructional processes, emphasis should be more on those media materials that appeal to more than one sense of perception. This remark is based on the fact that learning experiences, which evoke the involvement of as many sense organs as possible enable the teacher to convey meaningful information to the learners and stimulate students to receive and process all the necessary information for the development of cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills. This is what has drawn attention to research into models and video (DVD) instructional package. Of all non-projected media material mentioned earlier, model is the only 3-dimensional medium and thus has appeal to many senses of perception. Model simplifies complex objects and accent important features with color, texture and illumination. Model scales down or scales up objects to an observable size. Video DVD also has appeal to many senses of perception, and in addition has an advantage of making knowledge reach a lot of students simultaneously. Video DVD enables the teacher to process instruction, enhance its presentation, supervision and management. The importance of these media materials in the teaching and learning process cannot be overemphasized.  But are these instructional media materials available in our schools?

As important as these media materials are, it has been widely reported by a growing body of research that the improvised version of such media materials are not available in most Nigerian schools, also foreign types are not readily available  (Ezeudu, 2000; Adelakun, 2003; Thomas, 2004; Gana, 2006 ). Specifically, Thomas (2004) pointed out that complete models either improvised or foreign for teaching the concept of blood circulation and excretion in man are not available in most secondary schools in Niger State. Similarly Gana (2006) made it clear that most secondary schools in Niger State do not have functional video instructional packages (tape, CD or DVD) in any subject area.

Based on the foregoing, Adebimpe (1997) warned that teachers should not use the absence or inadequacy of instructional media as an excuse to resort to poor teaching and learning, instead they should resort to improvisation as an alternative approach towards keeping science teaching and learning afloat and meaningful during such a difficult time. This is in line with the view of Maduabum (1983), he emphasized that if science is best learned with concrete objects, then teachers have no option than to devise methods of complying through improvisation.  Improvisation is the act of using local materials obtained from the local environment or designed by either the teacher or with the help of local personnel to enhance instruction (Balogun, 1982; Adebimpe, 1997). Improvisation could also be referred to as the act of using alternative materials or resources to facilitate instruction whenever there is lack or shortage of some commercially produced instructional teaching materials. However in the act of improvisation, Araromi (1998) cautioned that improvised instructional materials must necessarily serve the purpose for which it is intended. It should not just be provision of a piece of media as a substitute for what is not available. The present work is a step in this direction. Two sets of models imaging the two concepts of excretion and circulation were improvised, video DVD instructional package were produced  and  their  effects  on  students’  achievement  in biology were sought

Media effects on learning outcome are common in the field of Educational Technology. Examples of such studies are those of Okobi, (1994), Okoro and Etukudo, (2001), Otegbayo, (2005), and Kutigi, (2006). Okobi (1994) investigated the effects of Video Tape and Slide Tape Instruction on students’ performance in social studies; Okoro and Etukudo, (2001) investigated the effects of Computer Aided Instruction (CAL)  and Extrinsic Motivation Traditional Method on students’ performance in chemistry; Otegbayo, (2005) investigated the effects of Audio and Film Package on the teaching and learning of phonetics in junior secondary schools, while Kutigi, (2006) investigated the effects of Audio Tape and CAL on the teaching and learning of oral English at senior secondary school level. Of all the researches mentioned, no known work has been reported on the effects of video (DVD) instructional package and instructional model on students’ achievement in biology.

Again, prominent among the prevalent problems in the school system are those of the influence of students’ ability level (high, average and low) and gender differentials on learning outcome. It is a common feature in the conventional classroom to find students of mixed academic ability lumped together to be given the same treatment as if they have everything in common. This phenomenon has been a point of concern to researchers in the recent times and this was investigated in this study. Gender issues also have been linked with performance of students in academic tasks in several studies (Awoniyi, 2000; Balogun, 2000). Some studies revealed that male students perform better than female students in science while others revealed that female students are better than their male counter parts. Some studies could not even find any form of influence being exerted by gender on academic performance. Despite various studies to examine the relationship between gender, ability level and students’ academic performance, the issues are still far from being conclusive. It is therefore reasoned that a considerable amount of empirical research evidence is still required before a definite and convincing pattern of relationship can emerge.   These issues essentially set forth the problems that were investigated in this study.

1.2: Statement of the Problem

Biology is regarded as “most popular” of the three basic sciences (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) that students are exposed to at secondary school level, but when students’ result in public examination in this subject is compared to other sciences, biology result is usually the poorest (Ajayi, 1998 and Nsofor, 2007). Indeed the performance of students in science generally and biology in particular has been quite unsatisfactory over the years (Adewunmi, 1992; Kareem, 2003 WAEC, 2007;). The examining bodies such as the West African Examination council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) (2000-2008) have repeatedly recorded mass failure in the subject. This particular problem has prevented the educational system in Nigeria from producing required scientists and technologists (Gusen 2001). Also the poor performance of students in science (Biology) has implications on university admission and might explain the reason for the introduction of remedial programs in some Nigerian Universities.

Researchers have traced the issue of unsatisfactory performance of students in biology to a number of problems such as methods of instruction used by teachers, abstract and complex nature of biology concepts and most importantly the unavailability or inadequate supply of instructional materials in schools (Ojiaku, 2003: Adelakun, 2003). Stressing further on the problem of instructional materials, Adebimpe (1997) reiterated that the shortage of instructional materials is really a serious issue in Nigerian educational system. With these multifarious problems in the school system, most teachers resort to the teaching of science( biology) concepts with only “chalk” and “talk” method or by the use of  2- dimensional materials (poster, chart, diagram, and others).

According to Martins and Oyebanji (2000), this situation in the school system has made the teaching and learning of biology boring, uninteresting, and even meaningless to most students. These students in turn develop phobia while nursing the impression that science is meant for a gifted few with special mental ability. This situation has enhanced the undesirable existence of a preponderant class majority of mere on-lookers learning about science (biology)  and not  learning science. Consequently the product of the educational system usually constitutes a generation of graduates who are not committed to science and who cannot reason critically or analytically and so cannot transfer what is learnt to a new but similar situation Osisioma (2005). Therefore, as a step towards addressing these abnormalities and the inadequacies of instructional materials in secondary schools, this study attempted to develop complete models and video DVD instructional package for teaching the biology concepts of blood circulation and excretion and investigate their effectiveness on students’ achievement.

1.3      Purpose of the Study

The of this study was to investigate the effects of video DVD   and improvised models on students’ achievement in biology. Specifically, the study intended

1.        To investigate the effects of improvised models and lecture method on students’ achievement in biology.

2.         To investigate the effects of improvised models and lecture method on gender in biology.

3.         To investigate the effects of improvised models and lecture method on students’ ability in biology.

4.         To  investigate  the  effects  of  video  DVD  and  lecture  method  on  students’ achievement in biology.

5.         To investigate the effects of video DVD and lecture method on gender in biology.

6.         To investigate the effects of video DVD and lecture method on students’ ability in biology.

7          To investigate the effect of improvised models and video DVD on students’ achievement in biology.

1.4: Research Questions.

In order to find solutions to the problems raised, the study addressed the following research questions:

1.         What are the effects of Improvised models and Lecture method on Students’ Achievement in Biology?

2.         What are the effects of Improvised models and Lecture method on gender in Biology?

3.         What are the effects of Improvised models and Lecture method on students’ ability in Biology?

4       What are the effects of Video DVD and lecture method on Students’ Achievement in Biology?

5          What are the effects of Video DVD and lecture method on gender in Biology?

6           What are the effects of Video DVD and lecture method on Students’ ability in Biology?

7   What are the effects of Video DVD and Improvised models on Students’ Achievement in Biology?

1.5: Research Hypotheses

Based on the research questions, the following null hypotheses were tested;

HO1      There is no significant difference in the mean achievement of students taught with improvised models and those taught with lecture method.

HO2      There is no significant difference in the mean achievement of students taught with improvised models and those taught with lecture method irrespective of gender.

HO3      There is no significant difference in the mean achievement of students’ based on their ability levels taught using improvised models and those taught with lecture method.

HO4      There is no significant difference in the mean achievement of students taught using developed video DVD Instructional package and those taught with lecture method.

HO5      There is no significant difference in the mean achievement of students taught with developed video DVD Instructional package and those taught with lecture method irrespective of gender.

HO6      There is no significant difference in the mean achievement of student’s based on their ability levels taught using developed video DVD instructional package and those taught with lecture method.

HO7   There is no significant difference in the mean achievement of students taught using improvised models and those taught with video DVD Instructional package.

1.6: Scope / delimitation of the Study

This study developed instructional models and video DVD instructional package and found their effects on secondary school students’ achievement in selected biology concepts in Niger State. It was conducted in co-educational senior secondary schools selected from 146 Government secondary schools (77 co-educational and 69 single sex schools) distributed within the three educational zones (A, B, C) in Niger State.

The study was delimited to senior secondary two students (SS II) because the concepts treated in this study were selected from their curriculum. The aspects of the biology concepts  focused  on  were  human  blood  circulation,  and  excretion.  It  also examined the influence of gender and ability levels on students’ achievement when taught using improvised instructional models and video DVD instructional package.

1.7: Significance of the study

It is expected that the teaching and learning process, students, teachers, teacher trainees, curriculum developers, policy makers, parents, government and the nation at large would benefit from the findings in the following ways: The result of this study will have positive impacts on teaching and learning of biology in secondary schools. It will re-emphasize the need for teachers to always enrich the teaching-learning process with instructional media. This would encourage head, hand and heart co-ordination on learners and promote harmonious interaction between learners and the materials to be learnt. This in turn would relieve passivity, monotony, excessive verbalism, thereby preventing biology from being taught in a manner that produces in the mind of learners a feeling of boredom and distaste for biology. The instructional media developed will enhance the teaching and learning of the structure and function of human heart, components of blood circulatory system and mechanism of blood circulation in man, structure of urinary system, mammalian kidney and mechanism of excretion in man (urine formation).

Findings from the research will have positive impacts on the students’ participation and interest in biology in the sense that the developed media used would be readily available for the learners’ use during and after the lesson. This would enable the learner to study a particular concept over and over at his / her own pace. This procedure would provide for individual differences, eliminate tension in learners, make learning easy, simple, and enjoyable and invariably culminate in better mastery of the subject matter. Specifically, the model being 3-dimensional would enable the learners to see and touch the features. Consequently, it will provide cognitive bridge to lead them from abstraction to a nodding acquaintance with reality. By the use of video- tape instructional package, the interest of the learners for irrelevant movies and entertainment programs could systematically be transferred to a more productive and educative pursuit. Also the learners listening skill which is vital to efficient learning would be improved upon.

It is expected that the media improvised will have positive effects on students’ performance, and would stimulate and encourage biology teachers’ innovativeness, resourcefulness, ingenuity and challenge them to use what they have to get what they need. Again, the biology teacher is expected to benefit from this study, because the use of videotape instructional package could provide some more positive approach to the problem of large classes, while the use of model would aid the teaching of abstract and complex biology concepts.

The findings from this  study would  attract the attention of teacher training institutions to incorporate and emphasize more on the techniques for the production and utilization of electronic and non-electronic instructional media in their programs. This is to ensure that the teachers have the requisite knowledge, skills, attitude and interest to generate and manipulate media materials in the teaching and learning process. The importance of media in teaching process cannot be over emphasized but media do not teach by themselves, they require the efforts of the teacher to make them effective.

The study would keep science curriculum developers abreast of the need to always spell out specific instructional medium in relation to curriculum content. This is to give direction and confidence to the teacher whose job it is to put the curriculum into use and to ensure the attainment of specific objectives of learning science.

When the findings of this study get to the policy makers, they would enable them to lay more emphasis on the introduction of improvisation as a course in all tertiary institutions. This will equip Nigerians, most especially teachers, with the skills that will enable them to improvise whenever there is lack of first hand materials. This may also require the policy makers to emphatically make it a matter of policy that science teachers and other supportive staff in education must be sponsored to attend refresher courses, seminars, workshops and conferences to keep them abreast of the global developments in science education in general and their specific areas of specialization in particular.

The findings of this study on the students’ performance in the selected concepts will encourage the development of similar models for teaching other biology concepts. This ultimately will lead to improved performance generally in Biology as a discipline. Equally, success in biology will enhance success in related professions, which is capable of improving the economic and social status of families in particular and the nation in general.

It is hoped, that the fundamental issue in this study which is improvisation, wi1l be of great benefit to the government: This is because the economics of education is generally economics of scarcity. Therefore, no matter how generous and rich the government might be, they are generally not in position to provide the schools with all the instructional media they need. Thus the improvised media in this study would compliment the costly imported prototypes, increase the number of biology instructional materials available in schools and help in conserving foreign exchange.

The study would be of immense benefit to the nation as it could lead to the turn out of learners with solid foundation in science (biology) to meet the demands of science and technology of the new millennium. This study may serve as a springboard for future researchers who might wish to embark on a similar study but on other concepts in biology or other discipline such as chemistry or physics.

1.8: Operational Definition of Terms

The following key terms which featured in this research are defined below as they were used in this study;

Improvised Instructional Media: These are biological models (internal structure of the heart, blood circulatory system, excretory system and kidney nephron) and video DVD instructional package improvised by the researcher using materials available in the environment to serve as channels through which message, information, ideas and knowledge are disseminated to the learners. They are locally improvised devices that can be used to enhance the quality of an instruction.

Ability Levels: This entails rating of academic level of the sampled students in biology as high, average and low achievers. The rating was based on their performance in their last terminal examination in biology. The students were divided into three levels – upper 25% as high achievers, middle 50% as medium achievers, and lower 25% as low achievers.

Video DVD Instructional Package: This is an audio-visual self developed programmed instruction on biology concepts of blood circulation and excretion stored in a DVD plate that can be used in the teaching and learning process.

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