Availability of Web Based Resources and Utilization in Teaching of Biology

 

Abstract: This study was designed to investigate the extents of availability of web based resources and utilization in teaching of Biology in Etinan Local Government Area. Two research questions were asked to guide the study. The study adopted a survey research design and 40 Biology teachers randomly drown from ten (10) schools to the sample of the study. Instrument used for data collection was questionnaires and simple percentage was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that web-based resources are available in a less extent in secondary schools in Etinan Local Government Area. It also reveals that web-based resources are utilized in a very low extent in the Area. Base on the finding, it was recommended that teachers must be trained to be highly computer literate and facilitate web based learning and also that schools officials and the officials of the ministry of education should ensure regular provision to enhance effective utilization of web-based resources in the teaching of Biology in our secondary schools.

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 

1.1              Background to the study

          Web based application, social media, and internet has revolutionized communication process over the last two decades. Similarly, learning and teaching process in the field of biology had transformed slowly and progressively to suit the changes according to the geographical and economic constraints.

           However, educators across Nigeria recognized that students have good education that enables them to participate successfully and contribute positively to the realization of national objectives. Schools also are developing and implementing technology plans and investing in computers and new technologies in particular educators realized that computer networking offers flexible and powerful new ways to accomplish a range of goods in schools. Therefore, education has to be continuously preoccupied to create information handling skills and abilities among the students and teachers of  that they have improved method of  teaching and learning through the  provision of the necessary facilities (Halis,2012.)

         Information and communication technology are generally as a modern instrumental tools that enables the educators to modify the teaching methods they used in order to increase students interest. Today’s students are growing with ICT tools like television, video, computer and internet. It is not possible to get these students’ interest by traditional teaching methods used in the past. Its general definition covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form. It consists of hardware, software, networks and media for collection, storage and processing, transmission off information (voice, data,, texts and images).

           ICT is integral to human society, because the advent of technology in Nigeria as allowed people to communicate using various instruments and codes such as talking drums, flutes, gong, town criers and village square meeting. The uses of writing and invention of printing materials transformed the type and context of recorded history. The first use of computers in educational area started with the use of MARK and ENIAC in 1940s. The first computers were use as a problem solving machine (Abacus) for science and engineering (carter, 2012).  In this age of globalization, there is an increasing demand on the secondary schools to embrace the opportunities presented by technological development. The demand in Nigeria is expanding exponentially. This increase in demand for secondary education can be attributed to the advent of the knowledge-driven society (Katz, 2013) that Is, a society that requires higher level and skills and qualifications. The old practices were a job for life is no longer tenable as labour markets demand knowledge and skills that requires regular updates. Emphasis, therefore in this computerized age is on life-long learning and the schools are expected to do this using technologies. To meet the changing world wide demand for education, electronic learning (E-learning) has been adopted in the developed countries to overcome many of the barriers to secondary educational opportunity to a teeming population of students. There is need to appraise the extent of which science teachers in Nigeria utilize new technological resources in science curriculum delivery.

          Biology as a branch of science has interconnected series of concepts conceptual schemes that have developed as a result of experimentation and observation. Grobman and Mayer (2013) underscore the difficulty in studying the subject by stating that facts and principles must be seen within the rich context of related laboratory investigations in order to understand biology. Due to the constantly changing nature of science of which  biology is one of the discipline,  Makulu((2014), observed that the strategies employed by science teachers in teaching earlier become irrelevant today as our environment is not static but changing (fisher, power and Endean,2014) .secondary biology curriculum has undergone continuous  changes since independence in Nigeria   this has been necessary to de mystify teaching of difficult concepts by intensifying the use of resources in the teaching of the subject.  

         The attempt to develop a secondary science curriculum after Ominde commission of 1964 was set, fail. According to Maundu,  Muchiri and Sambili (2014), the failure was due to the fact that the plans did not  take into account the local environment in which the schools were found and because teachers were not consulted before preparation of guideline for  the curriculum.  Resources are vital tools in education in general and science education in particular. Resources in education encompasses all persons and things  capable of conveying information, value, processes, experiences and techniques  that can be  used to actively engage learners in the learning process (Akpochafo,2014).      The teaching and learning of biology at secondary school level require diverse human and material resources.  However, the focus of this study is on the appraisal of the availability and utilization of wed based resources in science curriculum delivery of the biology in secondary schools.

 

 1.2       Statement of the Problem

            Web-based  is not only restricted to its usage as instructional materials inform of teaching aids but it has become a tool to reshape  knowledge delivery and enhance both teachers and  students activity in the classroom.

            However, studies have shown that majority of students in our secondary schools lacks basic web based skills. This as a result of no availability of web based resources in secondary level of learning or inability of the schools to use these ICT facilities. A number of factors have been put forward to understand why they use this, if ICT learning such as non availability, user competence, poor funding and poor maintenance (Cangelosi 2015). Poor reasoning skills are also another area of concern among secondary school students in the study area. Also, in the long run, this may affect the performance of students and consequently lead to poor performance in examination. This is why the researcher is interested in examining  critically to a greater  extent the availability of web based resources  and utilization in teaching of biology in secondary schools in Etinan Local  Government  area.