Educational Media Utilization and the Teaching of Biology in Secondary Schools

 

ABSTRACT: This study investigates Educational Media Utilization and the Teaching of Biology in Secondary Schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area. Two research questions which emanated from the specific objectives guided the study. The study adopted a survey research design; the population was made up of 28 biology teachers from nine (9) public secondary schools in the study area. The sample size was ten using a purposive sampling technique. The major instrument for data collection was a questionnaire and the method of data analysis was simple percentage. Findings showed that 60% of the educational media under study were utilized. The challenges faced by the teachers include among others unavailability of the media, large class size and insufficient time allotted for biology practical.

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the study

Media can be conceived as any person, material or event that establishes condition which enables the learner to acquire knowledge, skill and attitudes (Jacob, 2002). Gagne (2011) defined education media as the physical means by which an instructional message is communicated. It can also be defined as all the methods and materials that can be used to support the learning process. Educational media is seen as objects that teachers use which are given to learners to use to achieve specific teaching and learning outcome. It goes beyond apparatus and pictures but includes many other types of learning experiences.

Biology as a science subject becomes very difficult for teachers to teach effectively without the use of appropriate educational media. Educational media also involves the design of educational technologies which constitute program, films, video-editing program, word processing equipment and calculating instrument used for teaching and enhancing learning outcomes in learners. Media also serve as channel of communication; they are carriers of information between the source and the receiver (Smaldino, 2012). Media are very essential to good teaching and to get the most from them, they must be selected properly and used effectively. Accordingly, the purpose of educational media is to facilitate communication as well as to enhance learning.

Educational media can serve a variety of roles in the teaching process. Their primary role is to help students learn and improve the teachers teaching skills and abilities. One way of doing this is by providing an information rich environment (Newby,2006).The educational media provide the teachers a clear and understanding picture of the subject to be learnt and taught.

The use of this educational media by teachers to teach and drive home their subjects’ points at secondary school level of our educational system is incontrovertibly a paramount important issue in practical classroom interaction and successful transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the learners. The facts is that this media used by the teacher ally their teaching in class tend to have a significant implications for pragmatic knowledge transfer towards attainment of individual subject objectives as well as achievement of efficient teaching process among teachers (Ijaduola,1999).Biology is defined as the basic science that deals with the study of living things. It attempts to understand the teeming diversity of life on earth, a diversity of level we are all part of (Adegbite,2012).Life is not a simple concept, which may be one of the reasons why the teaching of biology is very important because the knowledge of biology helps in improving the quality of life, as it helps to solve many societal problems relating to health, poverty ,food shortage, crop production and environmental conservation (Adeni&Ughelu,2014).One of the numerous challenges faced by the teachers of biology in our secondary schools is the availability of these educational media, the effective utilization of these educational media by the teachers of biology in knowledge dissemination. Bassey (2013) explained that the teaching of science oriented subject becomes very difficult without the use of instructional media, it makes the science subject to be more abstract to the learners because what the eye can behold sticks to memory longer than what is not seen.

Utilization of educational media plays a vital role in teaching, this is so because when the educational media is available, its effective and efficient utilization can take place. The utilization of these educational media by the teachers help them in effective teaching and it takes away the abstract nature of the subject and gives clearer understanding to the learners which will help to promote the teachers teaching efficiency.

On this backdrop, the study sought to investigate educational media utilization and the teaching of biology in secondary schools in Etim Ekpo local government area.

 

1.2     Statement of the Problem

Education is one of the basic foundations for human and societal development. Evidence from studies which include students academic performance in standardized examination shows that failure rate in biology at senior certificate examination is high (Abraham, 2013).This was attributed to a number of factors such as teaching methods employed by the teachers, teachers’ qualification, unavailability and in-adequate educational media.

  Biology as a science subject cannot be adequately and appropriately understood without the use of educational media in its teaching -learning process. Unfortunately, it appears our secondary school biology teachers shy away from employing educational media in the teaching of science subject, biology inclusive.

To this end, this study sought to investigate the extent of utilization of educational media in the teaching of biology and also the challenges faced by the teachers of biology in the course of utilizing these educational media in the teaching of biology in our various secondary schools in Etim Ekpo local government area.

 

1.3     Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate educational media utilization and the teaching of biology in secondary schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government. Specifically, the study sought to:

(1)     To what extents are educational media utilized in the teaching of biology in secondary schools in Etim Ekpo local government area?

(2)    Examine the challenges faced by biology teachers in Etim Ekpo local government area in the utilization of educational media in teaching.

 

1.4     Significance of the study

The finding of this study would be useful to classroom teachers, curriculum planners, students and parents

For the teachers they will be better informed on how to help and guide their students in course of teaching them biology in the classroom.

The study would be beneficial to curriculum planners who would design functional curriculum by taking into consideration the relevance of educational media during the course of curriculum planning.

The result of the study would provide information to researchers interested in working on a related topics, this may help them to get more information on the efficiency of educational media during the course of the study.

Parents would be encouraged on how to use educational media available to them to assist their wards at home.

 

1.5 Research Questions

          The following research questions guided the study

(1)     To what extents are educational media utilized in the teaching of biology in secondary schools in Etim Ekpo local government area?

(2))    What are the challenges faced by the biology teachers in the utilization of educational media in teaching?

1.6     Delimitation of the study

The researcher did not consider all educational media used in teaching. The study was confined to availability and utilization of educational media used in the teaching of biology in secondary schools in Etim Ekpo local government area. It also concentrated on the challenges faced by the teachers of biology in the use of educational media in teaching. The educational media that was assessed were audio, audio visual and visual media, filmstrip etc.

1.7     Limitation of the Study

The study of this magnitude had many limitation, one of such was the unavailability of empirical data on the study, the location of some of the school visited by the researcher the road was in a deplorable condition, hence was not motor able, also insincerity on the part of the respondents on the medium available.

1.8     Definition of terms

Educational media: This refers to any type of media used to teach biology students during lessons delivery. They can be used in the classroom to facilitate the -teaching-learning process.

Utilization: This is simply means putting to use the educational media

Teaching: This is the way of impacting biology knowledge to the students.

Biology: This is the basic science that deals with the study of life.

Challenges: The difficulties faced by the biology teachers in the utilization of educational media in teaching of biology.