Abstract
This study is on challenges besetting the effective teaching and learning of biology in secondary school. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected secondary schools in Ikere local government area of Ekiti state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made of principals, vice principals administration, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
The term science has to do with nature; it is derived from the Latin word scientia, which means knowledge. It is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of potable explanations’ and production about the universe. It can be equally defined as the field of the study which tries to describe and understand the nature of the universe in whole or in part. Science to all human is the activities involving organized knowledge of natural phenomena. This system uses observation and experiment to describe and explain natural phenomena. Science is said to be a great enterprise which nations depend on in order to advance technologically. Science is therefore, is receiving much emphasis in receiving in education because of its significance and relevance to life and society. Biology as a branch of science and the prerequisite subject for many fields of learning contributes immensely to the technological growth of the nation. This includes medicine, forestry, agriculture, biotechnology and nursing. The study of Biology in senior secondary school can equip students with useful concepts, principles and theories that will enable them face the challenges before and after graduation. Biology as one of the science subject is bent in making one to be conversation with the environment he/she lives in appreciate the meaning of scientific life, to develop unbiased mind and to be intellectually homes with serve as ideal to the future citizen.
Fortunately, it is a fact that Biology is the commonly chosen science subject of most secondary pupils is confirmed by the West Africa Examination council (WAEC) record. The term biology is derived from two Greek words “bios” and “logos” which mean life and study respectively. Biology therefore means the study of life or study of living things. According to stone etal (1985), biology as a science is defined as a scientific study of living organisms. It is therefore a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution and taxonomy. It have several branches; including the two big branches of biology which are botany (the study of plants) and zoology (the study of animals), morphology (the study if external structure of living things) physiology (the study of how living things function), Ecology (the study of relationship between living things and their environments), Genetics (the study of how living things inherits characters from their parents) Cell biology (the study of cell structure and functions). According to Okeke (2000). Students who did well in biology could have prospects of becoming: Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Dentists, Biology teachers, Medical technologist, Food technologists, Genetic Engineers, Microbiologists, Biochemists, and other science subject.
Biology has its origin from Europe but today all the nations of the world accord priority attention to science and technology in development efforts. The reason for according such priority attention to science and technology being that it carries the promises of great economic improvement and equally serve as a gateway to national development in the age of fast developing technology, has become necessary for all countries of the world especially the developing ones to organize and improve the teaching of science throughout the school stage. It is through science that we get the fundamental bases to develop technology. Biology often overlaps with other sciences, for example biochemistry with biology and chemistry, Astrobiology with biology and astronomy. Social science such as geography, philosophy, psychology and sociology can also interact with biology, for example in administration of biological resources, developmental biology etc. it is a vast subject containing many subdivisions topics which are five unifying principle that can be said to be fundamental of modern biology.
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