BIOLOGY TEACHERS AWARENESS AND UTILIZATION OF INNOVATIVE TEACHING STRATEGIES IN NIGERIA (CASE STUDY OF FOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS IN KWARA STATE)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The need to strengthen biology teaching at the secondary school level appears to be well recognized. Sorts toward the actualization of this need have essentially focused on four discernible approaches:
(a). Improvement of the curriculum,
(b). Designing of various instructional methods and strategies
(c). Instructional resources and
(d). Improvement of the quality of the secondary school biology teacher.
It would appear there is a consensus among experts in the field of teacher education that focusing on the improvement of the quality of the teacher has a
superlative advantage (Shulman, 2013). This is so because the best curriculum and the best instructional method can fail at the hand of an ill prepared
teacher. On the contrary, a well groomed teacher is sure to find his bearing even when the other conditions are not as good as they should be. Accordingly,
current theories of teacher education tend to emphasize the development of the pre- and in-service knowledge base of the teacher. There has been much
concern expressed about the apparent fall in the standard of science education at the secondary school level in Nigeria. For instance, Awodi(2015), Nwosu
and Okeke (2009), Madu (2015), Okebukola (2015),working separately, have lamented on the fall in the standard of science teaching in Nigeria. Nwagbo (2009)
identified a number of factors obstructing students’ understanding and achievement in the science subjects. Chief among these factors was the use of inappropriate, non-effective
teaching methodology. Oludipe (2015) noted that a major defect in our system of education is that science is presented dogmatically in most schools as series of disjointed facts and concepts which students find difficult to relate to the real world. The persistent poor
performance in science subjects at School Certificate level (Achor, 2012; Ogbeba, 2009; Umoren and Ogong, 2011) has given rise to an assumption that most
science teachers in secondary schools in Nigeria (Kwara State inclusive) probably do not make use of varied forms of teaching strategies to be able to cope with some specific difficulties associated with the teaching and learning of science by both the teachers and the students respectively. For instance, studies
have shown that most science teachers do not possess the prerequisite knowledge needed for activity based learning (Nwosu, 2015; Johnson, 2015) and as a
result the most prevalent method of teaching has been the ‘talk and chalk’ (lecture) method.
