ABSTRACT
This study examined the effect of teaching and learning media on the performance of secondary school students in Biology, Lagos. The study adopted survey method using simple random sampling technique in selecting two hundred respondents (thirty teachers and one hundred and seventy students) from Yaba, Mushin, Surulere, Bariga and Ebutte-meta in Lagos. Simple percentage was used to analyse the respondents’ demographic information while chi-square analysis was used to test the research hypothesis. It was discovered that there is significant effect of teaching and learning media on secondary school students’ performance in Biology.
The challenges militating against the adoption of media in Biology teaching and learning has significant impact on its future prospects.
Therefore, the study conclude that for the benefit of media to be enjoyed by teachers and students, there is need for more training and development for students and teachers in the use of ICT tools. The study recommended that government and other interested bodies in use of technology should ensure that critical factors for acceptance of media should be addressed in the implementation process.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Biology is a natural science that deals with the living world. How the world is structured, how it functions and what these functions are, how it develops, how livingthings came into existence, and how they react to one another and with their environment (Umar, 2011). This includes medicines, pharmacy, nursing, agriculture, forestry, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and many other areas (Ahmed & Abimbola, 2011).
Biology is seen as one of the core subjects in secondaray school curriculum. Because of its importance, more students enrolled for biology in the senior secondary school certificate examination (SSCE) than for physics and chemistry (West African Examination Council, 2011). Biology is introduced to students at senior secondary school level as a preparatory ground for human development, where career abilities are groomed, and potentials and talents discovered and energized (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2009). The quality and quantity of science education recieved by secondary school students are geared toward developing future scientists, technologist, engineers, and related professionals ( Kareem, 2006).
Inspite of the importance and popularity of biology among Nigerian students, performance at senior secondary school level has been poor (Ahmed, 2008). The implication of this failure in education is that Nigeria may have shortages of manpower in science and technology-related disciplines. This may affect Nigeria’s vision to become one of the 20 industrialized nations in the world by year 2020.
Poor teaching methods adopted by teachers at senior secondary school level in Nigeria have been identified as one of the major factors contributing to poor performance of students in biology (Ahmed & Abimbola, 2011; Kareem, 2006; Umar, 2011). The convectional teaching method is classroom-based and consists of lectures and direct instructions conducted by the teacher. This teacher-centered method emphasizes learning through the teacher’s guidance at all times. Students are expected to listen to lectures and learn from them. The teacher often talks at the students instead of encouraging them to interact, ask questions, or make them understand the lesson thoroughly. Most classes involve rote learning, where students depend on memorization without having a complete understanding of the subject. Just passing the tests, consisting of descriptions, matching, and other forms of indicators, is all that matters to complete the curriculum (Adegoke, 2011; Umar, 2011).
The persistence use of this method makes students passive rather than active learners. It does not promote insightful learning and long-term retention of some abstract concepts in biology (Ahmed, 2008; Ahmed & Abimbola, 2011; Kareem, 2006; Umar, 2011).
From research evidence, educators see the pressing need to reconsider the techniques and methods of instruction at senior secondary school level. To address these challenges, there is need for an instructional system that is supported by technology for meaningful learning. In the 21st century, a motivating and captivating approach should be encouraged to help students better learn, understand, and retain biology concepts and promote their future involvement. One of the promising approaches, according to Adegoke (2010); Kuti (2006); Mayer, Dow, and Mayer (2013); and Moreno and Mayer (2007), involves multimedia presentations supported in visual and verbal formats supplemented with pictures, animations, texts, and narration.
Media refers to the system used to present instruction. Students’ interest and retention could be aroused and retained through the use of multimedia instructional approach (Adegoke, 2010). Starbek, Eriavec, and Peklai (2010) reported that students acquired better knowwledge retention and improved comprehension skills more than the other groups when taught genetics with multimedia. Similarly, Achebe (2008) and Gambari and Zubairu (2008) found that students who were taught food and nutrition at senior secondary school level, and pupils taught primary science at nursery and primary school levels performed better and had better retention than those taught with traditional methods respectively.
According to Kim and Gilman (2008), it is necessary to apply learning theories in designing effective multimedia instruction. For instance, Mayer and his colleagues propounded six principles of multimedia learning: (a) the multimedia principle – students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone; (b) the spatial contiguity principle – students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented close or next to each other rather than far apart on the page or screen; (c) the temporal contiguity principle – students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively; (d) the coherence principle – students learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included; (e) the modality principle – students learn better when words in a multimedia are presented as spoken rather than printed text; (f) the redundancy principle – students learn better from animation and narration than from animation, narration, and on-screen text (Mayer, 2007).
According to Adegoke (2011), all six principles have been proven repeatedly in empirical research e.g., Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, and Tapangco (2013) for multimedia principle; Mousavi, Low and Sweller (2014) for modality principle; Mayer, Heiser, and Lonns (2007); Moreno & Mayer (2006); Tabbers, Martens, and Van-Merrieboer (2006) for redundancy principle. However, Thalheimer (2006) has reported findings that were not in consonance with Mayer’s (2014) multimedia learning principle. For instance, Muller, Lee, and Sharma (2008) found that the redundancy principle did not transfer to normal classroom situations. In his study, Muller (2008) suggested that addition of interesting information may help maintain the learners’ interest in a normal classroom environment.
The effective use of animation and its positive results on instructional message design is made evident by other research. For instance, Nusir, Alsmadi, Al-Kabi, and Shardqah (2010) found that the computer animation learning courseware had positive effects on students’ academic performance and achievement level (high and low).
Moreno and Mayer (2008) and Tabbers (2006) found that learning outcomes of students who learnt biology with courseware version of animation + narration were better than their colleagues who learnt biology either with animation + on-screen text or animation + narration + on-screen text. Mayer and Anderson (2014) reported that simultaneous presentation of animation and narration improved learning. However, Grobe and Struges cited in Saibu (2007) found that those taught through the conventional teaching methods achieved a mean posttest score slightly higher than those taught by the audio-tutorial (narration) method.