THE USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN THE TEACHING OF PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF BIOLOGY CURRICULUM IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated the availability, provision and usage of instructional materials in the teaching of the practical aspects of the biology curriculum for senior secondary schools in Osun State, Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population for the study comprised all 178 Biology teachers and 13,340 Biology students of senior secondary three (SS III) in Osun State. The sample for the study were 3 6 senior secondary school Biology teachers and 3 6 intact classes of SS III Biology students from 12 Local Government Areas of the State. A Researcher-Developed Checklist (RDC) instrument was used to gather data for the study. Data collected were analysed using frequency count and percentage. The result showed that the instructional materials were poorly available (poor = 69.44%,fair = 19.44%, good = 11.11%), poorly provided by the teachers (poor = 38.89%,fair = 33.33%, good= 27. 78%). and the available ones are not adequately utilized (poor 22.22%,fair 44.44%, good 33.34%). The study concluded that the usage of instructional materials to teach the practical aspects of Biology in senior secondary schools in Osun State was not adequate. The study recommended that government should annually take record and supply essential instructional materials to schools and teachers should improvise delicate and scarce instructional materials, device adequate storage mechanism and conduct regular check and maintenance for the available instructional materials.