APPLICATION OF SAFETY PRACTICE SKILLS IN BIOLOGY LABORATORIES AMONGST SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY STUDENTS IN OGIDI EDUCATION ZONE.

Abstract

This study investigated the extent of application of safety practice skills in Biology Laboratories amongst secondary school Biology students in Ogidi Education Zone of Anambra State. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The population
comprised 13,820 students and 64 teachers. The sample size comprised 200 Biology students and 20 Biology teachers randomly selected from 3 secondary schools in Ogidi Education Zone. Three research questions were answered. The instrument for data
collection was a Test of Safety Laboratory Skills (TOSLS), a 4 point Likert scale questionnaire was used for data collection. This was validated by two experts one been a Biology teacher another from Curriculum and Instructional Technology Department, University of Benin. The reliability of the instrument was established using Pearson product moment correlation statistics with a coefficient of 0.92. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The results showed that student observe safety practice skills
while in Biology laboratories, it also revealed that these safety skills help them to avoid accident in the laboratory as well as help to improve the students' knowledge of the subject while it creates expertise on the side of the teachers. Based on the findings, it was
recommended among others that students should be provided with safety gadgets in case of any danger. If provided with the adequate safety laboratory gargets, students can practice a higher level of safety practices while in the laboratory.