1.1 Introduction
Biology which is the fundamental science subject has been known to continuously record low students’ enrolment, interest and poor achievement levels in all internal and external examinations (Ali et al., 2014). Biology is a unique subject that deals with living things. It was once a compulsory subject for science students in the Senior Secondary School. Science is a great enterprise which nations depend on, in-order to advance technologically. Science therefore, is receiving much emphasis in education because of its significance and relevance to life and society (Ezeh, 2013). Most instructional approaches such as lecture and demonstration used in teaching biology in the classroom or laboratory promote rote learning and lack of opportunity for students to manipulate materials and reflect on what they do during teaching and learning processes. Student interaction during practical activities in the laboratory could play a key role towards concretizing learning (Federal Ministry of Education, 2004).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Biology as one of the science subject is defined as the study of life and structure of living things. Biology is the study of living things and concerns itself with the study of the structure, behaviour, distribution, the origin of plants and animals and their relationship with their environments. Abugu (2007) stated that biology is a natural science in which we study living organisms – plants and animals.
Biology is defined as the study of life and structure of living things. Biology is the study of living things and concerns itself with the study of the structural, behaviour, distribution, the origin of plants, and animals and their relationship with their environment (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 2009). Abugu (2007) stated that biology is natural science in which we study living organism plants and animals. The knowledge of biology helps in checking environmental degradation such as Desertification, Erosion, Water Hyacinth, Land, Air and Water Pollution.
Education is the total process of human learning by which knowledge is impacted, faculties trained and skills developed. Secondary schools not only occupy a strategic place in the educational system in Nigeria, it is also the link between the primary and the university levels of education.
According to Asikhai (2010), education at secondary school level is supposed to be the bedrock and the foundation towards higher knowledge in tertiary institutions. It is an investment as well as an instrument that can be used to achieve a more rapid economic, social, political, technological, scientific and cultural development in a country. It is rather unfortunate that the secondary schools today are not measuring up to the standards expected of them. There have been public outcries over the persistently poor performance of secondary school students in public examinations.
The teaching of biology as a subject in secondary schools is faced with many problems. The poor academic achievement of students in biology as indicated in the report of WAEC and National Teachers Institute (NTI) as well as the result of state common entrance examination has come a persisted public outcry as regards the falling standard of biology education. Science subjects are already facing a problem. This is mostly in the area of availability of laboratories and other teaching facilities in their right number of students studying science. Biology is very important subject; it has to be given more priority. It enables one to understand himself and his intermediate environment. Nevertheless, the knowledge acquired in Biology subject is applied in many fields as Medicine, Biochemistry, Pharmacy, Microbiology and Agriculture among others.
Students’ achievement in Biology subject in Senior Secondary Certificates Examination (SSCE) has been unsatisfactory over many years. Various reasons have been attached to this problem by scholars. Dinah (2013) concluded that, availability of text books, laboratory apparatus and other learning resources contribute significantly to the performance of students in Biology examination. He added that, students with positive attitude towards the subject register better performance than those who had a negative attitude. Those with positive attitude are motivates to work hard and this is reflected in the good marks scored in the examination. Suman B. (2011) conducted a research on influence of parents’ education and parental occupation on academic achievement of students. He concluded that education and occupation of parents positively influence the academic achievement of children.
Femi (2012) concluded that education qualification of parents and health status of students are significant factors that affect the academic performance of students. According to Akinsanya et al. (2014) parents’ education has the highest significant influence on the academic achievement of students. This is because the child from educated family has a lot of opportunities to study hard due to his/her access to internet, newspaper, television. They can also taught extra lessons at home. Students raised from an illiterate family have limited access to that. It has been observed that the falling academic standard and the influencing factors include the economic status of the parents. Just having a look at the present economic situation of the country, many poor parents do send their children to go and do pity house hold work before going to school. These children were confused on that they can help their family through that. However, poverty of parents has elastic effects on their children academic works as they lack enough resources and funds to sponsor their education and good school, good housing facilities, medical care and social welfare services.
Femi (2012) in his study says, socio-economic and education background of parents is not significant factors in students’ performance. Osuafor (2013) in their research on influence of family background on academic achievement of secondary school Biology students revealed that family structure, parents’ occupation and educational level of parents did not have significant influence on students’ achievement in biology.
Memon (2010) in his study revealed that majority of students whose parents were well educated perform better in matriculation examination as compared to those students whose parents were less educated or illiterate.
Manalanga and Awelani (2014) concluded in their result that the possible factors responsible for the poor performance in Biology 5090 include lack of financial support, lack of equipped libraries, lack of laboratories and Biology textbooks, method of teaching and accessing Biology 5090. Furthermore, practical Biology exam if highly scored improves the Biology grade. Teachers should be encouraging to asses learners regularly on practical skills. Perhaps, more practical lessons should be availed and documented so that teachers should plan for them and regular inspection to insure the actual order is adhered to (Wabuke, 2013).
Therefore, in Enugu East Local Government Area where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Students’ Factors and their Biology Academic Achievement in Senior Secondary School.
1.3 Statement of Problem
Investigation revealed that poor performance in the field of science is caused by the poor quality of science teachers, overcrowded classrooms and lack of suitable and adequate science equipment among others. Students perform poorly in biology because; the biology classes are usually too large and heterogeneous in terms of ability level. Snezana et al. (2011) outlined in his study that academic achievement in lessons began with experiment or slide demonstration was higher than lessons beginning with lecture method.
Not much attention has been giving to the performance of the students in senior secondary school subjects most especially in biology and biology practical aspect of biology in schools has been blamed on such factors as the inability of the school authorities to provide materials and equipment for practical work, teachers failure to recognize the importance of practical work in science teaching.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Students’ Factors and their Biology Academic Achievement in Senior Secondary School in Enugu East Local Government Area. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To find out how students’ learning problems in biology subject be improved to make it more interesting;
- To identify the factors that influence academic performance of students in Biology; and
- To investigate the contributory factors responsible for poor performance of students in Senior Secondary School Biology Examinations.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- How can students’ learning problems in biology subject be improved to make it more interesting?
- What are the factors that influence academic performance of students in Biology?
- What are the contributory factors responsible for poor performance of students in Senior Secondary School Biology Examinations?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There are no contributory factors responsible for poor performance of students in Senior Secondary School Biology Examinations
- H1: There are contributory factors responsible for poor performance of students in Senior Secondary School Biology Examinations
Hypothesis Two
- H0: Student’s behavior and attitudes have no significant relationship with their performance in Biology.
- H1: Student’s behavior and attitudes have significant relationship with their performance in Biology.
1.7 Significance of Study
The result obtained from the study will benefit the following people: Government, Teachers and Students
- Government: The study will help to motivate the Government to equip secondary schools with necessary practical equipment for the teaching of biology.
- Teachers: This will assist classroom teachers in the organization of practical that would help to develop skills and knowledge in the students. It will also enable trained teachers to adopt those teaching and learning methods that would aid them in organization of their subjects matter for the students.
- Students: When students understand more, the importance of biology practical skills, they are equipped to secure employment and this would in no small measure make them contribute meaningfully to the development of the society. Practical method of teaching can also increases the interest of the students to practical works.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of this research is focused on the Students’ Factors and their Biology Academic Achievement in Senior Secondary School in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Biology: It is defined as the study of life and structure of living things. Biology is the study of living things and concerns itself with the study of the structural, behaviour, distribution, the origin of plants, and animals and their relationship with their environment (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 2009).
