TEACHERS PERCEPTION OF DIFFICULT AREAS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY CURRICULUM

ABSTRACT

This study sought to identify teachers’ perceptions of difficult areas in senior secondary school biology curriculum in Lagos state of Nigeria. Based on a review of literature, few research questions guided the study while two hypotheses were equally tested. A survey design was used for the study. A simple random sampling techniques was adopted to compose the sample of 133 biology teachers in four Education Zones of Lagos State. A Structured Questionnaire Titled Biology Topic Assessment Questionnaire (BTAQ) was used to collect data from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using simple percentages while the hypotheses were tested using the chi-square statistical tool. The analysis of the data yielded the following results: the teachers find the teaching of chromosome, Evolution, Glycolysis, Germination, Genetics and Skeleton difficult. Gender, academic qualification and location of services of the teacher have no significant influence in the difficulty levels of topics in the biology curriculum. It was recommended that in-service training, constant workshops, higher degree programmes, provision of modern instructional materials, use of computer and its softwares, re- equipping of school library, using teachers past performance for promotions, frequent supervisions by ministries, employing more qualified teachers, supplying relevant textbooks, holiday tutorials and Biology laboratory are necessary for improvement on the difficult topics. Suggestions for further research and limitations were also given.