Intensive Practical Teaching and Academic Performance of Biology at ‘O’ Level in Selected Secondary Schools in Kween District

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the effect of Biology practicals on students’ performance in Biology in secondary schools in Kween district. It was guided by the following objectives; to establish whether students learning biology using intensive biology practicals perform better than those learning without, to determine the effect of frequency of Biology practicals on students’ performance in Biology in Kween district, and to find out whether boys and girls exposed and those not exposed to Biology practicals differ significantly in their average score. The study adopted a quasi-experimental pretest-post-test design. This is because the performance in Biology of the group of students taught with methods integrating biology practicals (experimental group) were compared to the performance in biology of the group taught without biology practicals (control group). It used both quantitative and qualitative research approaches while focusing on schools. The targeted population was 300 from which 140 respondents were selected. Questionnaires, documentary reviews and interview guides were used to collect data. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). It is hoped that the findings of this study will help the stake holders to come up with policies on the best methods of teaching biology at the ‘O’ level and gender inclusiveness. The findings indicate that the mean score of the experimental group was slightly above that of the control group. The post-test results show that experimental group performed better than their counterpart control group by having a higher mean gain of 24.0 compared to 2.2 respectively. It further indicated that boys performed slightly better than girls exposed to the same conditions. The study recommended that teachers intensify the teaching and learning of Biology using practicals as opposed to the conventional method.