PERCEIVED DIFFICULTIES OF SOME BIOLOGICAL CONCEPT BY SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE STUDY OF SOME BIOLOGICAL CONCEPT

ABSTRACT

Biology is basic for understanding the complexities of life. This aspect of science for example, genetically making significant contribution such as genetically modified foods to many of the inventions that are shaping modern day, and has helped to explain many of the events being encountered in everyday life for example. Despite its importance, biology remains the least pass rate at WAEC and NECO exams science subject among students generally. In Nigeria universities for example, biology departments and Teacher Education in biology continue to witness paucity of students, which is the reason there is serious shortage of biology teachers in secondary schools. Educators agree that students learn best when biological concepts are well explained. Also, students’ perceptions about a subject influence their understanding and learning of that subject (Gebbels,Evans and Murphy, 2010), and continuing study of the subject(Williams, Stanisstreet, Spall, Boyes,2013).This is suggestive that a major reason underpinning students’ participation in a learning task is their perception of it as interesting/boring, or easy/difficult, or relevant. There is evidence that students who find a subject interesting tend to choose it for further study (Williams et al, 2013). Thus, for those students who perceive biology concept to be as difficult, studying it might just be routine and there is less likelihood that the knowledge will be beneficially utilized, not to mention continuing study. This has serious implications for building a pool of biologist that are required for shaping life development, and in particular, biology teachers that would help to build a strong foundation for the subject in school.