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ANALOGICAL INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY AND BIOLOGY STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION IN GENETICS AND PHYSIOLOGY

CHAPTER ONE THE PROBLEM

1.1 Introduction

There has been a great shift in emphasis on science teaching and learning over the years worldwide. The shift concern in recent times is to have science classroom that is student-centred, activity-oriented and focused on understanding rather than rote-learning and simple recall of knowledge (Owolabi, 2007). Science education is a fundamental component of basic education that prepares children to live in a world increasingly defined by science and technology (International Council for Science ICS, 2002). Biology is central to science education. According to Gbamanja (1991), the study of biology involves exposing students to several opportunities which can help them to understand different types of concepts, principles and theories. Biology serves as prerequisite to the study of medicine, agriculture, pharmacy among others.

Biology concepts according to Chew (2004) can sometimes be difficult particularly when describing things that cannot be seen or abstract concepts that cannot be fully comprehended for the first time. Some of the concepts taught in biology that students perceived difficult are genetics, genetics and physiology, ecology, physiology among others (Oyedokun, 2002; WAEC Examination’s Report, 2006). Research findings have also shown that a number of concepts in biology which includes genetics and physiology, contain topics which pose difficulty for biology students to understand, (Esiobu and Soyibo, 1995; Okebukola, 1995). Also Zarotiadous and Tsaparlis (2002) and Chew (2004) reported that some students have the notion that

genetics and physiology concepts in biology are boring and requires only memory work to get one through. Some students find genetics and physiology concepts irrelevant, while others find them extremely technical with bombastic terms littering every sentence in a typical biology text. Also many students are said to have wrong perceptions about genetics and physiology concepts on the basis of how they were taught biology in schools (Usman, 2008). One of the learner factors that affect meaningful learning in biology generally is the wrong perception of genetics and physiology concepts held by the students. (Salin and Ozakaya, 2003; Sani 2006). This wrong perception according to Ezeliora (1999) and Akinsola and Igwe (2002) could be attributed to the inability of teachers to put across scientific ideas clearly to students. Maduabum, (1994) discovered that the major areas of problem in teaching biology, that resulted into students poor performance is rooted in the difficulty in the nature of some concepts in biology. In addition Maduabum (1994) also identified teachers’ failure to use effective teaching strategy that would make the learning of these concepts easier.

Genetics and physiology concept is an aspect of biology curriculum, which students of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) study at 300 level. It is however considered to be an abstract and difficult topic to learn (NCE Minimum Standard, 2008). Its abstract nature and difficulty as well as cultural and beliefs have resulted in poor performance and retention of the concepts by students at Undergraduate level(Danmole and Femi-Adeoye, 2004).

Different instructional strategies have relatively differed in effectiveness on students’ academic performance and retention. Jibrin (2007) and Nuru, (2007) independently identified poor methods of teaching as deficiency of biology teachers. Research reports by Nwosu (1993), Nwagbo (1999) and Okoli (2006) indicated that many biology teachers prefer the lecture method of teaching and therefore shy away from innovative and activity-oriented teaching methods. Lecture method is one of the teaching methods that is mostly used by teachers. It is teacher-centred and students are mostly passive listeners. On the performance of biology students, Bichi (2002) and Usman (2008) have separately observed that lecture method encourages rote-learning without aiding understanding, thereby resulting in poor academic performance in genetics and physiology concepts.

In an attempt to ensure result oriented biology delivery in schools, Akubuilo (2004) suggested the use of activity-oriented strategies such as guided-inquiry, cooperative learning, demonstration, thinks and do, use of analogy and many others. Thus, research in Science Education in Nigeria has continued to seek better ways of teaching biology in order to improve academic performance of students

(Okebukola, 1998). Therefore, in this study the researcher used analogy in the teaching/learning of genetics and physiology concepts to determine its effectiveness on performance and retention of concepts taught among Biology students.

Glynn-Russel and Noah (1997) defined analogy as a strategy that helps students form initial mental models of key science concepts by facilitating introduction of the concepts in ways that are concrete, meaningful and relevant to students. According to Ruhl (2003) an analogy is a comparison of something unfamiliar with something familiar in order to explain a shared principle. Like a bridge that spans the gap between what a teacher wants, a student to learn and what the student already knows. An analogy builds on the framework of the learners’ existing knowledge so they are not starting from scratch. Sani (2006) opined that analogy is one of the teaching strategies within the constructivist frame that has evidently proved effective in preventing and overcoming poor performance and wrong perception of the students. Venvile and Thiele (1992) and Sani (2006) reported three benefits of the use of analogies as a teaching technique for abstract concepts. These are: (i) it provides visualization of abstract concepts

(ii) it helps compare similarities of the students’ real world with the new concept; and (iii) it has a motivational function.

There are two domains of analogy: the analogue domain that exists in memory from which the analogy is drawn and the target domains which contain the science concepts under study that form the instructional objectives of the analogy (Sarantopoulos and Tsaparlis, 2004). Analogies are of various types depending on the nature of what they represent and the problem they are intended

to solve in the teaching and learning situation. Examples of analogy models are Zeitoun’s (1984) General Model of Analogy Teaching (GMAT), Dupin and Joshua’s (1985) Four Phases Conceptual Change Model (FPCC), Clement (1987) Bridging-Analogy (BA), Glynn’s (1995) Teaching-With-Analogy (TWA) model. In this study, the Teaching-With-Analogy model of Glynn (1995) was adopted.

Glynn (1995) observed that Teaching-With-Analogy (TWA) model emerged as the best suited for use in biology classrooms. This is because according to him it focuses on the teacher in class presentation of the analogy, and can be easily implemented and evaluated. The goal of the Analogy is to transfer ideas from a familiar concept (the analogy) to an unfamiliar one (the target). If both the analogy and target share some similar features, an analogy can be drawn between them. The process of comparing the features is called mapping. When using TWA Glynn’s Teaching-With-Analogy Model one has to go through the following steps.

Step I

Introducing the target concept to be learned

Step II

Cueing the students’ memory of the analogy situation

Step III

Identifying the relevant features of the analogy

Step IV

Mapping the similarities between the analogy and the target concept

Step V

Identifying where the analogy breaks down

Step VI

Drawing conclusions about the target concept

Figure1.1: A Flowchart of Teaching-With-Analogy Strategy used for the Study

Source: Glynn (1995)

This analogy has been used in Senior Secondary School biology teaching and found to enhastudents’ performance (Lagoke, 2000, Wushishi, 2006, Sani, 2006, Owolabi, 2007, Koroka and Ezenwa, 2009). This study intends to teach NCE III students of biology genetics and physiology using adopted version of Glynn’s TWA model. The aim is to determine the effectiveness of the use of Teaching-With- Analogy on academic performance and retention of genetics and physiology concepts among the Students.

Considerable amount of researchers have focused on gender differences in school science learning. (Patrick and Ezenwa, 2000). Duniya (2009) opined that gender issues in science education as it affects performance remains unresolved. Lentz (1992), Lagoke et al (1997) and Usman (2000) in their individual studies noted that boys perform better than girls on activities that require manipulations and also boys are more mechanically and scientifically inclined than girls. However others like Mari (1994) observed that female students performed better on their understanding of science process skills than male students. Also, Klainin, Fenshaim and West (1989) reported that the performance of girls is significantly better than that of boys in chemistry and physics in Thailand. Driver (1980) reported higher achievement of girls in mathematics and physical sciences than boys while Tobin (1988), Bichi (2002) and Danmole and Femi-Adeoye (2004) in their separate studies found that there are no gender differences in performance in science. From these studies, there is no conclusive statement on the gender related issues investigated by the researchers and the studies cited concentrated in teaching method, attitude among others at SSS level. As such this study will also investigate the effect teaching-with-analogy on performance and retention of concepts in genetics and physiology between male and female Biology students so as to determine whether gender has any significant influence or not.

1.1.1 Theoretical Framework

The theoretical basis that is guiding the study on the use of analogy to teach concepts of genetics and physiology is the constructivism theory of learning. The theory of

constructivism is generally attributed to Bruner (1960) and Piaget (1980) who articulated that knowledge is internalized by learners through the processes of accommodation and assimilation. This implies that when individuals assimilate, they incorporate the new experience into an already existing framework without changing that framework. Ideally, analogy can help students to build meaningful relations between what they already know and what they are setting out to learn. In general, this activity of building relations plays a critical role in constructivist views of learning science, thereby involving students in the construction of knowledge and the creation of new ideas from what they already know (Yager, 1995). This activity of building relation between existing knowledge and new knowledge plays an important role when interpreting students’ learning as a process of conceptual change (Demanstes, Good and Peebles, 1996). These theoretical speculations about the role of analogy in evolving conceptual change set the stage for empirical explorations of the contribution of analogy to conceptual change in science learning (Wushishi, 2006). According to Harrison (2001), constructivism is the process in which learners compare new information with old, within the context of their current conceptual framework and so reconstruct their knowledge. Ogunkunle and Gbamanja (2006) view constructivism as a process where learners actively take knowledge connect it to previously assimilated knowledge and make it theirs by constructing their own interpretation. Constructivism is an innovation and interactive instructional theory which incorporate other desirable teaching strategies, such as cooperative learning, guided-inquiry, problem solving and use of analogy among others (Nwosu, 2003).

This study intends to investigate the effect of the use of analogy on performance and retention in genetics and physiology concept at NCE level.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The issue of poor performance at Undergraduate level in genetics and physiology course has been of great concern to many researchers as reported by (Salim 2000 and Olatoye 2002).

Maduabum (1994) and Oyedokun (2002) identified the difficulty of the concepts of genetics and physiology and teacher’s failure to use effective teaching strategy, such as activity-based and use of analogy as the cause of students’ poor performance in biology. One effective way to deal with this problem according to Treagust (1993) is for the teacher to provide a bridge between the unfamiliar concepts and the knowledge which the student possesses. This bridge can be the use of analogy which allows new materials, especially abstract concepts, to be easily assimilated with the students’ prior knowledge thus enabling them to develop an understanding of the concept. Hence analogy may be a vital strategy for teaching genetics and physiology. Specifically, this study seeks to investigate the effectiveness of teaching-with-analogy on performance and retention of genetics and physiology concepts among Biology students.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The study has the following objectives to:

investigate the effects of teaching-with-analogy on academic performance of Biology students in genetics and physiology concepts;

find out whether there is any difference in the performance of male and female students taught genetics and physiology using teaching-with-analogy.
determine whether or not teaching-with-analogy has effect on retention ability of Biology students in genetics and physiology concepts;

1.4 Research Questions

This study has the following research questions

What is the effect of Teaching-With-Analogy on academic performance of students taught genetics and physiology concepts?
What is the difference in the performance of male and female students taught concepts in genetics and physiology using teaching-with-analogy
What is the effect of teaching-with-analogy on Undergraduate students’ retention in genetics and physiology concepts?

1.5 Null Hypotheses

H01 There is no significant difference in the mean scores of students taught genetics and physiology concepts using analogy teaching strategy and those taught using lecture method.

H02 There is no significant difference in the mean scores of male and female students taught genetics and physiology concepts using teaching-with-analogy.

H03 There is no significant difference in the students’ retention ability of genetics and physiology concepts taught using analogy teaching strategy and those taught using lecture method.

1.6 Significance of the Study

It is hoped that:-the findings of this study will be of significance to Biology teachers, students:

the findings of the study will provide empirical evidence for further research in the area of this study (i.e. teaching-with- analogy).
the findings would also be beneficial to Teachers in helping them select the appropriate strategies for teaching genetics and physiology concepts more especially for the improvement students performance in biology.
it will hopefully encourage active participation of the learners thus leading to meaningful learning as learners participate in the activities during teaching process.
the professional development of teachers would be enhanced as its demands creative thinking in developing appropriate analogy to suit a topic.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The study is limited to two Colleges of Education in Niger State i.e. Federal College of Education, Kontagora and Niger State College of Education, Minna

.They are accredited by National Commission for Collages of Education (NCCE). The colleges are similar in terms of manpower and quality of staff. The study is limited to NCEIII biology students of the two Colleges of Education and BIO311 Genetics and physiology.

1.8 Basic Assumptions

For the purpose of this study, the following assumptions are made, that:

the use of analogy is not used in teaching concepts of genetics and physiology in the selected schools.
the selected topics are appropriate for the level of the students used for the study.
the study sample i.e. Students have been taught by qualified biology teachers.
the subjects under study have been taught using NCCE minimum standard by the teachers.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

The following are definitions of terms as used in this study:

Retention:this is the ability of the learner to store information which can be recalled at a later time after exposure to series of instruction or training.

Analogy is a comparison of something unfamiliar with something familiar in order to explain a shared principle.

Constructivism: is a process by which the learner constructs his or her own conception of reality based upon the interplay of prior knowledge and present experiences.

Target Concept: This is the unfamiliar concepts that the analogy is being used to describe, explain or illustrate.

Mapping: Describes the identification of perceived similarities between the analogy and the target. Mapping links can be either valid or invalid.

Lecture Method: The method of teaching where the teacher does most of the talking and the learner only listens most of the time and may copy down notes.

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