CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The relationship between humans and the environment is as old as humanity itself. Since his emergence on Earth, man has been dependant on the very nature and reality of his surroundings. Man's requirements were initially restricted and modest; as a result, his actions did not significantly impact the environment. But gradually, man became established, cultured, and learned to farm. In recent decades, depletion of natural resources and pollution have significantly escalated as worldwide challenges (Larijani, 2021). Excessive usage depletes natural resources, necessitating a deeper and broader comprehension of the issue. Environment is the totality of all conditions and impacts on the evolution of human and nonhuman life. Environment refers to the conditions or influences under which an organism or object exists, lives, or develops. All of these can be divided into three categories: the physical conditions affecting and influencing the growth and development of an individual or community; the social and cultural conditions affecting the nature of an individual or community; and the environment of an inanimate object of intrinsic social value (Gilpin, 2015). Therefore, environment encompasses all situations, events, and effects surrounding and affecting an individual or group of organisms (Trivedi & Raj 2022). Thus, it may be claimed that the idea of environment in its whole is complicated, with far-reaching ramifications and difficult to comprehend.

Biology is a crucial scientific topic that serves as the foundation and requirement for other science courses such as medicine, nursing, pharmacy, genetics, biochemistry, and agriculture. As a less quantitative discipline than physics and chemistry, biology is one of the most popular subjects among secondary school students. It has been noted that more students enroll in Biology than Chemistry and Physics for the Senior School Certificate Examination. Despite the large number of students taking Biology in the senior secondary school examinations administered by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO), reports from scholars and educators, supported by the Biology Chief Examiner's report, indicate that students perform poorly in biology in these external examinations (Yemi 2022).

Students' low performance on external Biology tests has been connected to the employment of conventional teaching approaches, such as lecture, demonstration, and debate. Some educators have regarded these conventional ways of teaching biology as ineffective due to their emphasis on memorizing. These teaching approaches entail a unidirectional flow of information/knowledge from teacher to student and do not promote the process skill development necessary for a comprehensive comprehension of biological principles, concepts, and facts. These conventional teaching methods are known as teacher-centered approaches to learning because the instructor is viewed as the source of information (Olamide 2019). The traditional teaching method's unidirectional flow of information renders students inert and incapable of constructing meaningful knowledge in the teaching and learning of biology. Teaching is an academic process that involves two groups of people: the teacher/instructor and the students/learners, as well as the transmission of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. Due to this aspect of teaching, the notions of teaching are best articulated as teaching and learning. Teaching techniques encompass a variety of instructor and student actions, including questioning, explanation, use of examples and illustrations, and demonstration. The actions may be referred to as skills or methods. Variables such as the kind of learning objectives, the nature of the topic, the age of the student, and the number of students, among others, influence the application of these strategies. Consequently, there are several sorts of teaching techniques, including the lecture method, discussion, demonstration, games and simulations, project methods, problem-solving, inquiry method, and field trip, among others. Some educators have categorized these various teaching strategies into two approaches: teacher-centered and student-centered.

The teachers-centered approach encompasses all teaching techniques in which the teacher controls the instructional procedure and coordinates classroom activities in terms of what should be done. However, the fact that the student must strictly adhere to the teacher's established approach renders it ineffective for science instruction. However, the instructor still selects the material and questions and maintains control over the flow of information or knowledge; hence, they are called teacher-centered approaches of education. The student-centered approach encompasses all teaching approaches that de-emphasize the teacher as a decision-maker and problem-solver in the classroom in favor of viewing the instructor as a guide, facilitator, mentor, coach, or consultant in the teaching and learning process. In the field of education, the terms student-centered, child-centered, and learner-centered are used interchangeably to refer to teaching techniques that allow students to share responsibility and classroom decision-making. According to Festus (2022), a student-centered method is founded on constructivism, with the epistemological perspective that students are the architects of their own individual meanings of concepts and natural events. Nonetheless, in today's educational discourse, the phrase student-centered approach encompasses all new teaching approaches that are often activity-based and in which students are required to observe, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate concepts or phenomena utilizing resources or prior knowledge.

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

               Over the years, there has been a high rate of underachievement among students in biology. This could be because teachers use ineffective methods and strategies in science teaching, which, among other things, has contributed to students' poor performance in environmental knowledge in biology as senior secondary level. Students are not provided with appropriate information and comprehension of their local surroundings and the ecosystem as a whole by the prevailing conventional teaching technique utilized in teaching biology, a scientific topic, and indeed other subjects in secondary school. On the basis of this reported deficiency, our school graduates lack fundamental environmental understanding. According to Esekot (2020), teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin, as teaching is useless without learning. For teaching to be meaningful, it must effectively promote knowledge, skills, and value. The teacher-directed approach offers students with a step-by-step method for completing complicated tasks (Tanner, Bottoms, Ferragin, and Bearman, 2017).  In this study, a mix of lectures and reading, recalling and linking past knowledge, as well as developing and extending material with strong student engagement is employed to examine the success or lack thereof of the teacher-directed instructional technique. Student-centered learning, on the other hand, is founded on the premise that active student participation in the learning process promotes both learning and motivation. According to Tanner, Bottoms, Ferragin, and Bearman (2017), excellent student-centered learning recognizes the role of the student in acquiring information and understanding. This method enables students to ask questions, seek solutions, and strive to comprehend the intricacies of the world. The instructor and students share responsibility for instruction and evaluation, although students are more actively involved.

1.3     PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The broad objective of this study is to investigate the relative effects of teacher  centred and student-centred instructional method on students’ environmental knowledge in biology. Other specific objectives includes:

i.          To determine what methods of teaching are adopted by biology teachers in secondary schools.                 

ii.        To examine the significance of using teacher-student- centred  instructional strategies in the teaching of biology in Secondary schools

iii.      To investigate the challenges associated to using two  method  instructional strategies in the teaching of biology in Secondary schools

iv.      To  identify solutions to the problems that hinder students’ environmental knowledge in biology.

1.3     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

          The following research questions were raised to guide the study:

i.          What are the methods of teaching  adopted by  basic science teachers?                

ii.        What are the importance of using teacher-student- centred  instructional strategies in the teaching of biology in Secondary schools?

iii.      What are the challenges associated to using two  method  instructional strategies in the teaching of biology in Secondary schools?

iv.      What are the solutions to the problems that hinder students’ environmental knowledge in biology?

1.5     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research work will benefit the parents, teachers, government and the entire society. If the result of this research is properly utilized, it will promote students environmental knowledge through effective and efficient teaching of Biology. It motivate the parents to provide basic requirements of practical lesson for their children in secondary schools. It will convince the teachers that both instructional strategies are mostly essential for effective teaching and learning of science subjects like biology. It will make the government through the ministry of education realize the need for the inclusion and implementation of these instructional strategies in secondary schools and it will help the Nigeria society in the quest for the need to promote environmental awareness.

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