ASSESSMENT OF CONTENT COVERAGE OF PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF BIOLOGY CURRICULUM IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN OSUN STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the content coverage of the practical aspect of the Biology curriculum for senior secondary schools in Osun State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population comprised 178 Biology teachers and 13,340 Biology students of Senior Secondary Three (SS III) in Osun State. The sample for the study was 36 senior secondary school Biology teachers 931 students from 36 intact classes of SS III Biology students from 12 Local Government Areas of the State. A Researcher-Developed Checklist (RDC) was used as the instrument to collect data which were analysed using frequency count, percentages and mean. The result showed that the content of the practical aspects of the Biology curriculum were covered to a good extent in the teachers‟ diaries (poor = 25.00%, fair = 30.56%, good = 44.44%, ̅ ) and lesson plans (poor = 16.67%, fair = 36.11%, good = 47.22%, ̅ ). but poorly covered in the practical workbook of the students (poor = 56.40%, fair = 26.11%, good = 25.59%, ̅ ). The study concluded that the content coverage of the practical aspect of the Biology curriculum for secondary schools in Osun State is on average (poor = 32.69%, fair = 27.59%, good = 39.72%, ̅ ). The study recommended that teachers should dedicate at least one period per week for practical classes and allocate marks for practical works in the continuous assessment.