Process skills application and scientific attitudes of Biology students in colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria

• Main Author: ADEYINKA KAREEM
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sustainable Programs to Reduce Educational and Avocational Disadvantages (SPREAD) 2020-05-01
• Series: African Journal of Teacher Education
• Subjects: Process Skills Application; Scientific Attitude; Pre service teachers; colleges of education
• Online Access: https://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/ajote/article/view/6049

West African Examination Council results have continued to reveal Nigeria’s high school students’ poor performance in Science subjects, and especially, in practical science (WAEC 2014). The students’ demonstration of essential scientific attitudes is noted to be deficient. This is possibly caused by ineffective teaching and learning produced by the absence of necessary practical classes. This study, therefore, assessed the process skills application and scientific attitudes of Biology students in colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria as well as the relationship between the two variables. These groups of variables are central to students developing skills and knowledge in science and a determination of levels of competence in them would facilitate appropriate interventions to improve teaching and learning of science. The study adopted descriptive research survey design. The population for the study included all Biology students in colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria. From the four federal and seven state colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria, two federal colleges of education and three state colleges of education were randomly selected to ensure adequate representation of the two school categories. One hundred Biology students were randomly selected from each of the two school categories. Two instruments were used for the study. These were Biology Process Skill Application Rating Scale (BPSARS) and Biology Scientific Attitude Questionnaire (BSAQ). A reliability value of 0.72 for BPSARS and 0.76 for BSAQ was gotten using Cronbach alpha coefficient. The result revealed that there existed a moderate application of process skills and a moderate level of scientific attitude among the respondents as 67.3% and 84.8% having a moderate level of process skills application and scientific attitude respectively. It was shown that there was no significant relationship between the process skill application and scientific attitude (r=0.09, p>0.05) of respondents in the study area