An Evaluation of the Teaching of Biology in Some Selected Senior Secondary Schools of Addis Ababa Vis-A-Vis An Enquiry Model
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Date
1992-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
An evaluation of the Teaching of Biology in Some
selected Senior Secondary Schools of Addis Abeba vis avis
an Enquiry Model.
It has been reiterated that sc i e nce teaching can by no
mea ns be properly accomplished by merely telling
s tudents abou t sc i e ntific f acts , principles and
genera liza ti ons. Science educators, school science
teache rs and s cientists have emphasized the need for a
problem-solving or enquiry approach to science teachi ng
rather th a n presenting it as sa nctifi ed body of
knowledge. To this end, they have stressed a nd pOinted
out the preferred way; i.e ., science teaching shou ld be
based on the nature of science and s hould help students
understand the process of scientific enquiry without
which an ad e qua t e understanding of any science subject
would not be possible.
The teaching of biol ogy, as a science, follows the
premises of s cience teaching. The object of this study
was to evaluate the present Biology Cur riculum for
Senior Secondary Schools of Ethiopia and its
implementation aga inst an Enquiry Model for Biology
Teaching and thereby see whether or not it is in line
with modern trends in science teaching. For this
purpos e, the questions, practical activities and
"Narrations of enquiry " included in 15 even numbered
units of the four textbooks <grades '3 12) were
analysed using var i ous c r i t e ri a . Eva lua t ion of its
imple,mentation involved queetionnaire survey and
observation of the actual teaching-learning processes in
biology classrooms using an observation schedule
designed for the purpose.
Chapter 2 is devoted to a discussion of the
rationale for teaching science as enquiry, the nature of
a science curriculum suited for enqui ry teaching and
oF
requirements for the proper implementationAan enquiry
science curriculum.
Results of the study, presented in chapter 3, in
general show the presence of an immense gap between the
actual teaching of the subject and the approach called
for by the Biology Curriculum. That ia, while the
textbooks overall follow a commendable approach with
re,gard to their abillty to help students understand the
process of biological enquiry, their implementation is
very minimal at best (ver balism is to rampant). The
reasons vary from those that are general (applicable to
the general educational system at this level) to those
that are spec i fic to biology. Among the specific
reasons, the unrealistic nature of the textbooks and the
unfamiliarity of biology teachers with the enq uiry
approach stand out as the most important ones .
Although the teaching of biology cannot be seen
out of the context of the general educational aystem at
this level, the excessive domination of verbalism in
biology classrooms has led to what has been called "a
dead study of life".
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An Evaluation of the Teaching of Biology