The Implementation of Action Research for the Improvement of Biology Teaching and Learning in Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria

The main objective of the study was to implement an action research strategy to improve the teaching and learning of biology in senior secondary schools in Nigeria. Specifically the following research questions were raised: (1) What are the levels of intellectual challenge included in the activities used for classroom and laboratory instructions? (2) What are the levels of intellectual challenge included in the redesigned course materials for classroom and laboratory instructions? (3) Will there be an increase in learning when a revised course material is used for classroom/laboratory instruction? (4) Is there any relationship between activities enjoyed by students and those that enhance their learning? (5) Is there any relationship between effective learning and perceived students enjoyment of an activity? Purposive sampling was used to select four senior secondary schools from urban and rural location of Lagos State. In each of the participating school two intact classes were used to act as experimental and control group. Altogether 267 students and their four biology teachers participated in the study. The redesigned course material was used to teach biology to the experimental class and the traditional course material was used for the control group for the second term of the 2014/2015 academic year. The major findings were: (1) The result of the analysis of the review of the activities and exercises in the recommended Biology textbook in use in Lagos State schools showed that all the exercises and activities were predominantly at the lower cognitive levels of Blooms Taxonomy of educational objectives. (2) The result also showed that the mean achievement score of the students taught with the redesigned course materials was significantly higher than the mean achievement score of those taught using the traditional course materials. (3) There was no significant correlation between activities enjoyed by students and those that enhanced their learning. Educational implications of the findings for the improvement of instructional practices were discussed.