Development and Validation of Instructional Package for Teaching and Learning of Genetics in Secondary Schools

Abstract

The sound knowledge of Biology is, to date, is a strong prerequisite to study many Biological and Life Sciences, examples of which include Physiology, Forensic Science, Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing, Biochemistry, to mention a few. These fields, amongst others, rely on a very important aspect of Biology known as Genetics, which is the study of heredity and variation in living organisms. The field of Genetics intersects with many other life sciences. However, students’ attempts of questions on Genetics in internal and external examinations in senior secondary schools in Nigeria have been very poor over the years because they find the concepts of Genetics hard to understand. The need, therefore, arises to look for ways of dealing with this prolonged problem. This study, therefore, attempted to develop an institutional package and also surveyed the extent to which it is adequate for instructional delivery. The Instrumentation design describes the processes of package development based on the Waterfall Model. The package was validated by thirty (30) Biology teachers who were randomly selected from ten schools in Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria. “Package Adequacy Scale (PAS)” was developed and used for validation purposes. Two research questions were raised in the study and the data collection was analyzed using descriptive statistics of median scores and standard deviation. The result showed that the package was adequate (3.00) for instruction in Genetics due to its quality in terms of lesson contents, graphics, sound, and others. It was suggested, among others, that students should be supplied with modern instructional packages which can aid the teaching and learning of Genetics.