Abstract
This study examined the effect of integrating Statistical concepts on Third year student teachers’ academic performance on Heredity in Biology. The study adopted purposive sampling where 93 participants were randomly assigned into two groups, i.e. an Experimental class (n = 45) and a Control group (n = 48).Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study used a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design. Data were collected using a 8-item structured questionnaire which was used to obtain data on students’ attitude towards heredity while an Achievement Test’ (AT), which comprised 4 questions, was used to measure the students’ performance in genetics. The two null hypotheses were tested using the Independent Sample T-test (at α = 0.05) while the third question was analysed using percentages.The findings from the study showed that students taught Heredity by integrating statistical concepts achieved higher scores and significantly better than those taught using conventional methods (df = 91; p = 0.001 < α = 0.05) . There was also no better achievement in favour of the male students compared to their female counter parts when taught by integrating the statistical concepts in the experimental group (df = 43; p = 0.871 > α = 0.05). It further established that students developed positive attitude towards Heredity after integrating statistical concepts in the teaching of Heredity in Biology. The study recommends among other things, that since integrating statistical concepts is found to be an effective strategy and enhanced achievement among Biology students, teachers and lecturers of this subject should accept it as one of the strategies they can use in teaching Heredity in Biology so as to enhance students’ academic performance.
Highlights
Biology and mathematics have been interconnected for a long time
From the findings and results of the study, it was found that statistics is very significant to undergraduate Biology Education at the Copperbelt University There is greater impact on reducing Mathematics component in O –level Biology questions which in turn lead to poor performance at College Students for Biology exhibited lack of understanding of probability distributions and interpretation of p value associated with statistics while Zoology students made greater gains
Discussion of Findings 5.1 Effects of integrating statistical concepts on students’ academic achievement on heredity in Biology Findings from this study showed that students taught by integrating statistical concepts in teaching or learning heredity in Biology had a mean score higher than those taught with conventional methods
Summary
Biology and mathematics have been interconnected for a long time. many biological processes are described by mathematical equations and certain mathematical concepts have arisen directly from the need to describe interactions, relationships, and processes in living systems (Jungck,1997;Cohen,2004).Statistics is a branch of Mathematics which has been applied in a number of fields (Quinonez,2014). Biology and mathematics have been interconnected for a long time. Many biological processes are described by mathematical equations and certain mathematical concepts have arisen directly from the need to describe interactions, relationships, and processes in living systems (Jungck,1997;Cohen,2004). Statistics is a branch of Mathematics which has been applied in a number of fields (Quinonez,2014). Statistics helps us in reading, analyzing, interpreting, and making decisions using data. Understanding statistics helps in determining the meaning of statistics in Biology (Boda, 2011). The incorporation of statistics in biology helps to predict models and describe the function of biological processes at the ecological, organismal, and cellular level (Elser & Hamilton, 2007). The researcher would want to investigate the effect of integrating Statistical concepts on Third year student teachers’ academic performance on heredity in Biology: A case of Malcolm Moffat College of Education
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