Proposing the Incorporation of Basic Medical Sciences into the Curriculum for Basic Education Training

Abstract

Health is everyone’s business. Teachers are essential channels for transmitting societal values to the younger generation. To achieve this, attention must be paid to proper curriculum in teachers’ training. This study was designed to ascertain empirically the level of knowledge of teachers on the basics of medical sciences and to propose the introduction of Basic Medical Sciences in the curriculum for teachers training in Nigeria. The research design is a descriptive non-experimental survey. The research population was students of post-graduate diploma in Education (PGDE) and the sampling method was the random sampling method. The total study population is 1031 and the sample size is 165 determined by the method of Krejcie and Morgan. The control group was drawn from 80 students in 2nd semester 200 level of Anatomy, Physiology and Medicine & Surgery departments. The research instrument is a questionnaire. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed, 234 returned but 12 were disqualified due to improper filling. Therefore 222 (88.8%) was used for the study. Our results showed that male respondents scored an average of 47.66% as against 88.91% from the control group. Female respondents scored an average of 43.70% asagainst 74.91% by the female control group. Respondents on the average scored 43.28% in Anatomy related questions and 49.49% in physiology related questions. It was concluded that knowledge of basic medical sciences among teacher-trainees in Nigeria is deficient. On this basis we propose the incorporation of Basic Medical Science in teachers’ training curriculum in Nigeria.