Students’ perception of science teachers’ instructional strategies in Senior Secondary Schools.

P O Ajayi,Titilayo Folayemi Otoide

doi:10.14738/assrj.73.7829

Abstract

The study focused on the perception of students on the instructional strategies used by science teachers in senior secondary schools, using descriptive research of the survey type. The participants were 540 out of 5,318 science students in Ekiti State public Senior Secondary Schools who were selected through multi-stage sampling procedure. An instrument tagged “Science Teachers’ Instructional Strategies Scale (STISS)” was used to collect data from science students across the three senatorial districts of Ekiti State. The data collected were collated and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics involving mean, standard deviation, Analysis of Variance and t-test. The results of the study revealed that teacher-centred and discipline-centred are the most frequently used instructional strategies by science teachers in senior secondary schools. The results further revealed that the students-centred which is the least frequently used instructional strategies by science teachers is the most alluring to science students. It was therefore recommended among others that government should organize appropriate training through workshops; conferences and seminars for science teachers to enhance professional competencies in their jobs which could as well exposed them to various strategies of teaching which are students-centred. This will help to demystify science in its entirety and simplify the perceived abstract nature of science-concepts which will in turn improve students' enrolment and attitude towards science as well as their academic performance in science to enhance national technological growth with the view of "VISION 2030" and "Sustainable Development Goal" (SDG) in mind.

Highlights

Science is the study of the nature and behaviour of natural things and the knowledge that is obtain about them
Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that teacher-centred and disciplinecentred are the most frequently used instructional strategies by science teachers in senior secondary schools, which implies that students-centred which is the most alluring instructional strategies as perceived by senior secondary schools science students is the least frequently used by science teachers
It can be concluded that the perception of students on science teachers’ instructional strategies varied with students’ gender except for students-centred instructional strategies which was found not to vary with students’ gender

Summary

Introduction

Science is the study of the nature and behaviour of natural things and the knowledge that is obtain about them. Any student who wished to pursue a career in science and technological fields in tertiary institutions must pass through science class in the senior secondary school, and more importantly, such student must be well groomed. This is where science teachers’ roles come to play. The instructional strategies used by science teachers have a lot to do in grooming the students as future renowned scientists. Instructional strategies are the means employed by science teachers for instruction in science which is aimed at assisting the students to acquire the needed skills for critical thinking and the general nature of science. Instructional strategies are the means employed by science teachers for instruction in science which is aimed at assisting the students to acquire the needed skills for critical thinking and the general nature of science. Azizoglu and Cetin (2009) submitted that the purpose of science education is to develop a positive attitude towards science regardless of individual differences

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