The Role of Teaching Approaches in Mastering Biology Subject in Ordinary Secondary Education in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania

Abstract

The current study is mainly aimed at investigating the role of teaching approaches in mastering Biology subjects in ordinary secondary education settings in Morogoro Municipality. The study guided by two objectives, to assess the common approaches applied in teaching and learning Biology subject, and to examine whether teachers are competent and possess the skills of using more than three methods in teaching Biology. The study employed mixed methods and a case-study research design. The schools and students were selected through simple random sampling. Twenty ordinary secondary students were selected per each school, three Biology teachers per each school and one head of academic department or head of school per each school as well as one quality assurer responsible for Biology subject. The collected data were classified, analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Computer Programme version 25 then interpreted using descriptive statistical techniques, and qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. The findings showed that most Biology teachers preferred to use lecture and chalk talk methods, through which these approaches lead students to fail to master well the subject. Furthermore, the findings indicated that most Biology teachers are competent and possess skills of using different teaching approaches, though in apply them become a problem due to overcrowded class and lack of enough time, teachers found themselves using lecturing or question and answers rather than other approaches recommended for the competence-based curriculum. The researcher recommended that; Biology teachers should employ hands-on and mind-on approaches and strategies such as field trips, project works, experimentation, simple research and demonstration when teaching to enable students to be creatives, hence competent and to master the subject.