Laboratory Animal Usage in Teaching to Improve Learning of Biology in Senior Secondary Schools, Jos North Plateau State

Abstract

A research work on laboratory animal usage in teaching to improve learning of biology in secondary schools in Jos North, Plateau State with the aim of finding out if the use of live animals will significantly enhance the academic performance of students as compared to the used of visual pictures was carried out. Experimental procedure using live animals and control procedure using visual pictures were used to teach biology in two different schools respectively. The level of awareness on the use of laboratory animals in teaching biology, the topics taught using live animals in biology classes and the student’s level of involvement in carrying out activities using the live animals in secondary schools in Jos North Local of Plateau State Nigeria are questions that this research has attempted to answer. Findings reveal that the experimental group scored above 70% while the control group scored below 60%. The results indicates significant increase in the percentage of the experimental group at 70.67% and the control group at 58.83% compared to the pretest result of 36.7% for experimental group and 33% for the control group. This goes to show that use of live animals in teaching biology can increase significantly the learning ability of science students in secondary school.