CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY

The study was carried to investigate the influence of drug abuse teaching on biology students perception in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. Two (2) research questions and one (1) hypothesis were raised to guide the study. The method adopted by the researcher is the descriptive survey research design. A review of related literature was carried out. A total of one hundred students in public secondary school in Oredo Local Government Area constituted the population study sample. The instrument used for gathering data from the selected sample was a questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument was established at 0.71 using Cronbach statistics. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of percentages, mean and t-test. The study revealed that, the teaching of drug abuse in the classroom by Biology and publicity of drug abuse and its effects in news and social media have influence on students perception toward drug abuse. The influence of drug abuse teaching on students’ perception has significant difference base on gender. It was recommended that; there is a need to formally incorporate drug teaching and counseling into the academic curriculum of primary and junior secondary
schools since drug abuse as a topic in Biology is taught in secondary school II (SSS II). Government should establish special rehabilitation centres specifically for students who are substance abusers so as to help them continue with their education while undergoing rehabilitation.

The purpose of the study is to acknowledge the problems hindering the effective teaching and learning of biology in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. The study is to determine how well teachers in Oredo Local Government use teaching-learning media in teaching of biology in secondary schools, the extent to which the lack of educational and instructional materials affect the teaching and learning of biology, the extent of the abilities of teachers and how well they cope with new technology and media used for proper learning of biology which is a core science subject, the extent to which the educational qualifications cover for the teachers in the use of computerized media for teaching and learning, and how well they are tested for effective teaching programs in the scope of biology. The researcher employed a survey research method to gather information on the topic. The population of the study consists of 2 biology teachers selected from 10 public senior secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area. A total population of 20 teachers was sampled from the 10 senior secondary schools. The instrument used in this study for the collection of data was a structured questionnaire. The instrument was designed by the researcher and validated by two experts in the department of curriculum and instructional technology. It was subjected to face content validity of the instrument. 20 copies of the questionnaire were distributed by the researcher to the 20 respondents (biology teachers) and were collected by the researcher on the spot. The methods of data collected were analyzed using mean score. The result from the analysis showed that, the use of teaching-learning media in secondary schools is not much. teachers still use chalkboards and textbooks for teaching biology, the use of live biota and computers is almost non-existent in these schools, most schools do not have new technology for teaching available for use to teachers and students, many teachers were inexperienced to use computers, the non availability and lack of teaching-learning media in these schools makes learning biology difficult, incomprehensible and impossible to learn which leaves the students decades behind their counterparts in western and foreign schools. It also revealed that teachers will embrace old means of teaching biology unless they are taught how to use and navigate around these new teaching-learning media. Some solutions include: the Ministry of Education providing adequate programs for coaching teachers on how to use teaching-learning media, qualified biology teachers should be provided with these resources and materials to ease the teaching of biology. Also, the ministry of education should regularly supervise schools to make sure that they always meet up with the appropriate standard. Hence, there is much need for sufficient qualified and competent biology teachers with teaching-learning media skills in secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area.