Experiments in teaching

Undergraduate students have different perceptions of the use of experiments in the teaching of cell biology.This study aimed to identify some of the student's opinions about the use of the us of experiments in the teaching of cell biology. A descriptive survey research design was utilized and the study was guided by seven research questions. The research was conducted at the University of Benin in Edo state, Nigeria. A total of 150 undergraduate students were selected from three departments at the University of Benin. Plant Biology and Biotechnology (50 students), Animal and Environmental Biology (50 students), and Curriculum and Instructional Technology (50 students). The sampling technique employed was simple random sampling. The data were collected with a questionnaire instrument and analyzed using simple percentages and means. The findings indicated that students expressed working with live cells and observing their behavior was enjoyable. The results also show that there are available materials in the experiment of bacterial cell-like cell culture dishes, Petri dishes, pipettes, etc. Also, results show that undergraduate cell biology students face challenges such as teaching methods used by the lecturer and lack of learning aids. Additionally, some factors influence students' perceptions such as the amount of time required to complete the experiment, the level of difficulty of the experiment, etc. In conclusion, it is therefore recommended that teachers should adapt their teaching methods, increase their knowledge of conducting experiments, allocate suf icient time, and provide adequate learning aids. Additionally, researchers recommend that teachers ensure proper preparation and caution before conducting experiments