Background of the Study
With the growing awareness of the importance of education to the advancement of the nation socially, politically and technologically, it has becomes clear that the need for a good and scientifically based education cannot be over-emphasized. The nation now realizes the need for the quality of education which will be self-reliant. It is therefore significant to survey the availability and effective use of instructional materials for the teaching and learning of biology.
Since biology is a science of life, it should be offered in all secondary schools not just as a school requirement and pre-requisite for further science study, but as a means of helping individuals to understand himself well and develop good use and functions of his senses as well as manipulative skills development .This is only possible through careful and correct use of instructional materials.
In a biology class, the pupils are at the center of the educational process as classroom activities are directed towards developing their total personality to the fullest. In the biology class, the biology teachers explains, illustrates, asks questions, gives assignments, solve problems, uses teaching aids, hold discussions, summarizes the main points, conduct examination to the students. All these activities are carried out in order to mold ideas, habits and attitudes of the pupils with a view to produce to produce well balanced personality. Of all these activities, more is as centrally important as the one relating to the use of teaching aids/instructional materials/instructional auxiliaries.
Instructional materials are the teaching tools ranging from the elementary improvised devices to highly complex an d sophisticated machines specially designed to help teachers to cope with specific teaching needs and situations . Adeosun  says some instructional auxiliaries are audio, some are visual and some are audio- visual. Instructional materials and equipment’s can be regarded as hardware or software. These resources are books and other printed materials, graphics , radio, televisions, and other audio- visual materials, equipment’s models, projection and slide etc.
The use of instructional materials gives rooms for both the teachers and the students to share out of the past experience of the world and apply them in the nearest future or now. The student’s performance can be improvised in schools through the use of instructional materials bit by bit. It also provides common background for all the members of the class for learning new concepts.
Weiss  noted that instructional materials play important roles in education .With the recent trends in educational development, instructional materials would be used largely in Nigeria schools. They serve as tools for teaching if adequately chosen and timely used for transmitting knowledge across to the pupils and will make the teaching more effective and interesting and thereby arrest the attention of pupils. The use of audio–visuals aids in classroom teaching will balance a deeper learning and improvement in the student’s performance than what textbooks explanation s could have achieved .Therefore , instructional materials make teaching more effective , explanatory, interesting and meaningful to pupils in the classroom. The biology teacher can effectively carry out all the activities if there are adequate instructional materials in terms of quality and quantity.
The investigators was therefore promoted to undertake the study with a view to throw more light into the importance of, significance, relevance and effective use of instructional materials in biology .This will make effective teaching and learning of science meaningful because of the nature of biology
Statement of the Problem
In spite of the importance of biology, it has been observed that it is not properly thought in schools because of the inadequate teachers failed to use instructional materials in the teaching of biology. Some schools have no adequate instructional materials needed for the teaching and learning of biology, and even the available ones are not used effectively. Therefore, this study was designed to identify the various instructional materials available for the teaching and learning of biology, and also whether the non-available instructional materials can be improvised.
Furthermore, the teaching of biology faces a number of problems, including the issues of instructional materials. It is therefore important to determine the extent of these problems and offer probable solutions to them.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to:
 Find out if there are any instructional materials in the selected senior secondary schools.
 Examine whether the non –available instructional materials can be improvised for effective teaching and learning of biology.
 Investigate the worth, value, and position of the available instructional materials in the teaching and learning of biology in the selected senior secondary schools.
 Examine if the instructional materials are kept properly.
 Investigate whether teachers use the available instructional materials effectively during the teaching of biology.
 Examine if there are qualified and trained personnel to handle the available instructional materials.
Significance of the Study
The significance of this study is that the study could contribute to the teaching and learning of biology, in senior secondary schools. Besides, it could also suggest how the instructional could be taking care of. Also the study could suggest to the government how qualified personnel’s can be trained to handle available instructional materials.
The study might also give suggestions which will influence the decisions of teachers, Parent Teachers Association [PTA] as a body, Old Students Association, and the community leaders on how to improve the personal condition of schools as regards provision, caring of instructional materials.
Delimitations of the Study
This study was limited to ten selected Senior Secondary Schools in Ado-Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State. The research work is also limited to twenty teachers and one hundred students in Senior Secondary Schools two (SSII).
Considering the above listed points, the following questions were raised as research questions for the success of the study.
 Are there any instructional materials in the selected Senior Secondary Schools?
(2) Is the non- available instructional materials been improvised for effective teaching and learning of biology?
(3) Can the non-available instructional materials be improvised for effective teaching and learning of biology?
(4) Are the available instructional materials of adequate quality?
(5) Do the selected Senior Secondary Schools have store room/Laboratories to keep their instructional materials?
(6) Do the teachers make use of the available instructional materials effectively in the teaching and learning of biology?
(7) Are there qualified and trained personnel to handle the available instructional materials?
The following hypotheses stated in null formed were generated for testing in this study:
(HO1) There are no adequate instructional materials in the selected Senior Secondary Schools in Ado-Ekiti.
(HO2) There is no relationship between the availability of instructional materials and effective teaching and learning of biology.
(HO3) There is no provision for improvised instructional materials for effective teaching and learning of biology.
(HO4) The available instructional materials are of no required quality.
(HO5) There are no store rooms / laboratories to keep the instructional materials.
(HO6) Teachers do not make effective use of the available instructional materials in the teaching and learning of biology.
(H07) There are no qualified and trained personnel to handle the available instructional materials.
This study assumes that:
Biology is taught by qualified teachers
Biology teachers already have skills in improvisation
The teachers are using instructional materials to teach biology.
Definition of Terms
In order to teliminate ambiguity and consequently reduce vagueness, the following concepts are operationally defined.
(1) INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS: These are materials like textbook, microscope, charts, models, beakers, etc. that facilitates teaching learning process and enable learners to learn better.
(2) AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS: These are the instructional materials relating to hearing and seeing together e.g. television, sound motion picture, computer, film strips with record.
(3) STIMULATION INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS: These are instruction/devices used to stimulate the real life situation.
(4) COMPUTER: This is an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program.
(5) MICROSCOPE: This is an instrument used to see object that are too small for the naked eye.
(6) CHARTS: Charts are what we call graph. Charts are visual representation of worksheet data. It makes it easier to understand the data in a worksheet because users can easily pick out patterns and trends illustrated in the chart that are otherwise difficult to see.
(7) TEXTBOOK: (Encyclopedia of Education, 2008b).They contains facts and ideas around a certain subject. Textbook is a printed and artifacts for each year or course of study.
(8) LABORATORY: This is room of place with appropriate equipment for teaching science or doing scientific work. It is also a place where research and testing is carried out.
This Project is is available for the below list of Nigerian State capitals.
Abia Umuahia, Adamawa Yola, Akwa Ibom Uyo, Anambra Awka, Bauchi Bauchi, Bayelsa Yenagoa, Benue Makurdi, Borno Maiduguri, Cross River Calabar, Delta Asaba, Ebonyi Abakaliki, Edo Benin. Ekiti Ado Ekiti, Enugu Enugu, Gombe Gombe, Imo Owerri, Jigawa Dutse, Kaduna Kaduna, Kano Kano, Katsina Katsina, Kebbi Birnin Kebbi, Kogi Lokoja, Kwara Ilorin, Lagos Ikeja, Nasarawa Lafia, Niger Minna, Ogun Abeokuta, Ondo Akure, Osun Oshogbo, Oyo Ibadan, Plateau Jos, Rivers Port Harcourt, Sokoto Sokoto, Taraba Jalingo, Yobe Damaturu, Zamfara Gusau, FCT Abuja.
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