The impact of instructional aids on academic achievement of biology students in higher institutions of learning in Potiskum Local Government Area, Yobe State

Abstract

In this study, attempts was made to examine the influence of audio-visual instructional aid on students’ academic achievement in Biology in some selected higher institutions of learning in Yobe State. There is an urgent need to improve the quality of education to bridge the gap between developed and developing nations, and audio visual instruction is considered as a necessary tool for this purpose the objectives of the study was to identify the forms of instructional aids provided in higher institutions, to determine the utilization of instructional aids by teachers of higher institutions of learning, to determine the impact of instructional aids on academic achievement of Biology major students in higher institutions of learning to identify the challenges associated with instructional aids used by Biology teachers in higher institutions of learning in Potiskum Local government area Yobe state. The population of the study comprises of 500 Biology students’ from the following schools, Federal College of Education (technical) Potiskum and College of administration Management and Technology (CAMTECH) Potiskum. Twenty (20) Biology teachers representing the entire population of biology teachers in the two institution was used in the study. The instrument for data collection was Biology achievement test (pat) and structured questionnaire. Fifteen (15) items Biology achievement test (pat) was constructed from topics in the Biology curriculum. The data collected was analyzed using mean, standard deviation. Scores of different groups was computed. Results of the experimentation was used to answer research question. The result shows that the schools lacks functional audio materials for teaching biology at efficient level, the mean and standard deviation of 3.48 and 1.65 is an indication that there is no functional audio materials for effective teaching and learning Biology in the selected institutions. Where there is poor or no available audio materials the rate of utilization is basically not feasible. Similarly audio visual materials are not in use. the use of instructional materials in teaching Biology in the selected higher institutions shows a positive result, it is obvious that electricity and access to the instructional aid is not a problem in the schools but the main challenges faced by the teachers are inadequate lecture period that will warrant the use of audio-visual materials in teaching, poor or no constant monitoring of the lesson by the school administrators, lack of instruction assistant to help the teachers in fixing this gadgets before and during the lecture has contributed immensely to poor academic performance of the students in the selected higher institutions respectively. Technical know-how is a factor of concern poor knowledge of the gadgets by the teachers and the assistant is also a point of concern.