ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to find out the biology Teachers views on problems of laboratory management and safety in selected secondary school in Lokoja metropolis. The researcher study involved biology teachers only from six selected secondary school. Two independent variables were involved in this research. These variables were teacher’s gender and teacher’s qualification. The researcher designed 30 questionnaires to elicit information.
The data collected were analyzed using percentage and chi-square test, the results showed that several factors are responsible for the problems of laboratory management and safety in secondary schools; therefore, recommendations for improving the status of practical work on biology in secondary schools were given.
The findings revealed that; in all the teachers teaching biology 65% of them were qualified 42.5% were male teachers while 25% were female teachers. It was revealed that teachers with varying qualification have the same view about the importance of laboratory work in biology.
Recommendations made are as follows; teachers teaching biology should attend seminar s and improve their teaching method. Teachers teaching biology should show sense of devotion of their work and develop enthusiasm by improvising materials that are locally made.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Safety practice can be explained to mean the process of averting danger. According to advance learner’s dictionary, “safety is freedom from danger or risk” (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English A. S. Hornby, 1982). The importance of safety measure in every activity of individual cannot be over emphasized. It forms an integral part of individual understanding. Laboratory activities demand adequate safety measures in order to overcome danger. This can be achieved either by the teachers or students. Aminu (1982) maintain that most laboratory hazards can be reduced by good value judgment, careful manipulation adequate supervision, and most of all the knowledge of how to use the safety material or device present in the laboratories. It is obvious that anyone who is not alert and safety conscious stand the greater risk of turning a minor hazard into an accident which might be fatal. To ensure safety in our biological science laboratories, students and teachers should be well-informed of the safety practice and how to operate simple safety gadgets during emergency. Also there is the need that these safety gadgets be constantly checked to ensure proper functioning during emergency. Laboratories serve as a training ground for scientist and a means for discovering new knowledge and testing hypothesis. “A school laboratory is an instructional facility for helping pupils learn what science is and how the scientists work” (Archohold, 1977). In the study of biology, the equipments and facilities to which students are exposed are very important. It is believed that students with rich background in terms of exposure to many and varied equipment and facilities have advanced intellectual developments than the less privilege ones (Fafunwa, 1984). Laboratory according to the world book encyclopedia can be defined as a place equipped with scientific apparatus where scientist perform experiment to test hypothesis. Science laboratory is not confirmed to a room with sink and fitting for experiment but rather, it includes any place in the field, stream near school, garden or workshop especially equipped and set aside for the function it is intended to serve (Danazumi, 1992). Practical works and safety practices run concurrently in laboratories. This is reflected in one of the objectives of the adequate practical teaching in biology science, which is to teach public how to handle safety materials that could be dangerous. Child center or activity method is one of the recognized methods of teaching biology. This method of teaching ensures a high degree of student participation. The success of practical lesson and the realization of the positive goals of teaching biology in secondary school depend on the measures taken to measure the safety of both the students and teachers (Ahmed, 2001). Conclusively, many lives can be saved if necessary safety measures are considered or taken appropriate in the biology lessons or practicals. The indispensability of the Biological Science Laboratory Apparatus to the teaching of biology cannot be over emphasized. Science laboratory is an important component in the learning of science subjects but it depends upon the degree to which it is efficiently used, only the availability of Science laboratory is not a guarantee of students’ performance until both the students and teachers actually use Biological Science Laboratory Apparatus facilities efficiently (Lewin, 2000).