(596)LEVEL OF BIOLOGICAL LITERACY OF FIRST YEAR BIOLOGYSTUDENTS OF COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN YOBE STATE:IMPLICATIONS FOR BIOLOGY EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

摘要

One of the contemporary goals of biology education is the development of biological literacy amongthe citizens. It is expected that biological literacy would enable citizens to become informed membersof the society where they live and function. This would enable the individuals make the right choices inpersonal and community issues, based on evidence and rational decisions. The biology educationwhich students receive at the secondary school level is expected to equip them with sufficientknowledge, skills and attitudes that will enable them acquire scientific and biological literacy. Althoughthe students admitted to study biology at the college of education level have passed the secondaryschool biology examination, it is not to be taken for granted that the students of biology education incolleges of education have acquired the required level of Biology literacy for effective functioning in theschool and society. This is because some the students find it difficult to use their knowledge and skillsin Biology for their every-day live activities. The study aims at investigating the level of biologicalliteracy possessed by first year biology students of colleges of education, in Yobe state, Nigeria. Threeresearch questions and two null hypotheses were posed and formulated respectively, to guide thestudy. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. A sample of 385 students were drawn from apopulation of 770 first year biology students from two colleges of education (0ne federal and onestate), through stratified random sampling technique. A 40 item biological literacy test for colleges ofeducation (BLTCOE) was used for data collection. The data collected were analysed using mean,standard deviation and t-test statistics, tested at p<0.05 level of significance. The results revealed thatfewer number of students (10), were at the nominal biological literacy level, 65 were at the multidimensionallevel while more students, 154 and 156 were at the functional and structural biologyliteracy levels respectively. It was also found that gender and school type had no significant influenceon biological literacy level of first year biology students of colleges of education. The results and theimplications of the findings for biology education in Nigeria were discussed based on which somerecommendations were proffered.