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STUDENTS’
PERCEPTION OF THE CLASSROOM LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN BIOLOGY EDUCATION
ABSTRACT
Beginning
from the initial use of classroom environment, the field of learning
environment has undergone remarkable development and growth. Learning environment has been used as a
source of dependent and independent variables in a rich variety of research
applications spanning many countries. This research has made available a
variety of economical, valid and widely-applicable instruments for assessing
students' perceptions of their classroom learning environment. In Oke- Afa high school Ejigbo Lagos, the study
investigated factors influencing elective science students’ perception of
theirBiology classroom environment in low and high academic achieving senior
secondary schoolsin Nigeria. Data were obtained using the Biology Classroom
EnvironmentQuestionnaire (BCEQ). This was after the senior secondary schools
that offer elective scienceprogram had been categorized into low and high academic
achieving schools based on theirperformance in Senior Secondary School
Certificate Examination/West Africa SeniorSecondary School Examinations for
five years. Two third-year intact classes were randomlyselected from four
schools under each category. Data analysis includes Sample and sample
technique. From the questionnaire
administered that four factors influence elective science students’ perception
of their Biology classroom environment. The findings further suggested that
elective science students in both school categories had a low perception of
their Biology classroom environment but significantly different in favor of the
elective science students in low academic achieving schools in teacher support,
cooperation,
and equity.
Implications of the study are discussed and recommendations given.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The
classroom environment as applied to educational setting is viewed as a place
where learners and teachers interact with each other and use a variety of tools
and information resources in their pursuit of learning activities (Fout &
Myers, 1998; Mucherah, 2008). Classrooms
are specific places in schools where results of education, that is,
understanding and application of knowledge in our lives are expected to be
achieved, and these places have lots of influence on students in respect of
achieving these noble goals (Fraser, 1981). Creating favorable classroom
environments should therefore be of great importance to science educators since
evidence suggests that classroom environment influences students’ learning.
Perception as noted by Teh (as cited in Ampiah, 2006) influences human behavior
in science related issues and this has been found to exist worldwide. An individual
student’s perception of the class as a whole, as distinct from a student’s
perception of his/her own role within the classroom. For example, males could
find a class less difficult than females. Yet males and females still could
agree when asked for their opinions about the class a whole. Student have a
good advantage point to make judgments about classroom because they have
encountered several learning environments and have enough time in a class to
form accurate impressions. One of the major aims of education is the
development of wholesome personality. Family is the socio-biological unit that
exerts the greatest influence on the development and perpetuation of the
individuals’ behavior. Next to home, school is the most important experience in
the process of development of children. Both the environments, share
influential place in child’s life and also contribute to the development of the
children. Classroom learning environment is the second home to students.
Teachers and parents have greater responsibility to foster mental health status
of the students. At times in adverse conditions the classroom may also
substitute the home situations and meets the emotional needs of those neglected
in the home. Students’ perception or attitude towards the classroom environment
has got considerable influence over their mental health. Classroom atmosphere,
includes favourable attitude towards teacher, co-students, Curriculum, method
of teaching, facilities available in the classroom and teacher-student
interaction.
In the
school system, Classroom learning environment is the most vital one for the
transactional business going on between school and the society. The uniqueness
of the classroom is due to the type of membership enjoyed by its members. The
membership is not only mandatory but members are also more or less similar in
age and achievement level. As a work group, the classroom group assembles
together for the purpose of learning which is held deliberately and in a
planned manner. Naturally in that teaching learning situation, there is social
interaction. The main theme behind the formation of any group occurs
compulsorily as well as accidentally. The process of social interaction implies
that type of relationship between persons where the behavior of one is the stimulus
to the behavior of other thus it becomes reciprocal. Students’ immediate
environment is the classroom. Classroom is a place where unique face-to-face
group marked by interpersonal relationships among its members. These
interpersonal relationships essentially include teacher-student relationship
and peer relationship. The general atmosphere within the academic activities
that take place influences the social relationships. Two types of social
interactions occur in the classroom. Teacher-students and students-students.
First one is the most referred one in educational context. However, the
interaction going on amongst students is equally significant from a
psycho-social view point. The success or the failure of the students also
depends on the quality of classroom’s social climate. The classroom learning
environment aid the development and effective achievement of student
Socially,
the student is the product of environment. The type of classroom leaning
environment is dictated by the way majority of the students perceive their
experiences in the classroom. These perceptions or experiences may be negative
or positive, pleasant or unpleasant. When the environment is conducive, it is
perceived to be stimulating, pleasant, peaceful and exciting; there is good
moral, solidarity or cohesiveness among the students. The students feel that
they belong to the class and are recognized by their mates and teachers. They
are enthusiastic to take part in the class activities because of communication
in the class is good and encouraging. Student does not feel embarrassed, guilty
or ashamed to say something in the class because no matter what one says,
whether it is stupid, clever, correct or wrong one is made to feel he has
contributed something. There is firmness from the teacher to make everyone work
when it is time to work, play and laugh if necessary. In such learning
environment student are encouraged to learn and they eagerly do so. When the
learning environment is not conducive it is perceived to be hostile, tense,
unpleasant, and loose without direction. In a tense punitive hostile classroom
student may learn out of fear, for the punishment they may receive. The
students do not feel free to express themselves. They are afraid to give wrong
answers because they may receive punitive remarks from their teachers. Slow
learners in such a classroom fall off because instead of being encouraged, they
are discouraged. The teacher who is found to be democratic tends to produce a
conducive environment which is exciting and pleasant and stimulates students.
Learning while autocratic teacher may create a rigid, tense environment with
too much direction to scare students from being themselves. If the classroom is
able to create a congenital, pleasant and favourable climate for learning, the
student is likely to enjoy the schooling experience. A supporting institutional
learning climate is likely to create a positive attitude and facilitate
learning. Whereas a non-supportive climate is likely to create a negative
attitude and impede learning. To facilitate effective learning and to avoid
social problems that may arise out of failures, it would be expedient to
include the development of a positive and healthy attitude in students towards
classroom and learning. It is important therefore to investigate the way
students perceive their Biology classroom environment because of its effect on
their achievement in the subject as has been reported in the literature
(Taylor, 2004). Classroom environment which are found to be conducive tend to enhance
the development of positive attitude towards Biology and thereby leading to
higher achievement in it. The classroom learning environment, which include the
classrooms, libraries, laboratories, teachers’ quality, school management,
teaching methods, peers, etc are variables that affect students’ academic
achievement (Ajayi, 2001 and Oluchukwu, 2000). Asiyai(2006) defines physical
facilities as the entire school plant or educational facilities such as
classrooms, staffrooms, laboratories, library, audio-visual aids, electricity,
water, desk, chairs, tables, storage space and others which school
administrators, teachers and students may need and utilize for the smooth and
efficient classroom learning environment.
Hence, the school environment remains an important area that should be
studied and well managed to enhance students’ academic performance.
The issue of
academic performance of students in Nigeria has been of much concern to the
government, parents, teachers and even student themselves. The quality of
education not only depends on the teachers as reflected in the performance of
their duties, but also in the effective coordination of the classroom
environment (Ajao 2001). Classroom learning environment which include
instructional spaces planning, administrative places planning, circulation
spaces planning, spaces for conveniences planning, accessories planning, the
teachers as well as the students themselves are essential in teaching-learning
process. The extent to which student learning could be enhanced depends on
their location within the school compound, the structure of their classroom,
availability of instructional facilities and accessories. It is believed that a
well planned classroom will gear up expected outcomes of education that will facilitate
good social, political and economic emancipation, effective teaching and
learning process and academic performance of the students.
Relating
this study to international occurrences are the assertions of Williams,
Persaud, and Turner (2008), quoting Marsden (2005), which reported that safe
and orderly classroom environment (aspect of instructional space), School
facilities (accessories) were significantly related to students’ academic
performance in schools. The three researchers, also quoted Glassman (1994),
asserting that a comfortable and caring environment among other treatments
helped to contribute to students` academic performance. The work on the
relative effectiveness of cooperative, competitive and individualistic goal
structure stands out because the volume of studies completed (Johnson 1991).
Although many past studies of student achievement is illustrated by cooperative
learning is more successful than either competitive or individualistic
learning, the evidence is not always consistent.
The physical characteristics of the school
have a variety of effects on teachers, students, and the learning process. Poor
lighting, noise, high levels of carbon dioxide in classrooms, and inconsistent
temperatures make teaching and learning difficult. Poor maintenance and
ineffective ventilation systems lead to poor health among students as well as
teachers, which leads to poor performance and higher absentee rates (Frazier,
2002 Lyons, 2001; and Ostendorf, 2001). These factors can adversely affect student
behavior and lead to higher levels of frustration among teachers, and poor
learning attitude among student. Beyond the direct effects that poor facilities
have on students’ ability to learn, the combination of poor facilities, which
create an uncomfortable and uninviting workplace for teachers, combined with
frustrating behavior by students including poor concentration and
hyperactivity, lethargy, or apathy, creates a stressful set of working
conditions for teachers. Because stress and job dissatisfaction are common
pre-cursors to lowered teacher enthusiasm, it is possible that the
aforementioned characteristics of school facilities have an effect upon the
academic performance of students. Previous studies have investigated the
relationship of poor school environment including problems with student-teacher
ratio, school location, school population, classroom ventilation, poor lighting
in classrooms, and inconsistent temperatures in the classroom with student
health problems, student behavior, and student achievement (Crandell &
Smaldino, 2000). Over the past two decades, considerable interest has been
shown internationally in the conceptualization, measurement, and investigation
of perceptions of psychosocial characteristics of the learning environment of
secondary schools. The use of student perceptions can be contrasted with two
other major approaches for assessing and studying classroom environment. One
approach involves direct observation and systematic coding of classroom
communication and events according to some category system (Dunkin &
Biddle, 1974). In contrast to methods which rely on outside observers, the
approach described here defines classroom environment in terms of the shared
perceptions of the students and sometimes the teachers in that environment.
This has the dual advantage of characterizing the class through the eyes of the
actual participants and capturing data which the observer could miss or
consider unimportant. Students are at a good vantage point to make judgments
about classrooms because they have encountered many different learning
environments and have enough time in a class to form accurate impressions.
Also, even if teachers are inconsistent in their day-to-day behavior, they
usually project a consistent image of the long-standing attributes of classroom
environment.
Recently,
despite the obvious leading roles teachers play in the classroom learning
environment towards attaining educational objectives, teachers work environment
in terms of provision of physical facilities remained a serious problem. Today
the teaching variables are neither sufficient nor adequate for positive
teaching and learning outcomes. The teachers at times had to work under the
most unsafe and unhealthy conditions like dilapidated physical buildings, out-dated
libraries, stinking abandoned classroom and broken furniture. Nwachukwu (1988)
and Ogundipe (2002) in their studies pointed out that those poorly motivated
teachers have less concern for effective classroom learning environment and
consequently the school goods and objectives are not wholly achieved. According
to Ofoegu (2004) the problems cause by delays consistencies and errors in
paying teachers salaries and other remuneration has seriously conflicted with
teacher classroom activities. In any conducive work environment, teachers must
be good listeners, available, approachable, source of information, paying
adequate attention to student activities and trustworthy in performing their
roles to yield a highly effective teacher capable of igniting a spark in the
classroom (Maxwell 1998). According to Adegun (2002) most of the persistence
problems and complications that bedeviled classroom learning environment arises
from either lack of information and poor capacity for information management.
Whenever activities are not organized, there will be confusion and chaos. Such
activities include mastery of the subject matter, making the classroom
environment conducive for learning, using appropriate teaching method,
provision of physical facilities, information services, motivation teacher-
student relationship etc. According to Afe(1995), teaching taste is done
through conscious and deliberate effort, but for a teacher to carry out this
conscious and deliberate effort called teaching he needs a conducive environment.
However good the school performances may be if necessary resources are not
there the teacher cannot perform, no matter how much they induced. Teachers
also complain of students’ low performance at both internal and external
examination. The annual releases of Senior Secondary Certificate Examination
results (SSCE) conducted by West African Examination Council (WAEC) justified
the problematic nature and generalization of poor secondary school students’
performance in different school subjects. For instance, the percentage of
failure compared with students who passed Biology and Mathematics between 2007
to 2010 is shown below.
Table 1: The
West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Performance in the Senior School
Certificate Examinations: May/June, 2007-2010: Mathematics
YEAR
TOTAL NO OF
CANDIDATES
CREDIT A1 -
C6 %
PASS P7 - P8
%
FAIL F9 %
2007
1019524
33.97
28.16
34.47
2008
1054853
38.20
25.36
34.41
2009
1149277
41.12
31.09
24.95
2010
1249028
46.75
26.72
24.24
Table 1: The
West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Performance in the Senior School
CertificateExaminations: May/June, 2007-2010: Biology
YEAR
CREDIT A1 -
C6 %
FAIL F9 %
2007
29.53
37.61
2008
25.36
36.93
2009
34.48
29.65
2010
29.94
26.54
Poor
academic performance according to Aremu (2003) is a performance that is
adjudged by the examinee/testee and some other significant as falling below an
expected standard. Aremu (2000) stresses that academic failure is not only
frustrating to the students and the parents, its effects are equally grave on
the society in terms of dearth of manpower in all spheres of the economy and
politics. Education at secondary school level is supposed to be the bedrock and
the foundation towards higher knowledge in tertiary institutions. It is an
investment as well as an instrument that can be used to achieve a more rapid
economic, social, political, technological, scientific and cultural development
in the country. The role of secondary education is to lay the foundation for
further education and if a good foundation is laid at this level, there are
likely to be no problem at subsequent levels.
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