The study sought to find out the biological topics in the National Curriculum that students in Senior Secondary School Two (SSII) have difficulties in learning, the reasons why students have difficulties in learning such topics in biology, and to suggest ways of improving the effectiveness of the teachinglearning process of biological topics. For these purposes, a questionnaire consisting of both closed and open-ended items was administered to the students in the data collection procedure. The instrument was administered to 400 SS II students in some selected secondary schools in Education District V of Lagos State. The data collected were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The result showed that there was no significant difference in the perception of students on difficult topics in Biology on the basis of their subject areas-Science, Commercial or Arts (F (2, 397) = 1.523, P > 0.05, Partial η 2 = .008, R 2 =.003). Moreover, findings revealed that students usually have difficulties in five major topics. Among of which were nutrient cycling in nature, ecological management, conservation of natural resources, pests and diseases of crops as well as reproductive system in plants. However, teaching strategies, students' attitude, inadequate learning resources and students' learning habits were the reasons adduced by students of the perceived difficult topics. In remedying the problem, the students suggested the use of varied strategies that would involve appropriate instructional materials, use of hands-on and minds-on strategy, integrating biological concepts to daily life and provision of adequate and functional resources.

Students' misconceptions are often deeply rooted and instruction-resistant obstacles to the acquizition of scientific concepts and remain even after instruction. A large number of prior studies reported that primary and secondary school students have many conceptional problems concerning cell biology and genetics. The study was set out to determine misconceptions held by pre-service teachers about genetics of Science and Technology Education Department at the Faculty of Education in Lagos State University. A sample of 120 pre-service biology teachers in their second and third year was purposively selected. Multiple-choice Genetic Concept Test (MGCT) and Pre-service Teachers' Genetics Misconceptions Checklist (PTMC) were administered to obtain information about pre-service teachers' understanding level of genetics. Results revealed that 75.1% on the average of pre-service teachers had misconceptions about genetics concepts. This percentage of pre-service teachers who have misconceptions could have been due to wrong understanding of the teachers to the concepts of genetics. Findings further showed that about 83.4% on the average of pre-service teachers attributed the misconceptions about genetics to challenges in genetics textbooks, instructional methods in teaching genetics, lecturers' English language skills, pre-service teachers' cultural beliefs and practices, nature of laboratories and abstractness of genetics. Science education and science teachers should take priority for the supplying of scientific literacy which is required for making informed decision about genetic related controversial issues imposed by daily life.

Instruction involves the art of impacting knowledge unto students in order to bring about a change in behaviour as a result of experiences from the impacted knowledge. The art of impacting knowledge requires the teacher selecting appropriate pedagogical strategies that would bring about appreciable academic achievement among the students. This study was carried out to examine the effects of peer-assisted learning strategies as pedagogical approaches on students' academic performance in basic science. The study involved 213 students randomly sampled from eight junior secondary schools in education district iii of lagos state. Basic science achievement test on (bsat) was used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed with the use of mean scores and analysis of covariance (ancova). Findings revealed that students exposed to peer-assisted learning strategies generally outperformed those in the traditional lecture group with average mean sores of 10.92 and 7.44, respectively. Furthermore, results showed that there was a significant effect of treatment on students' achievement scores in basic science, f (3, 204) = 24.23, p<0.05, partial ɳ 2 = .263, r 2 =.272.