Are Biology Pre-service Teachers ready to Implement 21st Century Skill in Teaching and Learning in Nigeria?

Abstract

The 21 st century skills are important aspect of education in our present age. Numerous benefits of incorporating skill such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education have been unearthed, therefore, ICT should be widely used in teaching and learning (TnL) processes. However, in order to use this skill in teaching, teachers have to possess certain level of readiness in terms of confidence; awareness and motivation; perception, training; knowledge and equipment. In relation to that, this study identified how ready the Biology pre-service teachers in Kaduna State, Nigeria are to implement the use of ICT in their teaching and if gender affect their level of readiness. The respondents comprised of 123 Biology pre-service teachers in two higher institutions in Nigeria. They were all final year students in the teacher education program (Bsc. Ed. Biology). Their readiness was assessed using questionnaire with four-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics was implored to analyze data. Findings showed that Nigerian biology preservice teachers were ready to implement ICT skill in TnL in terms of confidence, awareness and motivation, perception, knowledge and training but not ready in terms of equipment. Findings also showed that there was no significant difference between male and female biology pre-service teachers' readiness to implement ICT skill in TnL processes. The study serves as a foundation for further studies to be conducted in other fields and on readiness of Nigerian pre-service teachers to implement other 21 st century skills.

Readiness and exposure to information and communication technology instructional resources among pre-service teachers

“…For serving teachers, the results of some studies (Ameen et al, 2019;Chege, 2014;Rahimi & Yodallahi, 2010) showed no gender difference in their readiness to use ICT to teach. Results of some other studies (Bakar & Mohammed, 2008;Francisca & Samsudin, 2018;Morreale et al, 2015) showed no significant gender difference in the readiness of pre-service teachers to use ICT to teach. However, studies of Badri et al (2014), Lee et al (2009), andSummak et al (2010) found significant gender difference in the readiness of serving teachers to use ICT to teach their subjects.…”

Information and Communication Technology Practices in Biology Teaching in Lesotho High Schools

“…A questionnaire, adapted from those used in similar studies, such as [69] (Ghana), [27] (Nigeria), and [26] (Slovenia), was used to collect data intended to answer the research question. It consisted of closed-ended items measured on a five-point Likert scale with the alternatives "1 = never used (not at all)", "2 = very irregularly used (at least once a term)", "3 = irregularly used (at least once a month)", "4 = regularly used (at least once a week)", and "5 = very regularly used (almost daily)".…”

“…This is probably because ICT affords quality instruction that complies with constructivism [24]. Few empirical studies [25]- [27] have confirmed that ICTs bolster efforts to better the quality of pedagogy implemented in classrooms; actually, they believe that, use of ICTs in classrooms would ensure academic excellence in instruction. Thus, countries with disparate economic positions encourage the use of contemporary technologies as instructional instruments in different subjects [28].…”

Pembelajaran Biologi SMA Abad ke-21 Berbasis Potensi Lokal: Review Potensi di Kabupaten Nunukan-Kalimantan Utara

“…Pendidikan sains-termasuk biologi-untuk peserta didik berada pada posisi penting, karena mereka dihadapkan dengan tantangan ilmiah yang sangat besar yang harus mereka hadapi saat ini (Anderman & Sinatra, 2009;Chen & Huang, 2017). Oleh karena itu, guru harus siap dan mampu mengimplementasikan aspek keterampilan abad ke-21 dalam kegiatan belajar mengajar biologi (Francisca & Samsudin, 2018;Haviz, Karomah, Delfita, Umar, & Maris, 2018;Yanti, Maridi, & Sutarno, 2019).…”