Availability and Utilization of Equipment/Materials in Senior Secondary Schools Biology Practical Activities in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This study assessed availability and utilization of biology equipment/materials in Ekiti State Senior Secondary School Biology lessons. The study specifically examined the extent to which school location affects the availability and utilization of Biology laboratory materials for practical activities.The study adopted the descriptive research design of the survey type. The population of the study comprised of 19,603 Senior Secondary School II (S.S.S2) students and 378 Biology teachers in all 189 Public Secondary Schools in Ekiti State. The sample for this study were 490 respondents, comprising 450 Students and 40 teachers randomly selected from 18 secondary schools using multi-stage sampling technique. Three set of instruments tagged ‘Biology Teacher Activities Questionnaire (BTAQ)’, ‘Biology Student Activities Questionnaire (BSAQ)’ and ‘Biology Equipment/Materials Checklist (BEC)’ were used for the study. The three instruments BTAQ, BSAQ and BEC were validated by experts. Also the reliability of the three instruments BTAQ, BSAQ and BEC yielded reliability coefficients of 0.87, 0.79 and 0.68 respectively. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentages and means were used to answer research questions while the inferential statistics involving t-test statistics was used to test the hypothesis, the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance.The findings of the study showed that facilities for Biology practical activities were available in schools moderately. It was also found that the utilization of available facilities for Biology practical activities in schools was moderate. It was found that there was no significant difference between availability and utilization of materials for practical activities in rural and urban schools. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that government in collaboration with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) should ensure that resources are provided in the laboratory for effective teaching- learning process. Also, periodic seminars and workshops should be organized for Biology teachers in order to enhance their effective utilization of facilities for Biology practical