TEACHING EXPERIENCE AS PREDICTOR OF PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF BIOLOGY TEACHERS IN ENUGU STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the strength of teaching experience for predicting the pedagogical content knowledge of biology teachers in Enugu Education Zone. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correctional research design. The population of the study comprised of eighty four (84) biology teachers in the thirty (30) public secondary schools that make the education zone. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Biology Teachers Knowledge of Subject Matter, Instructional Strategies and Curriculum” (BTKSMISC).   The instrument was validated by two experts in the Department of Science Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Using Cronbach Alpha, the overall Mean coefficient of internal consistency was found to be 0.80 for section B (Q1 - 0.90, Q2-0.070, Q3-0.80). Simple regression analysis was used to answer the research questions and to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. The result revealed that teaching experience contributed significantly in the prediction of biology teachers’ subject matter knowledge. It also revealed that teaching experience was not significant predictor of biology teacher’s knowledge of instructional strategy and did not make a significant contribution in explaining biology teachers’ knowledge of biology curriculum in Enugu Education Zone. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended among other, that teaching experience should not only be considered in the selection of teachers for the mentoring of novice biology teachers.