PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS AND LECTURERS TOWARDS BIOLOGY PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES

Practical activities in Biology education have long been considered essential for the comprehensive understanding of biological concepts. These activities bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world application. This study investigated lecturers and students’ perceptions towards Biology practical activities. A descriptive survey design was employing for this study. 500 students and all lecturers from the Department of Biological Sciences, TASUED were selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using an adapted questionnaire (Abigail et al., 2016) (Chipo et al., 2019) and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings indicated high levels of students’ perception (M = 105.36, SD = 103.517), high levels of lecturers’ perception (M = 35.55, SD = 2.505) towards Biology practical activities. Also, a non-significant differences were observed between male and female students’ perception Biology practical activities (p=0.910). However, it was revealed that a non-significant relationship existed between students and lecturers’ perception towards Biology practical activities (r=-0.542, p=0.085). It was therefore, recommended that school officials persist in endorsing and promoting the integration of hands-on activities into Biology instruction. Educators should be given access to the tools they need and organizing workshop for professional development to improve their capacity to successfully integrate practical work into their teaching.