Assessment of Teachers’ Awareness and Utilization of Community Resources for Teaching and Learning Biology in Kwara Central, Nigeria

Abstract

One of the problems affecting the effective teaching and learning of biological concepts is lack of mass. This problem could be remediated with the use of resources within students’ communities. Hence the need to explore biology teachers’ awareness and utilization of community resources in senior secondary schools in Kwara Central, Nigeria adopting the mixed-method approach. The research utilised a survey design for the quantitative aspect, sampling 271 biology teachers through simple random techniques, and thematic analysis of interviews with 42 purposively selected participants for the qualitative aspect. Data collection instruments included a validated structured questionnaire, “Biology Teachers’ Awareness and Utilisation of Community Resources (BTAUCR),” and an open-ended interview guide. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and ANOVA, while qualitative data underwent thematic analysis with NVivo 12.0. Findings revealed that biology teachers were most aware of accessible community resources like nature centres (56.1%), zoological gardens (57.6%), and professional guest speakers (60.9%), while awareness of specialised resources, such as seed banks (35.1%) and ranches (34.7%), was limited. Utilisation patterns showed frequent use of resources such as professional guest speakers (M=2.18) and nature centres (M=2.11), while biological libraries (M=1.67) were underutilised. The interviews enriched these findings, highlighting diverse challenges and benefits associated with integrating community resources into teaching.