Conception about the Origin of Life Among Senior Secondary School Biology Students in Enugu Education Zone for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Abstract

This study investigated the Conception about the Origin of Life among senior secondary School Biology student’s in Enugu Education Zone of Enugu state for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted ex-post facto design. The population for the study was four thousand six hundred and sixty nine (4669) Senior Secondary School two (SSS 2) students in thirty (30) secondary schools, which comprised twenty (20) co-educational schools, eight (8) female schools and two (2) male schools in Enugu Education Zone for 2017/2018 academic session. The sample of the study was two hundred and forty (240) Senior Secondary School Two (SSS 2) students in the nine (9) coeducation secondary schools in Enugu Education zone for 2017/2018 academic session. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire. Three specialists in Biology education and Measurement and Evaluation face validated the content of the   instrument. Cronbach Alpha formula 20 was used to establish the internal consistency of the instrument and it yielded a coefficient of 0.498. Two hundred and forty comprising 88 male and 152 female students were used as sample for the study. Research Questions were answered using box plots because it shows the relationship between categorical and ordinal or scale data. Chi square (χ²) tests were used to test the association of the independent variables on conceptions about the origin of life among secondary school biology students in Enugu education zone at the 0.05 level of significance. It was found that Students preferred creationism/intelligent design over evolution as the explanation of the origin of life; secondly, that Students’ conception about the origin of life is associated with their location; and finally, that Students’ acceptance of evolution, creationism and intelligent design were statistically significantly associated with their perception of the relationship between science and religion. Hence, the study recommended that the serving teachers of Biology in Senior Secondary Schools should endeavor to help the students reconcile their conceptions towards biology theories as it regards to the origin of life.