Enhancing student understanding of unit 4 : diseases associated with the main systems of the human body by introducing worksheets

Abstract

Biology is the branch of science which deals with life and life processes. Biology is taught as a separate module in grade 10 and 11. Grade 10 biology section consists of four units, An attitude scale test was conducted to identify the student’s attitude about the four biology units in grade 10. It was found that the students of the selected sample have an attitude that the fourth unit of biology in grade 10 is difficult to comprehend. Students and teachers were interviewed in order to find the reasons for the difficulty. It was found that lack of prior knowledge about the subject content and new terms in this unit made it difficult for the students to comprehend this section. Individual worksheets were introduced as a new method to teach this unit. The control group was taught using instructional sheets according to instructions given in the teachers’ instructional manual. Both groups showed a significant improvement when post test marks and pre test marks were compared. Experimental group showed a significant improvement than control group. This shows that the teachers can enhance the understanding of students by using worksheets in the teaching learning process.