Teachers’ TPACK and Pedagogic Knowledge as Predictor of Acquisition of Science Process Skills in Biology among Senior Secondary School Students in Adamawa State, Nigeria

The study explored teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) as predictors of the acquisition of basic science process skills in Biology among senior secondary school students in Adamawa State, Nigeria. The study is comprised of two objectives and two each of research questions and null hypotheses. A predictive correlational research design was used for the study. The study was conducted in Adamawa State, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised all senior secondary school II students offering Biology and Biology teachers in public secondary schools in Adamawa State. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used for the study which involved simple random, purposive and proportionate sampling techniques. The sample comprise of 470 participants, including 80 Biology teachers and 390 Senior Secondary School II students offering Biology in Adamawa State. Data were collected using a TPACK Biology Self-Assessment Questionnaire” (TPACKBSAQ) adapted from Schmidt, Baran, Thompson, Mishra, Koehler and Shin (2009) to gauge Biology teachers’ TPACK and a Science Process Skills Inventory (SPSI) was adopted from Arnold and Bourdeau (2009) for students. Rigorous validation procedures were applied to ensure the face and content validity of these instruments. The reliability of the instruments was established using Cronbach Alpha, yielding a reliability coefficient of 0.94 for TPACK and 0.83 for SPSI. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while the hypotheses were tested at a significance level of 0.05 using linear regression. The findings from the study showed that the level of teachers’ TPACK significantly predicted science process skills in Biology among senior secondary school students in Adamawa State (F = 82.913, df 1, 79; R= 0.718; p = 0.00 < 0.05). Similarly, teachers' pedagogical knowledge significantly predicted science process skills in Biology among senior secondary school students in Adamawa State (F = 105.179, df 1, 79; R= 0.758; p = 0.00 < 0.05). It was recommended among others that schools should provide access to relevant technologic tools and resources to facilitate TPACK integration in the classroom.

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