Survey and Analysis on Present Situation of Biological Experiment Teaching in Some Middle Schools in Yangjiang Area

Sainan LI, Haoyao WU, Yina LU, Liping ZHOU

Department of Biology, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing 526061, China

Abstract Experimental teaching is an important part of biology teaching in middle school. In the form of questionnaire, this paper conducts a survey on some leading teachers of biology in the middle schools in the Yangjiang area about the biological experiment teaching in the implementation of the new curriculum, and analyzes the results of the survey. The problems and deficiencies in the implementation of biological experiment teaching in some middle schools in this area are found, and the relevant reform measures and suggestions are put forward in order to promote the better development of biological experiment teaching in middle schools.

Key words Biological experiment teaching in middle school, Present situation, Questionnaire survey, Analysis

1 Introduction

Biology is one of the six basic subjects of natural sciences. It is a science that studies the structure, function, occurrence and development of organisms (including plants, animals and microorganisms). It has strong practicality and scientific rigor. Experimental teaching plays an important role in biology teaching. Biological experiment provides students with the opportunity to operate by themselves, so that students can better understand the structure of organisms and the basic laws of life activities, cultivate their ability to create, discover and raise problems, analyze and solve problems.

For this reason, this paper conducts a survey on some leading teachers of biology in the middle schools in the Yangjiang area who participated in the training about the implementation of biological experiment teaching in Yangjiang middle school under the background of new curriculum. This paper analyzes the results of the survey, finds out the problems, and puts forward the corresponding reform measures and suggestions, in order to promote the biological experiment teaching in middle school to be better carried out.

2 Survey objects and methods

2.1 Respondents

Some leading biology teachers in middle school in the Yangjiang area who participated in the training on biological experimental skills in Zhaoqing University, were selected as the respondents.

2.2 Survey methods

The survey was conducted in the form of a questionnaire. The questionnaire is divided into three parts, that is, the basic situation of teachers and the skill level of teachers, the course arrangement of biological experiments, and the attitudes of schools and teachers toward biological experimental classes.

2.3 Survey time

The survey was conducted in December 2020. A total of 57 questionnaires were distributed and 54 valid questionnaires were collected, with a response rate of 94.7%.

3 Survey results and analysis

3.1 Basic situation and skill level of teachers

As shown in Table 1, among the biology teachers involved in the survey, 49.1% of the biology teachers have been teaching for more than 20 years, 24.5% for 11-20 years, 13.2% for 6-10 years, 9.4% for 1-5 years, 3.8% for less than 1 year. This result shows that most of the surveyed teachers have rich teaching experience. Among them, most of the teachers have intermediate titles, accounting for about 63.0%, the teachers having senior titles and junior titles account for 18.5%, and the proportion of teachers with senior titles is on the low side. From the perspective of academic qualifications, about 20.4% of the teachers who participated in the survey have a bachelor’s degree, 75.9% of them have a bachelor’s degree by further study, and about 3.7% of them had a junior college degree, showing that the academic qualifications of the teachers involved in the survey are not high, and a large number of teachers have obtained undergraduate degrees through correspondence and entrusted training, but they are not competent for biological experiment teaching in middle schools. From a point of view of major, teachers majoring in biological education account for about 66.7%, biological non-educational teachers account for about 5.6%, non-biological but educational teachers account for about 25.9%, and non-biological non-educational teachers account for about 1.7%. This shows that most of the teachers involved in the survey are professional, but there are still cases in which what they teach is not what they have learned. Among them, the teachers who are only responsible for teaching biology account for about 66.7%, the teachers who are responsible for biology teaching and biological experiment preparing account for about 3.7%, the teachers who are responsible for teaching biology and other subjects account for about 7.4%, and the biology teachers who are also head teachers account for about 22.2%. This shows that there are still some teachers who are not full-time biology teachers, which reflects the shortage of full-time biology teachers in this school.

Table 1 Basic information of teachers interviewed

As can be seen from Table 2, about 3.9% of the teachers interviewed have participated in biological experimental skills training for many times, 26.9% of teachers have participated in biological experimental skills training, but infrequently, 7.4% of teachers are participating, and about 61.8% of teachers have never participated. This shows that most of the teachers involved in the survey lack experimental training, which reflects that the teachers and the school do not pay enough attention to the biological experiment course in middle school. As far as the teaching methods of teachers involved in the survey are concerned, about 40.4% of teachers use multimedia for teaching, 1.9% of teachers use traditional methods for teaching, and about 57.7% of teachers combine the two. It can be seen that most of the teachers who participated in the survey use modern educational technology to teach with the times.

Table 2 Skill levels of teachers interviewed

3.2 Course arrangement of biological experiment

As can be seen from Table 3, among the teachers surveyed, 15.5% of the teachers only explained and 17.3% of the teachers explained and demonstrated the experiment, but the students were not arranged to carry out the experiment. Among the other teachers, although the experimental courses were arranged normally, 54.4% of the teachers chose to explain and demonstrate and then let the students carry out the experiment, 1.7% of the teachers did not explain, and let the students carry out the experiment on their own, and 11.1% of the teachers instructed the students to carry out the experiment while demonstrating. This mode of "teaching by holding the hand" has become the norm, which will make students rely too much on teachers’ teaching and lack the ability of independent exploration. In the explanation of the experiment, about 33.3% of the teachers explained the experiment completely according to the book steps, and about 66.7% of the teachers explained mostly according to the book steps. Under the premise of the new curriculum standards, the change of experimental teaching objectives inevitably requires teachers to make a breakthrough in experimental teaching methods, and it is difficult to make a breakthrough and enable students to get real exercise simply relying on the content of textbooks. In experimental teaching, for experiments that are not easy to produce results or are very complex: about 30.0% of the teachers improved the experiment and let the students do it as much as possible; about 46.9% of the teachers explained the difficulty of the experiment, explained the principle of the experiment and demonstrated the experiment; 19.0% of the teachers draw the device and only explained the reaction and operation principles; 4.1% of the teachers chose to give up the difficult experiment. These results demonstrated that there is a certain gap between the concept of the interviewed biology teachers and the new ideas of the new era, and many biology teachers think that the biological experiment course is a supplement to the theoretical course, do not fundamentally realize that the importance of biological experiment teaching lies in answering students’ questions and teaching students biological experimental learning methods, so that students have the consciousness to explore the unknown and have the ability to solve curiosity.

Table 3 Course arrangement of biological experiment

3.3 Attitudes toward biological experiment class

According to Table 4, only about 21.7% of the teachers interviewed said that their schools attach great importance to biological experiment teaching and often attend lectures to guide teaching. About 60.9% of the teachers said that their schools do not pay much attention and usually attend classes during activities such as open classes. About 17.4% of the teachers said that their schools do not attach importance to biological experiment teaching, neither attending lectures and nor giving guidance. The evaluation of biological experiment in the school focuses on students’ achievements, neglecting the cultivation of students’ practical ability. The school leaders do not pay attention to biological experiments, lacking training of teachers’ experimental skills and supervision of experimental courses, so biological experimental teachers seldom carry out experimental teaching and research activities. Only 17.0% of the teachers said that their schools often carry out experimental teaching and research activities, 56.6% of the teachers said that their schools occasionally carry out experimental teaching and research activities, and 26.4% of the teachers said that their schools never carry out experimental teaching and research activities. Among the teachers interviewed, 45.3% of the teachers think that biological experiment teaching is very important, 54.7% of teachers think that the biological experiment is not so important, in contrast, they pay more attention to students’ test achievements. Most teachers have a correct understanding of biological experiments, and think that biological experimental courses are very helpful to biology teaching. Generally speaking, most teachers can correctly understand the importance of biological experiment teaching, but there are still a small number of teachers whose educational concept lags behind, which restricts the development of biological experiment curriculum.

Table 4 Attitudes of school leaders and teachers toward biological experiment classes

In addition, some teachers interviewed reported that the number of laboratories in the school was small, the experimental equipment was backward or incomplete, and the laboratory staffs were insufficient. It is hoped that the school will organize teachers to carry out experimental operation training to improve the level of experimental teaching, increase experimental class hours, and bring the examination of experimental operation skills into the scope of students’ examination.

4 Conclusions and recommendations

4.1 Conclusions

Through the survey and study of some leading teachers of biology in the middle schools in the Yangjiang area about the biological experiment teaching in the implementation of the new curriculum, it is found that the factors restricting biological experiment teaching in the Yangjiang area mainly include the following aspects: some teachers do not know enough about biological experiment teaching, and even a small number of teachers do not teach what they have learned. These teachers have no professional training in biology, have little knowledge of biology, and lack the ability to carry out experiments independently and guide students’ experiments. The evaluation system of examination-oriented education affects the normal development of experimental teaching. Some school leaders and teachers do not pay enough attention to the cultivation of biological experimental operation skills and experimental ability, arrange less biological class hours, and lack experimental equipment, so that biological experimental teaching is difficult to carry out. Teachers’ biological experiment teaching mode is outdated, lack of innovation, and teachers pay no attention to students’ independent inquiry, which affects the effect of biological experiment teaching.

4.2 Recommendations

According to the summary and analysis of the results of this survey, the following suggestions are put forward for middle school biological experiment teaching in the Yangjiang area in the future.

4.2.1

Growing with each passing hour and upgrading new idea. Under the background of the new curriculum, the content of experiment and theory teaching is an organic whole and has the same important position. Experimental teaching is an indispensable part of the whole teaching process and the realization of curriculum goals. School leaders should emancipate their minds, renew their ideas, attach importance to the position and role of experimental teaching in school education, and strengthen the leadership of experimental teaching and laboratory construction. According to the actual situation of school, we should formulate relevant systems and measures to ensure the long-term development of experimental teaching and strengthen the inspection and supervision of experimental teaching. At the same time, teachers should really renew their teaching ideas, improve their consciousness, correctly understand the function and role of experimental teaching, and improve the consciousness of experimental teaching in the implementation of the new curriculum.

4.2.2

Strengthening the construction of laboratory and perfecting the experimental facilities. The laboratory is an important position to carry out experimental teaching, and improving the construction of laboratory facilities is the basis and important guarantee for carrying out experimental teaching. Educational administrative departments and schools should attach great importance to experimental teaching and include experimental funds in the plan of daily teaching expenditure, so as to ensure it. Under the existing conditions, the school should try its best to improve the experimental conditions of the laboratory, configure the necessary experimental equipment and instruments, and replace the obsolete experimental facilities to meet the basic needs of biological experimental teaching. It is necessary to have sufficient full-time laboratory technicians to prepare experimental materials in advance. Establish sound laboratory files, and strengthen the training of laboratory management personnel, improve the professional level, so as to make the laboratory management more scientific.

4.2.3

Increasing the intensity of teachers’ experimental training and improving teachers’ post-service experimental ability through a variety of ways. With the deepening of the new curriculum reform and the promotion of new teaching materials, teachers’ teaching concepts and experimental teaching skills should be improved. However, there are few opportunities for teachers to improve their experimental ability from training after working, even if they attach importance to the transformation from theory to practice, it is difficult to improve the application of teachers’ experimental skills. To do well in biological experimental teaching, it is necessary to improve the experimental teaching skills of biological experimental teachers and laboratory technicians . Educational administrative departments and schools should strengthen the training of teachers’ biological experimental skills, carry out targeted training regularly, and university experimental teachers, excellent middle school teachers or subject teaching methodology teachers will serve as the training teachers. In addition, we should also set up some platforms for teachers to learn from each other and exchange experience in experiments, such as mutual exchanges and mutual help among school teachers, and experimental skills exchange activities among teachers in different schools, so that teachers can have a platform for communication and make progress together.

4.2.4

Optimizing experimental teaching methods and improving efficiency. In the process of experimental teaching, teachers should change the traditional experimental teaching mode. They should not only carry out teacher demonstration and students’ hands-on exercises, but also carry out more exploratory experimental teaching on the basis of arousing the enthusiasm of students for participation, encourage students to explore boldly, cultivate students’ spirit of innovation and inquiry, so as to make students change from passive exploration to active exploration, and really improve the ability of exploring biological science.

4.2.5

Improving the evaluation methods. Many middle schools do not attach importance to the biological experiment class. Affected by the examination content, many biology teachers’ ideas still stay in the traditional teaching mode, which is generally manifested as emphasizing classroom teaching and neglecting practical exploration, leading to biological experimental teaching is often a mere formality. Therefore, the students’ attitude is loose, the purpose is not strong, the degree of participation is not high, and most of the experimental classes evolve into leisure and entertainment classes. Thus, it can be seen that the evaluation of teachers and students can not only rely on scores, especially the experimental teaching. In experimental teaching, according to students’ individual differences, we should design evaluation methods that can evaluate students’ experimental attitude, experimental motivation and experimental effect, and establish a diversified examination system to evaluate students’ learning situation in the process of experiment more comprehensively, objectively and scientifically, so as to stimulate students’ interest and cultivate students’ ability.

To sum up, experimental teaching is an indispensable part of biology curriculum in junior middle schools, experimental teaching and theoretical classroom teaching can complement each other. In biology teaching in junior middle school, school leaders and teachers should attach great importance to experiment teaching, realize the significance of experiment teaching, stimulate students’ interest and enthusiasm in experiment, make students better understand and master relevant knowledge and better feel the wonder of biology, and really realize the improvement of students’ learning ability and scientific literacy.