Are Biology Pre-service Teachers ready to Implement 21st Century Skill in Teaching and Learning in Nigeria?

Abstract

The 21st century skills are important aspect of education in our present age. Numerous benefits of incorporating skill such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education have been unearthed, therefore, ICT should be widely used in teaching and learning (TnL) processes. However, in order to use this skill in teaching, teachers have to possess certain level of readiness in terms of confidence; awareness and motivation; perception, training; knowledge and equipment. In relation to that, this study identified how ready the Biology pre-service teachers in Kaduna State, Nigeria are to implement the use of ICT in their teaching and if gender affect their level of readiness. The respondents comprised of 123 Biology pre-service teachers in two higher institutions in Nigeria. They were all final year students in the teacher education program (Bsc. Ed. Biology). Their readiness was assessed using questionnaire with four-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics was implored to analyze data. Findings showed that Nigerian biology preservice teachers were ready to implement ICT skill in TnL in terms of confidence, awareness and motivation, perception, knowledge and training but not ready in terms of equipment. Findings also showed that there was no significant difference between male and female biology pre-service teachers’ readiness to implement ICT skill in TnL processes. The study serves as a foundation for further studies to be conducted in other fields and on readiness of Nigerian pre-service teachers to implement other 21st century skills.