Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities used in secondary school biology classrooms: a comparative study

Abstract

The quality of education provided to students is closely related to teacher professional knowledge and teaching-learning activities used in classrooms. Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities used in their classrooms may influence and give insight into educational quality. This study compared 40 teachers’ and 469 students’ perceptions about teaching-learning activities used in biology classrooms. The participants were selected from eight Zambian secondary schools, and data were collected using paper-based Likert-scale surveys. Data were analysed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) to compute frequencies and Chi-square tests. The results revealed that teachers had more positive perceptions than students for all teaching-learning activities indicators. Furthermore, the perceptual differences between teachers and students were statistically significant for most (65%) of the teaching-learning activities. The results also revealed that the participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities in the components ‘making biology teaching-learning easy’ and ‘assessment strategies’ were negative. The implications of these findings for teaching and learning were discussed. The study recommends exploring the reasons behind the participants’ perceptions through data from actual classroom observations. The study also recommends supporting teachers’ enactment of teaching-learning activities related to the categories ‘making biology teaching-learning easy’ and ‘assessment strategies’.

Keywords:

• Teachers’ perceptions
• students’ perceptions
• teaching-learning activities
• learning environments
• secondary school
• biology classrooms

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Nick Rushby, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 5PD, UNITED KINGDOM

SUBJECTS:

• Teachers & Teacher Education
• Theory of Education
• Classroom Practice
• Secondary Education

1. Introduction

Biology lessons must provide learners with the knowledge and skills needed to tackle problems in the 21^st century (Curriculum Development Centre, 2013). Thus, biology lessons need to be effective, i.e. result in students achieving the intended learning outcomes. Biology classrooms must be characterised by the use of effective teaching-learning activities. In advocating effective teaching-learning activities, it is necessary to first describe two terms commonly used to describe the variety of teaching-learning activities – teaching behaviour and learning environment. On the one hand, researchers have used the term teaching behaviour to refer to specific teaching-learning activities such as checking whether students understand the lesson content, clearly explaining the lesson objectives, activating students’ prior knowledge, making use of advance organisers, and informing students about the relevance of the lesson content (Maulana et al., 2013, 2015; Opdenakker et al., 2012). On the other hand, Karamane et al. (2023) used the term ‘learning environment’ to refer to the various teaching-learning activities/practices used in the classroom. In addition, Manninen et al. (2007) aver that the learning environment includes teaching and learning approaches used in the classroom. It can be seen that the terms teaching behaviour and learning environment are used to describe the broad and specific classroom practices i.e. teaching-learning activities. Furthermore, it seems logical to use these terms interchangeably. In the current study, the term teaching-learning activities (TLAs) is used to refer to broad and specific teaching and learning activities used in classrooms. It can be said that teaching-learning activities are a crucial factor in education because they determine students’ success in achieving intended learning outcomes (Maulana et al., 2015).

Perceptions can be described as propositions that individuals consider to be true, which are often tacit, have a strong evaluative and affective component, provide a basis for action, and are resistant to change (Borg, 2011). Teachers’ and learners’ perceptions about the teaching process play an important role in determining the effectiveness of the (teaching-learning) process, and therefore, students’ achievement of learning outcomes. According to Wisniewski et al. (2021), teachers’ perceptions of teaching influence how they teach and how students learn. Karamane et al. (2023) add that comparing teachers’ and students’ perceptions about teaching can provide teachers with insight into how they teach. On one hand, the disparities in how teachers and students view a given teaching behaviour are important as they may make it more difficult for teachers to adjust their classroom behaviour to that of their students (Fitzgerald et al., 2020; Könings et al., 2014). Könings et al. (2014) aver that disparities in teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the teaching and learning process might have a detrimental influence on its efficiency. However, knowing the potential reasons for perceptional discrepancies may make teachers more critical of their own teaching and needed adjustment in the use of teaching-learning activities (Karamane et al., 2023). On the other hand, congruence in teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the teaching and learning process may suggest that classroom practice is effective (Könings et al., 2014). The above arguments show that teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the teaching-learning process may provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Since teaching-learning activities determine students’ success in achieving intended learning outcomes (Maulana et al., 2015), it is important to comprehensively understand how teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities in their classrooms compare.

Although there has been growing research on teachers’ and students’ perceptions about teaching and learning, research in Zambia is lacking. Previous studies reported on the perceptions of teachers (Mapulanga et al., 2022) and students (Mapulanga et al., 2023a) about biology teachers’ enacted pedagogical content knowledge as reflected in the teaching-learning activities teachers were perceived to use. Given the importance of teaching-learning activities for students’ success, the current study compares teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the teaching-learning activities enacted in biology classrooms. A compelling rationale for this study is that teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities used in classrooms can influence the effectiveness of teaching and learning and that the findings on teachers’ and students’ perceptions of biology teaching-learning activities may be used to highlight implications for teaching/learning and needed interventions to improve biology education.

1.1. Theoretical background

Teaching-learning activities enacted in classrooms are influenced by teachers’ professional knowledge. One of the crucial knowledge bases that teachers rely on to deliver content is pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Shulman (1986) presented PCK as the combination of subject matter (content) and teaching knowledge (pedagogy) into an understanding of how specific content, difficulties, or issues are planned, modified, represented and presented to students of diverse interests and abilities. In other words, PCK refers to the teachers’ knowledge that enables them to effectively present knowledge to their students (Buma & Sibanda, 2022). Recently, PCK has been described through the Reformed Consensus Model (RCM) of PCK which recognises the disciplinary topics within subject matter knowledge and the different forms of teachers’ PCK (Carlson et al., 2019). The RCM views PCK as a knowledge base that resides in the community (cPCK), within the person (pPCK), and within practice (ePCK). Community PCK (cPCK) is the knowledge that resides in the community. Personal PCK (pPCK) is the unique knowledge of a teacher that influences his/her enacted PCK (ePCK). Personal PCK is related to the reservoir of the teacher’s knowledge and skills. Enacted PCK is the PCK that teachers enact during the teaching process and closely relates to teachers’ teaching behaviour (Carlson et al., 2019). Therefore, teaching behaviour or teaching-learning activities used in classrooms can reveal a teacher’s expertise knowledge (ePCK), and vice versa.

Teachers with high-quality ePCK can focus on what is critical when teaching and use core teaching-learning activities derived from their knowledge of PCK components such as (i) students’ prior knowledge, (ii) what makes learning difficult, (iii) curricular saliency (iv) conceptual teaching strategies (v) representations and analogies (vi) assessment, (Buma & Sibanda, 2022; Lachner et al., 2016; Luft et al., 2023). Teaching-learning activities (TLAs) can be informed by either content-generic or content-specific PCK, which have implications for the current study. Content-generic activities include activities that can be applied across different disciplines and may include explaining teaching aims and capturing students’ attention. The content-specific activities are unique to a subject (e.g. biology) and can include explaining biology concepts clearly and using appropriate examples, analogies, and models to explain specific concepts (Mapulanga et al., 2023b). TLAs can also include recognising students’ ideas/answers (prior knowledge), rewording their questions, and reacting to unplanned situations in the classroom (Luft et al., 2023; Mapulanga et al., 2023b).

From the foregoing, it can be inferred that PCK is a critical factor influencing the choice of TLAs and can be used as a framework to describe and characterise TLAs used in classrooms. This framing is rooted in the notion that expert teachers can choose TLAs differently compared to their novice counterparts (Luft et al., 2023). In the current study, six PCK components were used to characterise TLAs into six domains as described in Table 1.

Table 1. Characterisation of teaching-learning activities (TLAs) based on PCK components.

PCK components	Category of TLAs	Description of TLAs	Sample of TLAs
Students’ prior knowledge including misconceptions	Students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions	Refers to dealing with biology concepts or topics that students know from prior learning, including misconceptions they may have	Asking questions that reveal how much students know about the topic.
What makes a topic easy or difficult to understand	Making teaching/learning easy	Refers to making difficult aspects of biology topics easy to teach or learn	Explaining the points commonly misunderstood by students by giving reasons
Curricular saliency	Biology curriculum	Refers to noticing, selecting, and sequencing salient biology concepts or topics	Asking questions that give clues about important points regarding the topic/concept.
Conceptual teaching strategies	Teaching strategies	Refers to using subject-specific teaching or learning strategies	Performing activities specific to the topic such as demonstration/ experiment, simulation, animation, and display of teaching aids.
Representations including analogies	Representations and analogies	Refers to using various modes or forms of representing biology concepts, including analogies, examples, diagrams etc.	Using materials and activities to facilitate learning of the concepts in biology.
Assessment	Assessment strategies	Refers to methods and forms of assessing students’ learning	Using different types of questions such as open-ended, multiple-choice, and filling-in-the-blanks.

1.2. Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the teaching-learning process

This study draws on the literature on comparison between teachers’ and students’ perceptions in education. Researchers have used teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the teaching-learning process to gain insight into the quality of teaching and learning. According to Petrus (2018), students’ challenges in the learning process can be understood and explained by exploring the divergence or convergence in the teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the teaching-learning process. Fitzgerald et al. (2020) add that classroom practices should be evaluated from both teachers’ and students’ perspectives. The results of such evaluations would give insight into students’ challenges in learning and a window for addressing them. In addition, teachers’ and students’ views may be used to explore teachers’ professional knowledge, such as pedagogical content knowledge, and the needed teacher professional development.

Many studies have demonstrated that teacher and student perceptions of the teaching-learning process differ. For example, a study by Petrus (2018) conducted in South Africa contrasted the perceptions of teachers and grade 11 students about factors that caused poor performance of students in physical science. The results showed differences in teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the factors that cause poor academic performance. Teachers reported that the instructional language and poor background in mathematics largely contributed to students’ poor performance. On the contrary, students felt that a lack of practical work largely contributed to their poor performance. In an exploration of how teachers and students experienced using songs in middle school science lessons, Governor et al. (2013) found that teachers felt that science-content music could be used to improve deeper learning of concepts, while their students viewed science learning in terms of rote learning i.e. involving remembering and recalling knowledge for an examination. A study by Childers and Jones (2015) investigated the impact of a remote investigation on high school students’ perception of the realness of remote investigations in the United States. The authors concluded that students reported that the remote investigation was more real, while their teachers felt that the investigations were not real. Golzar et al. (2022) investigated teachers’ and students’ perceptions about formative assessment in higher education. Their results indicated that teachers’ and students’ perceptions of self-assessment and subject performance assessment differed.

Studies have also compared teachers’ and students’ perceptions about general learning environments. For instance, Den Brok et al. (2006) examined disparity and consensus in students’ and their teachers’ perceptions of instructional behaviour with a focus on control of student learning (e.g. stimulating students to help each other when working on a task), classroom management (e.g. students can easily do something else during the lesson) and instructional clarity (e.g. explaining concepts clearly). They found that almost half of the teachers had higher perception ratings than their students. Fitzgerald et al. (2020) compared Australian teachers’ and students’ perceptions of their classroom practices. The classroom practices were grouped into the following eight domains – (1) types of learning activities experienced in the classroom, e.g. students explaining their ideas, (2) practical work in the school science classroom, e.g. watching the teacher perform experiments, (3) what students need to be able to do in science, e.g. understand and explain science ideas, (4) teacher feedback and guidance in science, e.g. telling students how to improve their work, (5) computer use in science, e.g. looking for information on the internet, (6) enjoyment and curiosity in science, e.g. being curious about science, (7) perceived difficulty and challenge of science, e.g. finding science challenging, (8) perceived relevance of science, e.g. science is relevant to my future. The authors found that teachers constantly positively overrated their classroom practices and that teachers’ perceptions were not related to their students’ perceptions of their classroom practices.

In addition, Wisniewski et al. (2021) explored how teachers and students viewed teaching quality at secondary schools in Germany. Teaching quality was defined in terms of seven categories namely care, control, conferment, clarity, challenge, consolidation, and captivation. It was concluded that teachers and students viewed teaching quality differently. Overall, a low to moderate correlation between teachers’ self-perceptions and students’ perceptions was found.

Recently, Karamane et al. (2023) compared Greek teachers’ and students’ perceptions of interpersonal behaviour in the classroom. Interpersonal behaviour was defined in terms of the following domains – directing, helpful, understanding, uncertain, compliant, dissatisfied, confrontational and imposing. It was found that a significant gap existed between how teachers saw themselves and how their (students) saw their interpersonal behaviour. The study also revealed that teachers’ academic level, teaching experience (years), and class level might all contribute to the disparities between the perceptions of teachers and students.

Although the above studies show perceptual differences between teachers and students, Teppo et al. (2021) found that Estonian teachers and students had similar perceptions about teaching and learning approaches in science classrooms. Their study indicated that teachers and students reported that the most frequently used teaching approaches were teacher-centred (e.g. asking questions, lecturing, and class discussions) rather than student-centred (e.g. debate, role-play, brainstorming, experimenting and drawing conclusions). Also, Golzar et al. (2022) reported that teachers and students had identical perceptions about interactive and in-class diagnostic assessments.

The above studies reported on teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the teaching-learning process in contexts that differ significantly from the general African educational context. For example, countries like the United States (Childers & Jones, 2015), Australia (Fitzgerald et al., 2020), Germany (Wisniewski et al., 2021), and Greece (Karamane et al., 2023) have educational contexts that are better compared to most African contexts. Generally, these countries have classrooms that are equipped with adequate and more advanced teaching and learning resources than many African schools. This limitation may affect teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the teaching-learning process. It may be useful to explore how the findings from these studies compare with those of the African/Zambian context. There are even fewer studies exploring teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching-learning in the African context (Petrus, 2018). Furthermore, there seems to be a paucity of research that correlates the perceptions of teachers and students in secondary school biology.

In sum, the general impression from the above literature is that teacher and student perceptions of the teaching-learning process differ. Since Den Brok et al. (2006) assert that divergence in teachers’ and students’ perceptions may be related to factors such as ethnicity, the present study compared teachers’ and students’ perceptions of biology teaching-learning activities at selected Zambian secondary schools. The findings from the study may be used to highlight implications for policy and practice, and may be used to improve teaching-learning activities used in biology classrooms.

1.3. Research question

This study sought to compare secondary school teachers’ and students’ perceptions of secondary school teaching-learning activities used in biology lessons. The study was guided by the following research question: What differences occur between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of biology teaching-learning activities used in selected Zambian secondary schools?

1.4. Significance of the study

This study contributes to the field of science education research by comparing teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the teaching-learning activities (TLAs) used in biology lessons. It also offers knowledge of the implications of the convergence and divergence of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of biology teaching-learning activities. The study serves as a foundation for assessing the need for interventions to improve the TLAs in biology classrooms. It highlights some areas in biology education that may need improvement. Furthermore, the study’s conclusions may give teachers important insights to consider when reflecting on their teaching in light of students’ feedback and teachers’ self-perceptions. This may help them appropriately adjust their teaching to meet the students’ learning needs. Therefore, the study’s outcomes offer insight into improving biology teaching and learning.

2. Methodology

2.1. Research design

This study adopted the quantitative research approach. According to Creswell (2014), the quantitative research approach involves collecting and analysing numerical data about an issue of interest. The approach has the advantage of allowing effective data collection from a relatively larger sample than qualitative approaches. The quantitative approach was deemed appropriate for the present study given the intended sample size. Fraenkel et al. (2018) assert that a cross-sectional survey is used to collect information from a sample at just one point in time. The cross-sectional survey design was adopted because the study intended to gain insight into the participants’ perceptions of biology teaching-learning activities at a single point in time.

2.2. Sampling design and sample size

The study used the multiple-stage sampling design by sampling at different levels/stages of the study (Fraenkel et al., 2018). This method was selected because it is much more feasible than simple random sampling and more representative than cluster sampling (Fraenkel et al., 2018). Firstly, Lusaka province of Zambia was selected because although the province has easy access to teaching-learning materials and support from the Ministry of Education, it has seen a drop in students’ performance in national examinations (Examinations Council of Zambia, 2022). Secondly, four districts were purposively selected on account that the composition and distribution of public secondary schools in the districts was representative of the whole province, by including day and boarding schools in urban and rural areas. This enabled collection of data from a variety of school types and locations. Thirdly, two public secondary schools were purposively selected from each district based on the availability of teachers’ and students’ data. In total, eight public secondary schools participated in the study. Lastly, 509 participants (40 teachers and 649 students) were selected from the eight public secondary schools were preferred because they accommodate the majority of secondary school teachers and students in the country. Therefore, the findings would give some insight into the views of teachers and students about the teaching-learning activities used in public secondary schools. The characteristics of the sample are summarised in Table 2.

Table 2. Demographic information of the study sample (n = 509).

Characteristics	Teachers (%)	Students (%)
Total	40	469
Gender
Male	19 (47.5)	246 (52.5)
Female	21 (52.5)	223 (47.5)
Location of school
Urban (n = 5)	18 (56.2)	305 (65.0)
Rural (n = 3)	14 (43.8)	164 (35.0)
Type of schools
Day	20 (62.5)	320 (68.2)
Boarding	12 (37.5)	149 (31.8)
Educational background/ highest completed degree
Master’s degree in biology education	2 (5.0)	–
Bachelor’s degree in science education (with a focus on biology)	25 (62.5)	–
Diploma in secondary school science teaching	13 (32.5)	–
Grade
10	–	142 (30.3)
11	–	163 (34.7)
12	–	164 (35.0)

2.3. Teachers’ sample

The sample of teachers comprised 40 biology teachers (19 males and 21 females) purposively selected from the eight public secondary schools because they taught biology and had agreed to participate in the survey. The majority of the teachers (25) held a bachelor’s degree in science education, 13 held a diploma in secondary school science teaching, while 2 held a master’s degree in biology education as their highest qualifications (see Table 2).

2.4. Students’ sample

In Zambia, secondary schools accommodate junior (grades 8 and 9) and senior (grades 10, 11, and 12) students. However, this study only involved senior students (grades 10, 11, and 12) because they learn biology (which is the focus of the study) as a separate subject. Junior students were excluded because they learn biology as a component of integrated science. The student sample included 469 students comprising 142 grade 10s, 163 grade 11s, and 164 grade 12s of which 246 were male and 223 were female. The students were enrolled during the 2022 academic year. The students’ average age was 16.5 years. The students were randomly selected from the same eight secondary schools from which the teachers were selected. Table 2 shows the characteristics and distribution of the students’ sample.

2.5. Ethical considerations

Firstly, ethical clearance was sought from the University of Rwanda, ethics committee. Secondly, a research permit was sought from the Zambian Ministry of Education. Thirdly, teachers volunteered and consented to participate in the study, while headteachers consented on students’ behalf. Furthermore, all the participants were informed that their involvement in the study was voluntary. Lastly, the identities of the schools and participants were not disclosed when reporting the findings.

2.6. Research instruments

The two instruments used in this study were five-point Likert-scale questionnaires adopted from Mapulanga et al. (2022) and Mapulanga et al. (2023a) for teachers and students, respectively. The original questionnaires were used to measure respective participants’ perceptions of teachers’ enacted PCK in six components and were deemed suitable for the current study because the statements in the questionnaires were aligned with teaching-learning activities. The questionnaires used in the present study comprised 26 similar items which were aligned to six categories of teaching-learning activities used in biology classes (Table 3). Similar to Fitzgerald et al. (2020), the items were phrased from the respective respondents’ perspectives. The questionnaire items for students were slightly modified to read like, ‘My teacher…’ (e.g. My teacher asks questions that reveal how much I know about the topic), while the items for teachers read like, ‘I…….’ (e.g. I ask questions that reveal how much my students know about the topic). This construction of items allowed direct comparisons of the perceptions of teachers and students. All the items were positively phrased, so the responses ‘strongly agree and agree’ represented positive perceptions (satisfaction), ‘undecided’ represented neutral perceptions and ‘disagree and strongly disagree’ represented negative perceptions (dissatisfaction).

Table 3. Description and reliability of the survey questionnaires.

Category of teaching-learning activities	Items	Conbach’s alpha
		Students’ questionnaire	Teachers’ questionnaire
Students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions	Q1 to Q3	0.896	0.802
Making teaching/ learning easy	Q4 to Q7	0.695	0.621
Biology curriculum	Q8 to Q14	0.796	0.761
Teaching strategies	Q15 to Q19	0.797	0.643
Representations and analogies	Q20 to Q21	0.698	0.713
Assessment strategies	Q22 to Q26	0.687	0.611

For the purpose of this study, the survey questionnaires were face and content validated by four biology education specialists from two universities in Zambia, who advised on the clarity, completeness, relevance, and correctness of the questionnaires. The questionnaires were revised based on the specialists’ feedback. Then, the questionnaires were pilot-tested with 10 teachers and 50 students with similar characteristics as the intended participants. The reliability analysis of the items yielded Cronbach’s alpha values that exceeded 0.60 as shown in Table 3. The obtained Cronbach’s alpha values indicate that the internal consistency levels of the subscales were acceptable (Bujang et al.,2018; Christmann & Van Aelst, 2006; Taber, 2018). For reference, the items in the teachers’ questionnaire are included in Appendix. The indicators/items in the questionnaires are comparable to those used in previous related research on teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching (e.g. Maulana et al., 2015).

2.7. Procedures

This study used paper-based survey questionnaires for both teachers and students. Teachers’ questionnaires were distributed to 40 biology teachers at the selected schools. The teachers completed the self-administered questionnaires at their convenience, taking about 15 minutes. Up to three reminders were sent to the teachers, and all the teachers completed the questionnaires, representing a response rate of 100%. The questionnaires were collected after the teachers confirmed that they had completed them. On the other hand, students completed the researcher-administered questionnaires. The first author guided the students and answered their queries while they completed the questionnaires. All the students correctly completed the questionnaires, representing a response rate of 100%. On average, the students took about 20 minutes to answer the questionnaires. In responding to the questionnaire items, teachers indicated the degree to which they enacted the teaching-learning activities, while students indicated the degree to which they perceived, saw or experienced them. Furthermore, it was assumed that teachers reflected on their enactment of PCK (ePCK) in teaching as they completed the questionnaire, while students reflected on their experience of teaching-learning (or teachers’ ePCK) over multiple biology lessons. For instance, under the category biology curriculum, teachers indicated the degree to which they thought they explained biology concepts, while students indicated the degree to which they saw their teachers explain biology concepts.

2.8. Analysis

The analysis involved computing respondents’ frequencies (percentages) for each item in the questionnaire (teaching-learning activities). Furthermore, the Chi-square test of association was used to test any statistical significance in teachers’ and students’ perceptions, i.e. whether there was an association between the categorical variables – participants (teachers and students) and perceptions (positive, neutral, negative) for each item. The results are presented to allow comparisons of each item on the survey rather than try to blend the 26 items into scales. This approach was adopted because (i) the study was not exploring any hidden variables that influence the students’ or teachers’ perceptions about the teaching-learning practices, (ii) the study was not exploring any relations amongst any hidden variables, and (iii) the study was only interested in the raw convergence or divergence between teachers’ and students’ perceptions. The analysis was done using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 25 and the results are presented in the following section.

3. Results

The participants’ (40 teachers and 469 students) responses were abbreviated for easy reporting of the results: strongly disagree as ‘SD’, disagree as ‘D’, undecided as ‘U’, agree as ‘A’, and strongly agree as ‘SA’. For interpreting the results, ‘SD’ and ‘D’ represented negative perceptions, ‘U’ represented neutral perceptions, and ‘A and SA’ represented positive perceptions. Results show that generally, teachers were more positive about the teaching-learning activities used in biology lessons than students in all activities. The association between the variables – participants (teachers and students) and perception ranged from little association (Cramer’s V = 0.061, for item 1) to moderate association (Cramer’s V = 0.334, for item 6). The following section reports the results for each item in the six teaching-learning categories.

3.1. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions

Items 1 to 3, shown in Table 4, probe participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to the category of students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions. Table 4 shows that although teachers were generally more positive about the teaching-learning activities related to students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions, the differences in their perceptions were not statistically significant from students’ perceptions for all three items.

Table 4. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions.

Teaching-learning activites		Response (%)
	Participant	SD	D	U	A	SA	X^2	p	V
1. Revealing how much students know about the topic.	Teachers	0.0	5.0	5.0	52.5	37.5	1.903	.754	.061
	Students	2.1	7.5	5.1	43.9	41.4
2. Evaluate how much students have learned about the biology topic.	Teachers	0.0	5.0	2.5	42.5	50.0	7.863	.097	.124
	Students	3.8	10.9	8.3	44.8	32.2
3. Revealing how much students have learned in class.	Teachers	0.0	0.0	2.5	40.0	57.5	8.579	.073	.130
	Students	3.6	9.8	8.3	32.2	46.1

* Significant at p = 0.05, V = Cramér’s V.

A close analysis of Table 4 shows that 90% of teachers feel that ‘they reveal how much students know about the topic’ (item 1), and 86% of students feel the same way. While 92.5% of teachers feel that ‘they evaluate how much students have learned about the biology topic’ (item 2), only 77% of students agreed with the item. The majority of the teachers (97.5%) reported ‘revealing how much students have learned in class’ (item 3). Only 78% of students agree with teachers.

3.2. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to making biology teaching or learning easy

Items 4 to 7 in Table 5 relate to teaching-learning activities related to activities that make biology teaching or learning easy. Results reveal that the participants’ perceptions about activities related to activities that make biology teaching or learning easy were positively skewed towards teachers. The differences in items 4 and 5 were not statistically significant, while those in items 6 and 7 were statistically significant.

Table 5. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to making biology teaching or learning easy.

Teaching-learning activites		Response (%)
	Participant	SD	D	U	A	SA	X^2	p	V
4. Telling students about the topics/concepts they may find difficult to learn.	Teachers	15.0	30.0	7.5	37.5	10.0	3.078	.536	.079
	Students	16.6	32.0	13.0	25.6	12.8
5. Explaining the points commonly misunderstood by students by giving reasons.	Teachers	0.0	5.0	7.5	40.0	47.5	4.630	.327	.095
	Students	3.8	13.9	7.7	32.2	42.4
6. Noticing when students have difficulty learning a topic/concept.	Teachers	0.0	12.5	0.0	40.0	47.5	56.741	.000*	.334
	Students	22.8	29.6	13.2	23.0	11.3
7. Noticing why students have difficulty learning a topic.	Teachers	2.5	12.5	25.0	35.0	25.0	24.950	.000*	.221
	Students	21.3	32.6	17.5	18.6	10.0

*Significant at p = 0.05, V = Cramér’s V.

Table 5 further shows that both teachers and students find the category of making biology teaching or learning easy most problematic. For instance, less than half of the teachers (47.5%) and only 38% of students realise that ‘teachers commonly tell students about topics they may find difficult to learn’ (item 4). While 87.5% of teachers felt that ‘they explain the points commonly misunderstood by students by giving reasons’ (item 5), only 75% of students felt the same way. Further, more than half of the students (52%) do not feel that ‘teachers notice when they have difficulties in learning a topic’ (item 6). However, only 12.5% of teachers felt the same way. More than half of the students (54%) do not feel that ‘teachers notice when and why they have difficulties in learning a topic’ (item 7), and only 15% of teachers felt the same way.

3.3. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to the biology curriculum

Table 6 presents the participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to the biology curriculum (items 8 to 14). It is clear that the teachers were more positive than the students. However, the differences in items 8 and 9 were not significant. On the contrary, the differences in items 10 to 14 were statistically significant.

Table 6. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to the biology curriculum.

Teaching-learning activites		Response (%)
	Participant	SD	D	U	A	SA	X^2	p	V
8. Informing students about the biology syllabus.	Teachers	0.0	7.5	5.0	32.5	55.0	5.555	.235	.104
	Students	5.3	14.7	6.0	33.9	40.1
9. Asking questions that give clues about important points regarding the topic/concept.	Teachers	0.0	0.0	2.5	40.0	57.5	4.301	.296	.098
	Students	1.3	4.5	7.2	32.4	44.6
10. Explaining how and where students can use the knowledge they learn.	Teachers	0.0	0.0	0.0	62.5	37.5	12.835	.012*	.159
	Students	4.3	12.2	7.7	43.7	32.2
11. Explaining how students will use the knowledge they learn in further topics/concepts.	Teachers	0.0	2.5	2.5	52.5	42.5	21.559	.000*	.206
	Students	4.9	16.0	13.9	47.3	17.9
12. Assisting students to establish the relationship between the biology topics they learn and previous topics.	Teachers	0.0	2.5	0.0	37.5	60.0	17.544	.002*	.186
	Students	4.5	12.4	13.0	36.9	33.3
13. Assisting students to establish the relationship between the topics they learn and other subjects.	Teachers	2.5	2.5	12.5	55.0	27.5	18.482	.001*	.191
	Students	9.8	23.0	18.1	30.3	18.8
14. Explaining biology concepts to students.	Teachers	0.0	0.0	2.5	32.5	65.0	9.885	.042*	.139
	Students	4.7	7.5	8.7	34.5	44.6

* Significant at p = 0.05, V = Cramér’s V.

A close look at Table 6 shows that while 87.5% of teachers report that ‘they inform students about the biology syllabus’ (item 8), only 74% of students report being informed about the syllabus. Almost all teachers (97.5%) report that they ‘ask questions that give clues about important points regarding the topic/concept’ (item 9), but only 77% of students agree. While all teachers (100%) report that ‘they explain how and where students can use the knowledge they learn’ (item 10), only 76% of students feel the same way. While 95% of teachers report that ‘they explain how students will use the knowledge they learn in further topics/concepts’ (item 11), only 65% agree. The majority of teachers (95%) reported that ‘they assist students to establish the relationship between the biology topics they learn and previous topics’ (item 12), but only 70% of students agree with them. Furthermore, 82.5% of teachers report that ‘they assist students in establishing the relationship between the topics they learn and other subjects’ (item 13). However, only 49% of students agree with them. Although almost all the teachers (97.5%) feel that ‘they explain biology concepts to students’ (item 14), only 79% of students felt the same way.

3.4. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to teaching strategies

Items 15 to 19 in Table 7 probe participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to teaching strategies. Again, the results show that teachers were more positive than students and that the differences in all the five items were statistically significant.

Table 7. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to teaching strategies.

Teaching-learning activites		Response (%)
	Participant	SD	D	U	A	SA	X^2	p	V
15. Performing activities specific to the topic, such as demonstration/ experiment, simulation, animation, and display of teaching aids.	Teachers	0.0	2.5	5.0	45.0	47.5	14.596	.006*	.169
	Students	7.7	17.9	9.4	37.3	27.7
16. Giving situations/ stories about the topic/concept to explain concepts in class.	Teachers	0.0	0.0	5.0	50.0	45.0	24.204	.000*	.218
	Students	15.1	22.2	6.2	30.3	26.2
17. Being aware of the skills required to use materials in an activity.	Teachers	0.0	0.0	7.5	45.0	47.5	12.818	.012*	.159
	Students	5.8	16.6	8.5	38.8	30.3
18. Encouraging learners to express their views in class.	Teachers	0.0	0.0	2.5	30.0	67.5	28.672	.000*	.237
	Students	6.6	13.0	14.5	36.5	29.4
19. Giving examples from daily life experiences to explain biology concepts.	Teachers	0.0	2.5	0.0	45.0	52.5	12.103	.017*	.154
	Students	5.8	10.4	10.4	37.3	36.0

*Significant at p = 0.05, V = Cramér’s V.

A deeper analysis of Table 7 shows that 92.5% of teachers feel that ‘they use activities specific to the topic, such as demonstration/experiment, simulation, animation, and display of teaching aids’ (item 15). In contrast, only 65% of students agree with teachers’ perceptions. Further, 27% of students disagree that ‘teachers give them situations/stories about the topic/concept to explain concepts in class’ (item 16). However, none of the teachers shared the same view. For item 17, 92.5% of teachers report that ‘they are aware of the skills required to use materials in an activity’. However, only 69% of students feel the same way. Almost all the teachers (97.5%) report that ‘they encourage learners to express their views in class’ (item 18), but only 66% of students agreed with them. Although almost all teachers (97.5%) report that ‘they give examples from daily life experiences to explain biology concepts’ (item 19), only 73% of students agree with the item.

3.5. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to representations and analogies

The participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to representations and analogies (items 20 and 21) are presented in Table 8. The results show that teachers held more positive perceptions than students and that the differences for item 20 were statistically significant while item 21 was not.

Table 8. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to representations and analogies.

Teaching-learning activites		Response (%)
	Participant	SD	D	U	A	SA	X^2	p	V
20. Using teaching aids specific to the biology topic, such as figures, diagrams, simulations, models, and drawings.	Teachers	0.0	0.0	2.5	35.0	62.5	22.685	.000*	.211
	Students	4.3	14.7	11.5	39.7	29.9
21. Using materials and activities to facilitate learning of the concepts in biology.	Teachers	2.5	0.0	5.0	47.5	45.0	5.520	.238	.104
	Students	3.2	8.5	6.4	34.1	47.8

*Significant at p = 0.05, V = Cramér’s V.

Table 8 further shows that 97.5% of teachers feel that ‘they use teaching aids specific to the biology topic, such as figures, diagrams, simulations, models, and drawings’ (item 20), but only 70% of students agreed with them. For item 21, 92.5% of teachers and 81% of students felt that ‘teachers use materials and activities to facilitate learning of the concepts in biology’.

3.6. Participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to assessment strategies

Items 22 to 26 in Table 9 show participants’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities related to assessment strategies. The results show that the differences in item 24 was not statistically significant, while those of items 22, 23, 25 and 26 were statistically significant. Teachers were more positive about activities related to assessment than the students were.

Table 9. Participants’ perceptions of teaching behaviour related to assessment.

Teaching-learning activites		Response (%)
	Participant	SD	D	U	A	SA	X^2	p	V
22. Giving class and homework exercises, assignments, and projects about biology topics.	Teachers	0.0	0.0	2.5	45.0	52.5	31.458	.000*	.249
	Students	7.9	18.8	15.1	37.5	20.7
23. Using different types of questions such as open-ended, multiple-choice, and filling in the blanks in tests.	Teachers	0.0	2.5	2.5	42.5	52.5	27.157	.000*	.231
	Students	17.3	22.0	7.9	25.8	27.1
24. Using different types of questions, such as open-ended, multiple-choice, and filling in the blanks for different topics.	Teachers	0.0	5.0	5.0	47.5	42.5	7.369	.118	.120
	Students	10.0	11.7	6.4	40.1	31.8
25. Using different assessment methods such as assignments, projects, classroom and homework exercises, tests, and experiments.	Teachers	0.0	2.5	7.5	30.0	60.0	11.434	.022*	.150
	Students	6.8	14.3	8.1	33.3	37.5
26. Giving homework that can be done using the knowledge students learn in class.	Teachers	0.0	7.5	2.5	40.0	50.0	31.393	.000*	.248
	Students	14.5	25.4	11.1	30.3	18.8

*Significant at p = 0.05, V = Cramér’s V.

A close analysis of Table 9 shows that 97.5% of teachers agree that ‘they give class and homework exercises, assignments, and projects about biology topics’ (item 22), but only 58% of students agree with them. While about 95% of teachers agree that ‘they use different types of questions, such as open-ended, multiple-choice, and filling in the blanks in tests’ (item 23), only 53% of students agree. The majority of teachers (90%) feel that ‘they use different types of questions, such as open-ended, multiple-choice, and filling in the blanks for different topics’ (item 24), and 72% of students agree. In addition, 90% of teachers report that ‘they use different assessment methods such as assignments, projects, classroom and homework exercises, tests, and experiments’ (item 25), and 71% of students feel the same way. For item 26, 90% of teachers said that ‘they give homework that can be done using the knowledge students learn in class’, but only about half (49%) of students agree with the item.

4. Discussion

This study compared teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities used in biology lessons at selected secondary schools in Zambia. The study was located within the framework of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as PCK underlies the teachers’ enactment of teaching-learning practices. It may be the first time that the PCK framework is used to compare teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities used in biology lessons. The findings reveal two salient features in the teachers’ and students’ perceptions about biology teaching-learning activities. Firstly, the results revealed that, generally, teachers tended to rate the teaching-learning activities in biology lessons more positively than students for all teaching-learning activities. The perceptual differences were statistically significant for 17 out of the 26 teaching-learning activities. So, teachers generally perceive that their teaching is going more positively than it may be in the eyes of their students. The findings that teachers’ and students’ perceptions differ are consistent with previous studies, and seem to follow a global pattern in the results reported by similar studies in the field. Although Den Brok et al. (2006) reported that teachers’ and students’ perceptual patterns may be influenced by ethnicity, our findings contribute to the field by reporting similar patterns to those reported by other ethnic groups. Also, findings show that perceptual patterns may be similar regardless of the context such as level of economic development of the country. For example, the divergence in teachers’ and students’ perceptions is similar to findings of previous studies in different contexts (countries), such as the United States (Childers & Jones, 2015), South Africa (Petrus, 2018), Australia (Fitzgerald et al., 2020), Germany (Wisniewski et al., 2021), and Greece (Karamane et al., 2023). Similar to the current study, these studies reported some divergence in some or all the teaching-learning aspects they investigated. For instance, Fitzgerald et al. (2020) found statistically significant differences in the perceptions of Australian teachers and students on most indicators in their survey. In addition, a recent study by Karamane et al. (2023) reported meaningful differences in Greek teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teachers’ interpersonal behaviour on all scales and dimensions of teacher interaction. These findings have implication for teaching and learning. On the one hand, teachers may be failing to enact effective teaching-learning activities. On the other hand, students may reject their teachers’ teaching activities as they might be considered less effective. However, although it is still unclear whether making teachers aware of the convergence or divergence in students’ and teachers’ perceptions may improve teaching, teachers can use the information about these perceptions to think about ways to improve their teaching practices (Wisniewski et al., 2021). The impact of teachers’ awareness of how their perceptions differ from their students’ still needs to be addressed in future research. However, the current study’s findings suggest a need to reduce the divergence in the perceptions of teachers and students about the teaching-learning processes.

Secondly, teachers and students felt that the teaching-learning activities related to the domains of ‘making biology teaching or learning easy’ and ‘assessment’ were more problematic than those related to biology curriculum, representations and analogies, and conceptual teaching strategies. For both participants, the proportions that agreed with the items related to the components ‘what makes biology teaching/learning easy’ and ‘assessment strategies’ were relatively lower than other components. These results are consistent with other studies that report on teachers’ views (e.g Mapulanga et al., 2022) and students’ views (e.g. Mapulanga et al., 2023a) about teaching-learning. Mapulanga et al. (2022) found that teachers reported that teaching-learning activities in the domains of ‘what makes biology teaching/learning easy or difficult’ and ‘assessment’ were the least enacted activities. Similarly, in a study on students’ perceptions of teachers’ PCK, Mapulanga et al. (2023a) found that students reported lower perceptions of teaching-learning activities in the domains of ‘what makes biology teaching/learning easy or difficult’ and ‘assessment’. These results suggest a need to support teachers’ enactment of teaching-learning activities in these domains.

However, the interpretation of this study’s results should consider the subjectivity that may influence participants’ responses, such as the possibility of teachers to overate themselves and students’ to underrate their teachers (Fitzgerald et al., 2020; Scherzinger & Wettstein, 2019; Wisniewski et al., 2020). Implications are that by overrating themselves, teachers may hinder themselves from improving how they use the teaching-learning activities and professional knowledge (e.g. pedagogical content knowledge) because they may be unaware of, ignore or under-estimate the need for improvement. The finding that teachers had skewed perceptions of teaching-learning activities used in classesmay make it problematic to match the teaching-learning activities to teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, thereby making it challenging to plan their appropriate teacher professional development. Therefore, there is a need to assess whether these perceptions represent the actual teaching-learning process and the reasons for participants’ perceptions. In line with this, observing several biology lessons and comparing results to teachers’ and students’ perceptions may be necessary.

Furthermore, the current study’s results have implications for the effective delivery of biology lessons because students may not receive teachers’ instruction as intended. Although the value of the divergence between teachers’ and students’ views of teaching and learning is still unclear (Fitzgerald et al., 2020), the study highlights the need to close this gap. In line with this, it may be necessary for both teachers and students to change their views about some aspects of teaching and learning. Teachers may adjust their teaching-learning activities or explain to students how effective or meaningful learning may be achieved. To do this effectively, teachers may need to be enlightened on any divergence between their (teachers) and students’ perceptions and then be supported with the necessary pedagogical knowledge to reduce the divergence.

5. Limitations of the study

This study was limited mainly by using one type of instrument – Likert scale survey questionnaires, to collect data from the participants, i.e. teachers and students. Furthermore, the study obtained categorical data which limits the conclusions that can be drawn from the study as the reasons for the observed students’ and teachers’ perceptions were not explored. Additionally, the participants were drawn from only four districts of the same province. Thus, the data only provides an overview of the participants’ perceptions of biology lessons at the selected schools. However, this could have been strengthened by using participants from various types of secondary schools and gender. Also, students were selected from different grade levels, while teachers had various academic qualifications and experience. This allowed for the collection of divergent views about the teaching-learning process as perceceived by the teachers and students. Furthermore, since the sample was selected from only four districts of Zambia, the findings do not represent the whole Zambian teaching scenario. The other limitations is that the study did not check whether other variables such as gender, type of school, students’ age and grade, and teachers’ age and qualification influenced participants’ perceptions. Lastly, the study only compared teachers’ and students’ perceptions without using actual classroom teaching-learning.

6. Conclusions

This study extends knowledge about teaching-learning activities in biology education by comparing teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching-learning activities used in the biology classroom. The study revealed that teachers and students perceived the teaching-learning activities in biology classrooms differently. Teachers’ perceptions of the teaching-learning activities used in biology classrooms were more positively skewed than students’ perceptions. The differences for most (65%) of the teaching-learning activities were statistically significant. It was observed that the study’s findings follow a global pattern where a disparity is consistently reported between teachers’ and students’ views of teaching and learning. However, these results should be interpreted based on the study’s limitations and role-specific subjectivity of the participants. In light of constructivist learning, it might be useful for teachers and students to discuss their concerns about biology teaching and reduce the differences. The findings highlight some biology teaching-learning activities that may need improvement. For example, activities that make biology teaching/learning easy or difficult for which the level of agreement was relatively lower for teachers and students may need to be improved. Lastly, the use of PCK as a theoretical framework to explore teaching-learning activities in the classroom contributes to research on teaching and learning.

7. Recommendations

Based on the findings, and limitations of this study, the following recommendations were proposed:

1. The study recommends conducting a large-scale study with a larger sample of teachers and students, to obtain results that would represent the overall picture of biology education in Zambia

2. Future research may use some behavioural measures alongside the reported quantitative data to triangulate the findings to enhance the trustworthiness of the findings.

3. Future research may explore the factors and reasons influencing the participants’ perceptions, e.g. whether the divergence in teachers’ and students’ perceptions may be caused by teachers overrating themselves or students underrating their teachers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thumah Mapulanga

Thumah Mapulanga holds a PhD in biology education from the University of Rwanda. He is a part-time lecturer of biological sciences at the University of Rwanda, College of Education. He is an experienced biology teacher at the secondary school level in Zambia. His research interests are in teacher professional knowledge (pedagogical content knowledge and technological pedagogical content knowledge) and science teaching-learning environments.

Anthony Bwalya

Anthony Bwalya is a lecturer of biological sciences at Kwame Nkrumah University in Zambia, and has great experience as a biology teacher at the secondary school level. Currently, he is a PhD student in biology education at the University of Rwanda. His research interests are in teacher professional knowledge – technological pedagogical content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge.

Appendix.

Statements in the teachers’ questionnaires on teaching-learning activities in biology classrooms

Table

Statements – indicators of teaching-learning activites	Responses
	Strongly Agree	Agree	Undecided	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
1. I ask questions that reveal how much my students know about the topic.
2. I ask questions that evaluate how much my students have learned about the biology topic.
3. I give my students tests and exercises that reveal how much they have learned in class.
4. I warn my students about the topics/concepts they may find difficult to learn.
5. I explain the points commonly misunderstood by students by giving reasons.
6. I immediately notice when my students have difficulty learning a topic/concept.
7. I immediately notice why my students have difficulty learning a topic/concept.
8. I inform my students about the biology syllabus.
9. I ask questions that give clues about important points regarding the topic/concept.
10. I explain how and where my students can use the knowledge they learn.
11. I explain how my students will use the knowledge they learn in further topics/concepts.
12. I assist my students to establish the relationship between the biology topics they learn and previous topics.
13. I assist my students to establish the relation between the topics they learn and other subjects.
14. I clearly explain biology concepts to my students.
15. I perform activities specific to the topic such as demonstration/experiment, simulation, animation, and display of teaching aids.
16. I give situations about the topic/concept to explain concepts in class.
17. I am aware of the skills required to use materials in an activity.
18. I encourage learners to express their views in class.
19. I give examples from daily life experiences to explain biology concepts.
20. I use teaching aids specific to the biology topic, such as figures, diagrams, simulations, models, and drawings.
21. I use materials and activities to facilitate learning of the concepts in biology.
22. I give class and homework exercises, assignments, and projects about biology topics.
23. I use different types of questions such as open-ended, multiple-choice, and filling in the blanks in tests.
24. I use different types of questions such as open-ended, multiple-choice, and filling in the blanks, for different topics.
25. I use different assessment methods such as assignments, projects, classroom and homework exercises, tests, and experiments, during the term,
26. I give homework that can be done using the knowledge my students learn in class.