Biology Teachers’ Perception of Laboratory Work in Afghanistan: : A Survey Study of Secondary Schools in Kabul City.

Sammanfattning: This research is conducted for the purpose of identifying the approaches that secondary school teachers use to implement laboratory work in the subject of biology in secondary school of Afghanistan. A second aim is to identify the common barriers which might hinder teachers from implementing lab work. In order to achieve these aims a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 100 biology teachers from different schools in Kabul city in Afghanistan. The response rate was 79 %.The collected data was analyzed by arranging the different items in separate categories and calculating the relative frequencies. The results were then interpreted by help of literature. Lab work is a central activity in science education and if it is implemented in a coherent way it can enhance cognitive skills of the students. Also, the content knowledge cannot be taught effectively unless the learner is actively involved in the process, and practical work in the form of lab work can be one of the tools through which the learner is made an active part of the learning process, especially if it done through a so called inquiry style of lab work. The findings shows that Afghan teachers consider the laboratory work an important inclusion of biology curriculum, but the way the teachers thought about implementing lab work follows a traditional cook book style and to low extent an inquiry style of teaching. In comparison to past years a lot of changes have happened and a lot of facilities such as equipment, manuals for lab activities and lab material have paved the way for a better science education in Afghanistan. However, the results shows that teachers still face with problems like time shortage, low quality of material, and crowded classes that has to be dealt with in order to implement lab work in Afghan schools more successfully.