ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ADOPTION AND SENIOR SECONDARY BIOLOGY STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN PORT-HARCOURT METROPOLIS

Abstract

The study investigated artificial intelligence adoption and senior secondary Biology student's academic performance in Port-Harcourt Metropolis. The study was guided by three specific objectives and three corresponding research questions. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design with a population of 8321 SS II Biology students from 31 public secondary schools in Port-Harcourt Metropolis. The sample for the study consisted of 382 students determined using Taro Yamen formula. The respondents were randomly selected drawing 13 SS2 Biology students from each of the 31 schools, resulting in a total of 403 respondents. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire titled "Artificial Intelligence Applications and Academic Performance Questionnaire (AIAPQ)" structured on a four-point rating scale. The instrument was validated by three experts and had an overall reliability coefficient of 0.82 established using Cronbach Alpha. Data were collected from 375 students, representing a 93% return rate, and analyzed using frequency count and criterion mean of 2.50. The results revealed that the extent of utilization of artificial intelligence among biology students was low with a grand mean of 2.32. Similarly, the adoption of AI on continuous assessment scores and examination scores was also low with grand means of 2.45 and 2.48 respectively. Based on these findings, it was recommended that schools should develop comprehensive digital literacy programs to enhance students' utilization of AI tools for biology learning, teachers should incorporate AI-enhanced learning activities into their continuous assessment framework, and educational stakeholders should develop structured examination preparation programs that leverage AI applications to improve students' performance in biology examinations.