Investigating Availability and Utilization of Nature Corner as Curriculum Resources for Effective Instruction by Pre Service Science Teachers on Teaching Practice Exercise in South–South Zone of Nigeria

Abstract: The study was carried out to investigate the availability and utilization of nature corner as curriculum resources for effective instruction by pre service science teachers on teaching practice exercise in south south zone of Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised of all the pre service science teachers in tertiary institutions in south south zone of Nigeria. The sample of the study comprised of one hundred and twenty (120) pre service science teachers from faculty of education in the universities and one hundred and twenty (120) pre service science teachers from colleges of education drawn from the six (6) state in the south south zone of Nigeria. The instrument for data collection was a structured four-point scale questionnaire. Four research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test statistical tool. The results of the data analysis showed the availability of nature corner in most schools, but in very limited. The study also indicates the extent to which teachers use the nature corner for instructional purposes. The study shows high extent of utilization of the available nature corner. Furthermore, the results from the study also showed the types of collections in the nature corner to includes plants and leaves, charts, poster and waste materials for science teaching. Also, the results show the challenges affecting effective use of nature corner by science teachers to include inadequate space for nature corner in the classroom, poor attitude of teachers toward the use of nature corner amongst others. The study recommended remedy to these challenges to includes provision of instructional materials in the nature corner by government and other spirited citizens, adequate of space in the classroom for nature corner by the school authorities, integration of learning resources from the nature corner during teaching and learning despite the availability of modern education facilities. Keywords: Basic science, Education, Learning, Nature corner, Teaching, Utilization. Title: Investigating Availability and Utilization of Nature Corner as Curriculum Resources for Effective Instruction by Pre Service Science Teachers on Teaching Practice Exercise in South–South Zone of Nigeria Author: Olodu Gabriel, Okpurukre Williams, Uchegbu Festus International Journal of Novel Research in Education and Learning ISSN 2394-9686 Vol. 13, Issue 2, March 2026 - April 2026 Page No: 78-86 Novelty Journals Website: www.noveltyjournals.com Published Date: 03-April-2026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19402700 Paper Download Link (Source) https://www.noveltyjournals.com/upload/paper/Investigating%20Availability%20and%20Utilization-03042026-4.pdf