RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PROSPECTIVE BIOLOGY TEACHERS' KNOWLEDGE OF SUBJECT MATTER, ABILITY TO ORGANIZE BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION IN MEMORY, AND THE KINETIC STRUCTURE OF THEIR CLASSROOM COMMUNICATIONS (SCIENCE, NIGERIA)

The purposes of this study were to: (1) assess the prospective teachers' knowledge in general biology, cognitive organizational ability, and the kinetic structure of their classroom communications, and (2) examine the relationships between their knowledge in biology, cognitive organizational ability and classroom communication structure.; Forty-six prospective biology teachers randomly selected from three Advanced Teachers Colleges in Nigeria participated in this study.; The teachers' knowledge in biology was measured by a 100-item multiple choice test. A recall test, a figurative-based analytical task, and kinetic structure (sequential structure) analysis were used to measure various aspects of the teachers' cognitive organizational ability. The structural characteristics of the teachers' classroom communications were measured by kinetic structure analysis.; The teachers' knowledge in biology was above the minimal criterion level they were expected to possess at the end of their training. The areas of biology mastered in descending order were: molecular and cellular biology, organismal biology, and population biology. There is need to improve teacher preparation in organismal and population biology which have greatest relevance to the secondary school biology program the teachers would teach after graduation.; The mean progression density coefficients of the teachers' lessons were generally high compared with moderate mean progression density coefficients of lessons of experienced secondary school science teachers. The prospective teachers may need education on how to adjust the progression density of their lessons to match the cognitive levels of their students.; Two major areas of results emerged from the correlational analyses: (1) The teachers' serial information processing variable was significantly positively correlated with their classroom sequential teaching variable; their subject-matter knowledge and their multirelational thought variables did not correlate significantly with their classroom sequential teaching variable; (2) the teachers' subject-matter knowledge was significantly positively correlated with their ability to cluster biological information in memory.; The teachers' sequential teaching structure may be enhanced by improving their serial information processing ability; their ability to acquire and recall subject-matter knowledge may be enhanced by improving their ability to cluster information in memory.; Other ancillary findings and their implications for teacher education were reported.