Assessment of the Difficult Areas of the Senior Secondary School 2 (Two) Chemistry Syllabus of the Nigeria Science Curriculum (original) (raw)
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Poor performance in chemistry is an indication that students have difficulty in learning and mastering the content and applying these when they are under examination conditions. This study therefore was conducted to identify concepts perceived as difficult by chemistry students in Jalingo metropolis. One hundred and ninety eight SS3 or 12 th grade students were randomly selected from six secondary schools offering science subjects within Jalingo metropolis. The data collection tool was Chemistry Difficult Concepts Identification Questionnaires which consisted of two sections. Means and standard deviation where used to analyzed the data collected while t-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses. Findings showed that the students perceived 12 concepts (63.16 %) as difficult out of the 19 concepts in the questionnaire. Results based on gender showed that, the males perceived 15 (78.95%) concepts in the SSS3 chemistry concepts as difficult, while the females perceived eleven (57.89%) concepts as difficult. On the other hand, single-sex (boys only) perceived 17 concepts as difficult, girls only perceived 13 and coeducational perceived 12 concepts as difficult respectively. While students in rural and urban schools perceived each 11 varied concepts as difficult. The study also revealed that there was a significant influence of gender, school nature and school location on students' concepts perceived as difficult in the chemistry syllabus of the Nigerian science curriculum. It was however; recommended that more time should be allocated to chemistry for effective teaching of the identified difficult concepts and usage of student-oriented practical activities, as this would help to concretize learnt concepts and reduce poor performances of students in both internal and external examinations.
Journal of the International Centre for Science, Humanities and Education Research, 2021
This study was conducted to identify concepts perceived difficult by chemistry students in senior secondary school in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. A total of 85 senior secondary two (SS2) and SS3 students and 15 (fifteen) teachers were randomly selected from five senior secondary schools in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. A 30-item questionnaire was administered to the respondents. Mean, Percentage, Standard deviation and ttest statistics were used to analyze data collected. Findings show that students perceived 15 out of 19 concepts difficult to comprehend in chemistry. Some of the concepts include ionization, chemical kinetics, redox reaction, isomerism, quantum numbers, stiochemistry, hydrophobic, enthalpy, mole concepts among others. The study also revealed that gender influences both the students' and teachers' perception of difficult concepts in chemistry, however only 4 concepts were identified to be difficult by teachers. While there are significant differences between male and female students (9 out of 19) as well as teachers (7 out of 19) in their mean difficulty in some concepts, most of the concepts revealed no significant differences (that is, 10 for students and 12 for teachers). The study recommends that school authorities should establish a functional supervisory or checking team saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that educational standards are adhered to with emphasis on state of laboratories. This team should also ensure checking of students' performance and get to dialogue with them to note challenges with the aim of proffering solutions. Areas of difficulties identified by students should be noted and the Chemistry department with its team of teachers devising means on how to make students understand the concepts identified as difficult.
A Comparison of Perceived and Actual; Students' Learning Difficulties in Physical Chemistry
Having established from researches that students experience learning difficulties in physical chemistry (electrolysis) and that those researches have not been able to find an end to the learning difficulties known through the use of questionnaires, the study made a comparison of perception and actual students' learning difficulties in physical chemistry (electrolysis). Two hundred chemistry students were selected purposively from thirteen Senior Secondary School Three classes in Ido local government of Oyo State, Nigeria. Three research question and a hypothesis were raised. The instruments used for the collection of data were Students' Learning Difficulty in Physical Chemistry Questionnaire (r = 0.98) and Physical Chemistry Learning Difficulty Diagnostic Test (r = 0.87). The data collected were analysed using simple percentage and chi-square analysis. The result showed that many areas of physical chemistry where students perceived no difficulty were actually difficult for them to solve. It was recommended among other things, that students' perceived difficulty should not be used as the basis for understanding the learning difficulties in electrolysis.
Multidisciplinary Journal of Language and Social Sciences Education (2664-083X, Online ISSN: Print ISSN: 2616-4736), 2021
Senior secondary school pupils have, for some time now, exhibited unsatisfactory performance in some chemistry topics that are perceived as difficult to learn in their school certificate and General Certificate of Education (GCE) Examinations. This study was a survey and aimed at identifying topics pupils perceived as difficult to learn in secondary school 'O'-Level chemistry. It was conducted in 8 secondary schools in Kasama, Luwingu, Mbala and Mungwi districts. The study also established reasons for pupils' learning difficulties. Eight heads of departments, 16 chemistry teachers and 221 secondary school pupils constituted the sample. Data were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Heads of departments, chemistry teachers and pupils completed questionnaires. Sixteen (16) chemistry teachers and 68 pupils attended follow-up oral interviews. Qualitative data were analysed by noting patterns, themes and categories (Cohen & Morris, 2008). Quantitative data captured in this study were analysed by making use of software, Excel. This analysis made use of descriptive statistics which involved: frequency tables, charts and percentages. Cohen & Morris (2008) recommend this and state that numeric data analysis can easily be performed using software packages such as SPSS, Minitab or Excel. Results of the study revealed that the most difficult topics were: mole concept and stoichiometry, electrolysis, organic chemistry and Redox. The reasons for pupils' challenges included: general learners' difficulties referring to poor pupils' mathematical skills, complex scientific terms and language, lack of teaching and learning resources, lack of practical work or activities and pupils' poor attitude towards chemistry as a subject; teacher's incompetence which embodies inadequate explanation, unsuitable pace of delivery, lack of knowledge, difficult language and terminology used and inexperience; inadequate infrastructure referring to lack of laboratories and equipment, apparatus and other materials, and unsuitable teaching methods used as the only teaching methods used were 'question and answer' sessions, group discussions, demonstrations and lectures.
Investigating the Areas of Student Difficulty in Chemistry Curriculum: A Case Study in Qatar
The exploratory study focused on the identification of difficult topics in Chemistry in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) curriculum. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from thirty students by simple random sampling technique. Interviews and focus group discussions were carried out to seek clarifications on some of the responses to the questionnaire questions and to elicit detailed explanations of the causes of the perceived difficulties. A multiple-choice test was also administered for the purpose of triangulation. Frequencies and means were used to answer the research question. The findings indicate that the causes of poor performance could be categorised into five groups i.e.: nature of concepts, prior knowledge, access to the language of instruction, teaching processes and mathematical efficacy. The study recommends a more structured form of curriculum mapping of all topics and sequencing of topics over the two-year period of study of IGCSE Chemistry and suggests further research on misconceptions and their origins in the subject matter.
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This study focused on addressing underperformance in chemistry in Anglophone West African countries. The main purpose of the study was to determine if factors such as gender, school location and ownership impact students' perception of the difficulty of chemistry concepts and to suggest how these difficult concepts can be made easy to learn from the perspectives of the students. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Participants were 1,292 chemistry students from nine public and 12 private secondary schools in Nigeria and Ghana with about three-quarters of the schools from urban areas. About 51% of the participants were females. Twenty-four students were interviewed to gather qualitative data. The Difficult Concept in Chemistry Questionnaire (DCCQ) and the Difficult Concepts in Chemistry Interview Guide (DCCIG) were used for data collection. The test-retest reliability coefficient of the DCCQ was 0.88. We found a slight difference in the perception of male and female students while school type came as a major determinant factor on students' perception of difficult concepts in chemistry, just as school location. Phobia for calculations came out as a major cause of difficulty in the top five perceived difficult concepts. Findings on causes of learning difficulties were reported as well as suggestions for improvement as viewed by the students. Recommendations were made for improving the teaching and learning of chemistry in Anglophone West African schools.
Learning Difficulties in Chemistry: An Overview
Chemistry is often regarded as a difficult subject, an observation which sometimes repels learners from continuing with studies in chemistry. This paper seeks to bring together the general findings obtained from research over the past few decades for both school pupils and university students in an attempt to suggest the key reasons for this difficulty. Suggestions are made on ways to minimise the problems based on understandings of attitudes and motivation as well as the psychological understandings of how learning takes place.
This study looked at senior secondary school students and teachers most difficult organic chemistry topics. It compared the rank order of students' most difficult topics in organic chemistry to those of their teachers. The survey method was employed, where questionnaires were administered to 300 chemistry students and their 35 teachers. The sample was drawn from 10 senior secondary schools in the Central Region where students had already treated organic chemistry. The study showed that the SSS chemistry students and teachers most difficult organic chemistry topic was aromatic hydrocarbons.
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This study investigates the relative effectiveness of two problem solving models (strategies) in students’ performance at cognitive and affective levels of educational attainment. Specifically, the study determined the effects of the use of Selvarathnam- Frazer (1982) model and programmed student learning text model (Ashmore, Frazer and Casey (1979) on college students’ achievement in volumetric analysis and attitude towards learning of Chemistry. Two hundred and seventy five (275) students drawn from three colleges of education in Oyo and Ogun States, Nigeria were involved in the study. Data analysis was by means of Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Findings from the study revealed that students who were taught with problem-solving strategies or models either teachers’ - directed or students’ –directed performed significantly better than their counterparts in the control group that were taught with formula method. Students’ gender was also found to affect students” cognitive achievement and attitude towards learning of Chemistry. It also revealed insignificant interaction effect of treatment and gender at affective level. The findings from the study have implication for practicing chemistry teachers, education policy makers and other stakeholders in the education of teacher trainee.