Assessment of the Difficult Areas of the Senior Secondary School 2 (Two) Chemistry Syllabus of the Nigeria Science Curriculum (original) (raw)

The senior secondary two chemistry course content of the Nigerian science curriculum was assessed using 10 (ten) selected secondary schools in North Central Nigeria, to determine areas of difficulty, magnitude and reasons for such perceived difficulty. Correlation between the students’ perceived difficulty and their achievement in a test and the relationship between the students’ sex and their perceptions of difficulties were also examined using a difficult rating scale questionnaire and a chemistry achievement test. Percentage mean score, mean difficulty indices, person-product-moment correlation and the t-test methods were used for the analysis of the data collected. A total of 10 (ten) out of the 24 (twenty-four) topics identified were perceived as difficult. There was no significant relationship between students’ perceived difficulty and their achievement. Reasons given for the perceived difficulty included unfamiliarity with the ideas, confusing language, ideas too demanding, i...