Factors that impede the formation of basic scientific concepts in students A case study at the Mankranso Senior High School

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the factors that impede the formation of basic scientific concepts in students in the Mankranso Senior High School. The simple random selection was done to select one class from departments with multiple classes in Mankranso Senior High School for the study and made available a sample of one hundred and ninety-five (195) respondents for the study. The purposive sampling approach was used to select four (4) science teachers out of accessible population of 122 teachers in the school. Descriptive survey design and a five- point Likert -type scale questionnaire backed by focus group interviews and field observations were used to collect data from respondents. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, Version 20) was used to analyse the data collected. The data were then represented in tables using descriptive statistics. The result showed students have developed poor attitudes towards science and 80.0% of them offer to read science only because it is a compulsory subject, also,75.0 % of science teachers could not employ laboratory experiments at all in their lessons as facilities were so limited and thus reserved for only students reading elective science courses. The attitude of students towards science has been generally poor and could lead to poor concept formation. There is still opportunity to raise students’ interest through the use of laboratory activities to supplement teaching scientific concepts, the adoption of participatory teaching methods and creative pedagogical skills by science teachers; and provision of study materials to students. These could stimulate the interest of students to learn integrated science as a subject and cause them to gear attention towards it. It was therefore recommended that Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service (GES) should provide requisite teaching learning materials to the school to enable teachers to adopt the participatory approach that would foster concept formation in students. Also, it has been recommended that Government of Ghana and its Stakeholders should consider building more laboratories in schools to increase accessibility to non-science students and teachers to help intensify practical activities and improve concept formation in students. University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.