Abstract:
Over the years, the West African Examination Council Chief Examiner’s reports in
Biology have identified students’ persistent weaknesses in following the correct
sequence in describing experiments and offering explanations from certain
observations. Students are also unable to explain and describe scientific methods and
set-ups accurately, and draw correct conclusions from experimental data and results.
The purpose of the study was to determine the competency of SHS biology students in
planning, Interpreting and reasoning skills. The study adopted the "Basic Skills
Assessment approach. The sample used for the study consisted of 180 SHS 3 elective
biology students drawn from a mixed, boys and a girls' school each from grade ‘A’,
grade ‘B’ and grade ‘C’ schools in some selected senior high schools in the Ashanti
Region of Ghana. The instruments used for data collection were Performance
Assessment Tasks under the heading Planning, Interpreting and Reasoning Tasks.
Some of the key findings of the study included students’ difficulty in giving detailed
planning (45.56%), providing appropriate diagrams (43.89%) and safety precautions
(48.33%) to experiments they engage in. Inability of students to draw correct
conclusions from experimental data and results (38.89%) stands from the fact that
they have problems establishing relationship between two variables. One of the
recommendations from the study urges teachers to insist on detailed planning and
inclusion of safety precautions and appropriate diagrams in students’ write-up of
experiments.
Description:
A thesis in the department of Science Education,
Faculty of Science Education, submitted to the school of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Science Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
