Determining the planning, interpreting and reasoning skills of students in biology laboratory work

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.