Conception of sickle cell disease in two selected senior high schools in the Adentan Municipality

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate Senior High School students‟ conception of the sickle cell disease (SCD). The study was conducted in two schools from the Adentan Municipality in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The total population of sample consisting of four hundred and twenty (420) was selected from two different Senior High Schools forms one and two students. The accessible population included ninety-six (96) from Delcam and Two hundred and thirty-five (235) students from West Africa SHS‟s respectively. Twenty one instrument questionnaires were used to collect data. The data obtained from the survey were analysed with frequency counts and simple percentages using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17-2014 to validate the internal consistency with an Alpha Cronbach‟s value of 0.991. The results gathered showed significant percentages of the population exhibiting misconceptions and alternative conceptions about the conceptual details of the Disease. The findings suggests that teachers must precede instruction by identifying students‟ conceptions, misconceptions and alternative conceptions to help students understand the concept being taught. Finally, teachers are again encouraged to endeavour to focus on the long-term retention of knowledge of scientific concepts than what is being tested for.