College of education students’ integrated science entry grades and their end-of-course completion grades an explanatory study

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between College of Education students’ entry grades in integrated science and their end-of-course completion grades in science-related courses (biology, chemistry, and physics) at college. The explanatory sequential mixed method design was used in this study. The target population was the 2018/2019 batch of the Bachelor of Education Primary Education programme and tutors in the Science Education Department at Atebubu College of Education. A sample size of one hundred and twenty-seven (127) comprising one hundred and twenty-four (124) students and three tutors (3) were purposively selected for the study Three (3) College tutors were also involved in the study. A Checklist and interview guide were used in gathering data for the study. Frequencies, percentages, Pearson’s Moment Correlation, and themes were used to analyse the data collected. The results showed a weak positive correlation between the students' integrated science entry grades from the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and general biology, chemistry, and physics end-of-course completion grades at the College. Also, the type of senior high school that a student attended played a role but not a major role in affecting their future academic performance in science-related courses in College. The study therefore concludes that the type of senior high school the students attended and their integrated science entry grades did not have a significant influence on their end-of-course completion grades in science-related courses at the College. It is recommended that college management should not place too much emphasis on the type of senior high school the students attended and their entry grades during their admissions because it has little impact on their academic success at college. But they should rather put priority on infrastructure and other amenities; availability of teaching learning resources; teacher personality, competency, experience, and efforts; motivation; and student behaviour/truancy which are the various subsets of personal, teacher, and institutional factors since they were identified as key influencers of students’ academic performance