Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to assess physics students’ practical science process
skills. In this study, practical action research was adopted as the research design that
guided the study. In this study, the target population comprised all general science
students studying physics at Apam Senior High School in the Central Region, Ghana.
The study involved a total of 45 Senior High School Form Two physics students in
Apam Senior High School in the central region of Ghana. The research instruments
used to collect data for this study was a questionnaire and teaching intervention. Pre intervention and post-intervention practical tests were designed to determine students’
level of acquisition of science process skills before and after the intervention. This study
also employed a questionnaire to gather additional information from the students on the
impact of the intervention. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21
was used in analysing pre-test scores, post-test scores obtained from pre-intervention
and post-intervention respectively. Data collected from the questionnaire was also
analysed using SPSS. It was found that a significant number of students (about 40%)
were unable to accurately measure angles of incidence (i) and angles of reflection (r)
using the protractor and about 60% were able to measure. Again, the study revealed
that a significant percentage of the students lack sufficient skill of presenting data.
Specifically, 17(37.8%) of the students could not correctly plot points on a graph and
majority of the students could not compute the slope of a graph. The positive impact of
the intervention was attributed to the teaching method (demonstration by the researcher
and team work among students) employed. Based on the findings, it was recommended
that Science practical process skills such as measuring, making inferences, data
presentation and interpretation should be taught in the physics classroom. This will
enhance science students’ efficiency in understanding science through experimentation.
Again, Apam senior high school physics teachers should teach science practical process
skills via demonstrations and also allow for student-students interactive learning
through team work for improvement of students’ performance in physics.
Description:
A Thesis in the department of Science Education, Faculty of Science Education,
Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Science Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
