Ghanaian Senior High School Students’ Performance and Perception of Difficult Chemistry Topics

Abstract

This study investigated students’ perceptions of difficult chemistry topics and how it relates with students’ performance in chemistry. A quantitative approach was adopted using a cross-sectional survey design. The sample consisted of sixty (60) form 2 chemistry students.  Two senior high schools that offer a general science programme were purposively selected, then, thirty chemistry students were selected from each school using a simple random sampling. It was found that only five out of the twenty-three topics (21.7%) were perceived to be easy by the students, whiles 78.3% were perceived to be difficult. The topics perceived as easy were basic safety laboratory practices, the particle nature of matter, atomic structure, chemical bonding and hybridisation, and the shapes of molecules. However, the topics perceived to be difficult for the students were: amount of substance and the C-12 scale; solutions, stoichiometry, and chemical equations; nuclear chemistry; enthalpy changes and bond enthalpies; periodic chemistry; rate of chemical reactions; transition metal chemistry; acids, bases, and the concepts of pH and pOH; electrochemical cells; solubility; organic chemistry; redox reactions, and balancing redox reactions; chemical equilibrium; hydrolysis of salts; and acid-base titration and redox titration. The study found that students have a moderate perception of chemistry (M = 3.30, SD = 0.61). However, it was found that students held positive perceptions on the dimensions of value of chemistry. The held moderate perception in the dimension of gender, interest and fear of chemistry. The students held negative perceptions in characteristics of chemistry dimension. There was no significant difference in perceptions of difficult chemistry topics between males (M = 3.025, SD = 0.36) and females (M = 2.98, SD = 0.417), t (58) = 0.356, p = 0.723. Again, there was no significant difference in the perception of students towards chemistry between males (M = 3.22, SD = 0.60) and females (M = 3.54, SD = 0.61), t (58) = -1.83, p = 0.07.  The multiple regression analysis revealed that perceived chemistry topic difficulty and perception of chemistry did not significantly predict chemistry performance. Thus, there is a relationship between chemistry performance, perceived chemistry topic difficulty and perception of chemistry, however, this relationship is not significant (F [2, 57] = 2.420, p = 0.098). The coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.078) indicates that 7.8% of variation in students’ chemistry performance can be explained by students’ perceived chemistry topic difficulty and students’ perception of chemistry. Chemistry teachers should use interactive learning approaches and inquiry-based learning to involve students in fostering curiosity and exploration. The study recommends that Chemistry teachers can utilise technology tools such as interactive simulations, virtual labs, and multimedia resources to enhance learners’ understanding and be able to relate and transition between the levels of representations of chemistry.