Students Misconception About Integrated Science€¦ · Abstract: This study sought to assess students’ misconception about integrated science in Adjena Senior High Technical School

Zambrut.com. Publication date: April 29, 2019.

Essah, B. O. K. 2019. Students’ Misconception About Integrated Science ............ 27

International Journal of Biology, Physics & Mathematics

ISSN: 2721-3757, Volume 3, Issue 1, page 27 - 34 Zambrut

Students’ Misconception

About Integrated Science (Study in Adjena Senior High Technical School in Asuogyaman District, Ghana)

Bruce Offei Kwaku Essah

Bruce Offei Kwaku Essah, BSc. M.Ed.

Department of Chemistry, University of Education

Winneba, Ghana

Abstract: This study sought to assess students’ misconception about integrated science in

Adjena Senior High Technical School in Asuogyaman District, Ghana.. A descriptive research

design was adopted for the study. The estimated population of the school was 1200. A

purposively sample size of 291 was used to collect data. The research instruments employed

for the study was questionnaires survey. Descriptive statistics such as percentages and

frequencies were used to analyze information such as sex, age and residential status of

respondents. Means and standard deviation were used to measure the variables. Inferential

statistic tool called linear regression was used to assess the effect of challenges faced by

students in integrated science in Adjena Senior high Technical Schools, Ghana. On the issue

of science to be studied by some special students, a lowest mean score of 1.57 with a standard

deviation of 1.13 was recorded. This implies that, students agreed to the perception that

science should be read by some special group of students in senior high school. Also, on the

issue of science to be read by brilliant students, a highest mean score of 2.12 with standard

deviation of 1.31. Also, majority students of the students revealed that unavailability of

teaching and learning materials and science textbooks are the main challenges faced by

students in integrated science in Adjena senior high Technical school. The R-Sqaure explains

the amount of variation that exist in the dependent variables caused by the independent

variables. Therefore the results indicates that there is 28.7% variation in effects of challenges

faced by students can be explained by challenges faced by students in integrated science in

senior high school. The significant value of the F-stat of 17.919 is 0.000 (p < 0.05), therefore

we reject the null hypothesis which says that there is no effect on challenges faced by students

in integrated science in Adjena Senior High Technical school. Based on these results and

other studies, the researcher recommends that The Ghana Education Service needs to provide

adequate teaching and learning materials in senior high schools in the district to help

teachers to deliver their lessons effectively in integrated science. Variable methodologies that

will enhance the understanding of scientific concepts should be employed by teachers during

teaching.

Keywords: Alternative conception, misconception, Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK).

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1. Introduction

In the history of science education in African schools, teaching students to comprehend how

science works remains an issue of concern. In the past centuries, there have been several educational

reforms yet science education has been continually criticized for not producing scientifically literate

students (Lederman, 2007). Science education is the discipline dealing with learning science and

teaching in outside schools and schools. Science education research includes legitimation, educational

reconstruction and selection of topics to be learned. Justification and selection of general aims of

teaching and learning science, as well as instructional sequencing that takes the learners‟ cognitive,

affective and social preconditions into account. A further domain of science education work is

research-based development as well as evaluation of teaching and learning approaches (KVFF, 1998),

and materials.

According to Duit (2006) science education is a genuinely inter-disciplinary discipline. Clearly,

science is a major reference discipline but there are competencies in various disciplines which are also

needed. Philosophy of science and history of science provide thinking patterns to analyse the nature of

science critically, and the particular contribution of science to understand the “world”, i.e. nature and

technology (Duit,2006). Shulman (1987) contended that teachers need a large spectrum of rather

different competencies. According to Gess-Newsome and Lederman (1999) knowledge of conception

of “content specific pedagogical knowledge” also called Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) has

been widely adopted in science education. Considering the study of integrated science, there has been a

much effort of research documenting student and teacher misconceptions, however, much remains to be

done by way of development and implementation of effective nature of science curricula.(Talbot,

2010).Research has outlined core ideas relative to alternative ideas of the nature of science (Lederman,

2007; McComas,2004) as well as misconceptions held by both students and teachers (Blosser,1987;

Lederman, 2007; McComas, 1996; Rubba, 1976). Researchers have conducted studies on various age

groups from elementary school, through high school and college, to teachers conception. The Nature of

Science research has been conducted in a variety of content areas (Lederman, 2007). However, no

studies were found using senior high school students in Adjena Senior Technical School, Ghana.

The Ghana Education Service Handbook explains that the use of Teaching and Learning

Materials also turns to create the right conception about the topic being taught in classroom. According

to Amissah, Oppong-Frimpong and Sam-Tagoe (2009) the classroom teachers must use Teaching and

Learning Materials (TLMs) to boost and give students intellectual development and remove

misconceptions. Grover and Mathew (2012) went further to discover that, student learning takes place

primarily in the course of interactions with people (such as teachers and peers) and instructional

materials that include textbooks, workbooks, instructional software, web-based content, homework,

projects, quizzes, and tests.The objective of this study is to assess the misconception about learning

integrated science in senior high school.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

The researcher, through his teaching and observation at Adjena Senior High Technical School

in Ghana found out that students lack the actual idea and concepts in integrated science. Students

encountered several challenges in the effort to explain the concept of scientific terminologies and

phenomena and eventually providing wrong alternative conceptual answers to the questions. This

problem can be partly traced to the lack of embedded science topics in the basic school syllabus or the

methodology used by science teachers in teaching .These misconceptions may tend to stay with the

students if not corrected and they will carry it throughout their educational ladder.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to assess students‟ misconceptions about integrated science in

Adjena Senior High Technical School in Ghana.

1.3 Research objectives

The study was guided by the following objectives:





a. Identify students‟ personal perception about learning Integrated Science in Senior High

Schools.

b. Identify the challenges faced by students in Integrated Science.

c. Assess the effect of challenges faced by students in Integrated Science.

1.4 Research Questions

a. What are students‟ personal perceptions about learning Integrated Science in Senior High

Schools?

b. What are some of the challenges faced by students in Integrated Science?

c. What is the effect of challenges faced by students in Integrated Science?

1.5 Hypothesis

HO: there is no effect on challenges faced by students in Integrated Science in Adjena Senior High

Technical school.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study is geared towards helping school Heads to identify and assist students who have

challenges in explaining concepts in Integrated Science. Again, it will help the ministry of education

and Ghana Education Service to support teachers who contribute to the improvement of students in the

understanding of Integrated Science. Also, it will serve as a source of information for other researchers

in the future; it will be a source of research materials or empirical data on the student‟s alternative

perception about learning Integrated Science in Senior High Schools.

2. Research Methods

According to Olannye (2006), research designs are the approaches, framework or plans for

carrying out research studies. The research design was a descriptive survey. It can be said that

descriptive research or method is used to describe various aspects of the phenomenon. It is used to

describe characteristics or behaviour of a sample population. The descriptive design has also been

recommended by Babbie (2001) for the purpose of generalizing from a sample of a population so that

references can be made about some characteristics, attributes or behaviour of a population.

2.1 Sample size and Sampling Technique

Sample for data collection in a research study according to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill,

(2007) is the subgroup or part of a larger population being studied. The sampling technique used for the

study was purposive sampling. The study targeted students in Adjena Senior High Technical School.

The estimated population of students in Adjena Senior High Technical School for the 2018/2019

academic year is 1200.

Krejcie and Morgan (1970), postulated a sample distribution table and advanced that if the

population is 1200 the sample size should be 291. Thus with a population of 1200 the desirable sample

size used by the researcher was 291.

2.2 Data collection

The research instruments employed for the study was questionnaires survey. A questionnaire is

a cost-effective survey method which helps studying to investigate large samples of a population across

wide geographic areas. The use of questionnaire in the study was effective in collection of the data.

Questionnaires reduce bias that may occur in the study. Again, in using questionnaire responses are

gathered in a standardized manner, so they are more objective in their responses. The questionnaire had

three sections and each section was designed to solicit responses on the study constructs. The

demographic information of the participants formed the first section in the questionnaire. The study

requested participants to provide seven demographic data as related to their ages, gender, and

residential status. Section B was made up of six (6) items on students‟ personal perception about

learning integrated science in Senior High Schools. Section C part of the questionnaire had six (6)

items which solicited challenges faced by students in Integrated Science. Section D part of the





questionnaire had four (4) items which were to assess the effect of challenges faced by students in

integrated science.

Questions were administered to students at during normal school hours after permission was

sort from the school authorities. The researcher gave students enough time to complete the

questionnaire. The questionnaires were collected by the researcher after completion by respondents.

Data collection took a period of two weeks. A total of 291 of questionnaires were administered and all

were returned. Reliability is determined by correlation coefficient which is also referred to as

Cronbach‟s Alpha. According to „„Mugenda and Mugenda (1999)‟‟ when coefficient is high, the

instrument is said to yield data that have a high reliability. The reliability of the test instrument was

examined using Cronbach‟s alpha, with a coefficient value of 0.882.

2.3 Data analysis and interpretation process

According to Creswell (2009), data analysis is where the researcher continually reflects on

collected data, moving deeper into understanding and representing the data, and deriving an

interpretation of the larger meaning of the data. The information collected from the questionnaires were

edited, coded and analysed based on the procedures within the statistical analysis software tool known

as the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20.0. The data were cleaned and

transformed into tables and extracted for the presentation and discussion. The tables were used for

illustrations in order to clarify meaning and enhance understanding.

Descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequencies were used to analyze information

such as sex, age and residential status of respondents. Means and standard deviation were used to

measure the variables. Inferential statistics tool called linear regression was used to find the effect of

challenges faced by students in integrated science in Adjena Senior high Technical Schools, Ghana.

3. Results

a) Demographic characteristics of respondents

This section provides information on the gender, age and residential status of respondents.

Table 1 shows tabulation Gender of the respondents.

Table 1 Gender distribution of respondents

Frequency Percent

Valid Male 191 65.6

Female 100 34.4

Total 291 100.0

Source: Field Survey, (2019)

Table 1 shows the tabulation of gender distribution of the respondents. Table 1 shows that

65.6% of respondents were males and the remaining 34.4% were females. This is an indication that

more males took part in the study than females.

Table 2 Age of respondents

Frequency Percent

Valid

12-14 21 7.2

15-18 215 73.9

19 and Above 55 18.9

Total 291 100.0

Source: Field Survey (2019)

As shown in Table 2, 7.2% of the respondents were between 12-14 years. Over 73.9% of the

respondents were within the age group of 15-18 years, and 18.6% of the respondents were within the





age group of 19years and above. The results showed that majority of the students who took part in the

study were adolescent between 16-18years and were matured to understand items on questionnaire.

Table 3 Residential status of respondents

Frequency Percent

Valid Day 75 25.8

Boarding 216 74.2

Total 291 100.0


Table 3 showed that 25.8 % of respondents were day students and the remaining 74.2 % were

boarding students. This implies that more boarding students took part in the study than day students.

b)What are students’ personal perception about integrated science in Senior High

Schools?

The basis for research question one was to provide students‟ personal perception about learning

Integrated Science in Senior High Schools. Means and standard deviations were used to analyse the

items for this research question. The mean scores mean scores between 1 and 3 suggest that

respondents agreed with the item. Mean scores between 3 and 3.4 means respondents were neutral,

meaning they were not able to state whether they agree or not and mean scores between from 3.5 and

5.0 suggest that respondents disagreed to the item. The results are represented in the table below.

Table 4 Students’ personal perception about integrated science in Adjena Senior High

Technical Schools

Item Frequency Mean Standard Deviation

Integrated Science is a difficult

subjects 291 2.18 1.14

I personally do not like Integrated

Science 291 1.58 0.75

Integrated Science is not part of my

best subjects 291 1.83 1.11

Integrated Science is for brilliant

students 291 2.12 1.31

Integrated Science should be studied

by some special students 291 1.57 1.13

In my family we do not like

Integrated Science 291 1.62 0.75

Mean of means 291 1.82 1.03

Source: Field Survey, (2019)

Table 4 above reveals that, the mean of means score is 1.82 with a standard deviation of 1.03.

The overall mean score suggests that students agree to items stated in the table as personal perceptions

in studying Integrated Science. On the issue of science to be studied by some special students a lowest

mean score of 1.57 with a standard deviation of 1.13 was calculated.This implies that, students agreed

to the perception that science should be read by some special group of students in senior high school.

Also, on the issue of science to be read by brilliant students, a highest mean score was 2.12 with a

standard deviation of 1.31.This means that to Students perceive that science is difficult and should be

studied by brilliant students.





However, the relative importance of this item does not significantly differ among the students as

it is reflected in the standard deviation. Early studies by McComas (1996) revealed that wrong

alternative conceptions about the nature of science mean that many students seriously misunderstand

what science is and how it works. when those misconceptions are cleared, he students can have a better

understanding of integrated science in general and of specific content, phenomena and concepts.

c) What are some of the challenges faced by students in integrated science?

The research question sought to identify some some of the challenges faced by students in

integrated science. Table 5. Summarizes some challenges faced by students in learning integrated

science in Adjena Senior High Technical School. Percentages and frequencies were used to assess the

relative importance of the relevant challenges.

Table 5 Challenges faced by students in integrated science at Adjena Senior High

Technical School.

Item Frequency Percentage

Teaching and learning materials are not available in my

school 72 24.7

Integrated Science textbooks are not available in my

school library 68 23.4

I am unable to study Integrated Science on my own 40 13.8

I get interrupted by my colleagues during classes hours 37 12.7

My teacher does not teach well for me to comprehend

Integrated Science 37 12.7

I find it difficult to understand Integrated Science when

taught by teachers 37 12.7

Total 291 100.0


According to Table 5, 24.7 percent of the respondents indicated that Teaching and learning

materials are not available in my school.Also, 23.4 percent of the respondents indicated that Science

textbooks are not available in my school library. Again, 13.8percent of the respondents indicated that

they are unable to study integrated science on their own. On the issue of I get interrupted by my

colleagues during classes hours, 12.7 percent indicated in agreement. Also, 12.7percent of the

respondents indicated that teachers do not teach well for them to understand the subject. Similarly,

12.7percent of the respondents indicated that they find it difficult to understand science when taught by

teachers.

From the above results, majority students of the students revealed that teaching and learning

materials and science textbooks are the main challenges faced by students in integrated science in

Adjena Senior High Technical School. This is in accordance with Kattmann, Duit, Gropengießer, &

Komorek (1995), who postulated that leading textbooks in science are necessary for teaching and

learning. On the issue of teaching and learning materials, Amissah, Oppong-Frimpong and Sam-Tagoe

(2009) asserted that in the classroom teachers must use Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs) to

increase student‟s intellectual development.





d) What is the effect of challenges faced by students in integrated science?

Table 6 Effect of challenges faced by students in integrated science

Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of

the Estimate

Durbin-

Watson

1 0.517 0.287 0.209 2.00539 2.053


As shown in Table 6, the model summary results indicate an R value of 0.517 indicates the

effects that exist between the dependents variables (effects of challenges) and independent variables

(challenges). Thus there is an effect of 0.517 between the dependent variable and independent

variables. The R-Sqaure explains the amount of variation that exist in the dependent variables caused

by the independent variables. Therefore the results indicates that there is 28.7% variation in effects of

challenges faced by students can be explained by challenges faced by students in integrated science in

senior high school. The remaining 71.3% of variation in effects of challenges is explained by the

residual. The results from the Durbin Watson of 2.053 indicate that is no autocorrelation among the

residual in the regression model. This is because Durbin Watson statistics is greater than 1.5 and less

than 2.5 as explained in the assumption of the test tool.

Table 7 ANOVA

Model Sum of

Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1

Regression 225.279 1 225.279 17.919 0.000

Residual 3633.361 289 12.572

Total 3858.639 290


From the results presented above, the table 13 explains whether variation in the dependent

variables can be proved. The table shows a significant value of the F-stat of 17.919 is 0.000 < 0.05,

therefore we reject the null hypothesis which says that there is no effect on challenges faced by students

in Integrated science in Adjena Senior High Technical school.

4. Conclusion

This study revealed that students perceive that integrated science is a difficult subject and

should be studied by brilliant students or special group of students. Some students also perceived that

integrated science is not a subject peculiar to their family. Nevertheless, the relative significance of this

item does not significantly differ among the students as it is reflected in the standard deviation. Also,

majority students of the students revealed that teaching and learning materials and science textbooks

are the main challenges faced by students in integrated science in senior high school. Also, there is an

effect that exist among students due to challenges they face in integrated science in senior high schools.

Challenges faced by students in studying integrated science results in low marks in academic

performance and inability to develop interest in other field of science.

According to the finding of the study, it is unpleasant to conclude that teaching and learning

materials including science textbooks are inadequate in Adjena senior high Technical schools. This

situation in the school makes teaching and learning of integrated science difficult for students.

5. Educational Implications of the research

The Ghana Education Service needs to provide teaching and learning materials in senior high

schools in the district to help teachers to deliver their lessons effectively in integrated science. Variable

methodologies that will enhance the understanding of scientific concepts should be employed by

teachers during teaching. Stakeholders in education including teachers should orient students to

understand that science is not meant for brilliant student but for all students. Policy makers will acquire





useful information from this study that can serve as a basis and integrating the knowledge into the

curriculum whenever there is a change or review of methods of teaching integrated science

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Students Misconception About Integrated Science€¦ · Abstract: This study sought to assess students’ misconception about integrated science in Adjena Senior High Technical School

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