Abstract:
This study was conducted to assess science process skills of drawing,
classifying, interpreting and hypothesising among Senior High School (SHS 3)
Biology students in the Volta Region of Ghana. Two hundred and forty
students were randomly chosen from six SHSs to respond to the research
instruments. Additionally, six SHS 3 Biology teachers in the sampled schools
also participated in the study. The main instruments used to collect data were
science process skills assessment tasks, interview guides for students and
teachers and guide for content analysis of Biology practical workbook of
students. The research instruments were pilot tested on a representative sample
to determine the reliability and validity of the instruments. The interrater
reliability coefficient for the performance tasks on drawing, classifying,
interpreting and hypothesising were found to be 82.50%, 85%, 2.50% and
80% respectively. Mixed methods research design was employed in this study
and thus quantitative and qualitative methods were used in analysing data
generated from the respondents. Prominent among the findings were that
majority of the students performed poorly on the skills of drawing, classifying,
interpreting and hypothesizing, Biology practical activities were not organized
frequently in the schools and there was a significant difference between the
categories of schools and the acquisition of science process skills of drawing,
classifying, interpreting and hypothesizing. Based on the findings, it was
recommended that Biology teachers at SHSs should organise practical
activities frequently for students to acquire and master science process skills
that are stipulated in the syllabus for meaningful learning of Biology.
