Assessment of Ghanaian senior high school students’ science process skills in optics.

Abstract

This study was undertaken using performance-based instruments to assess science process skills of planning, performing and reasoning of senior high school physics students. The study had a sample of 225 male and female students from seven schools (i.e., single sex male; single sex female and mixed categories) offering general science in the Cape Coast Metropolis of the Central Region of Ghana. The study examined the levels of proficiencies of skills exhibited by students in the process skills of planning, performing and reasoning in Reflection and Refraction in Optics. The researcher adapted the instruments used in this study (Ossei Anto, 1996). The tasks were in two groups: Tasks A and Tasks B, each of three tasks of planning, performing and reasoning. The researcher scored the students tasks booklets. Quantitative data was collected using performance assessment technique of psychometric testing. Considering the three science process skills of planning, performing and reasoning, the most proficient skill exhibited by the students was reasoning, followed by planning and the least was performing tasks. With gender, the female elective physics students demonstrated the highest level of proficiency in the science process skills across all the tasks compared to males. With type of school, single sex female elective physics students exhibited the highest level of proficiency across all the tasks, followed by single sex boys, with mixed schools being least proficient. In the light of the findings of this study, a number of recommends were made. One of them is that, students in elective physics should be motivated to develop high proficiencies in laboratory activities using hands-on and minds-on skills of planning, performing and reasoning.