Investigation Into The Causes Of Poor Performance Of Students In Chemistry

Chemistry being the branch of science which studies the nature and properties of substances which make up the environment, with the changes they undergo, is a very important course of study which does not only stand as a scientific study but also a very essential for the development of any nation which must be productive and be able to stand independently in the production of its inhabitants’ chemical consumables. However, as important as this course is, the students who are expected to be the carriers of the necessary skills needed for a productive application have been performing so poor persistently over some years ago. To curb this, this research work focused on investigating the factors responsible for this persistent poor performance at the Senior Secondary School level, using Ilesa West and East Local Government Areas of Osun State, Nigeria, as study areas. Eight (8) Secondary Schools were randomly selected from the two Local Government Areas, where twenty-five students were randomly selected from six of the schools, sixteen and thirty from the other two schools respectively, making a total of one hundred and ninety six (196) students from SSS 1 to 3. One teacher out of the total Chemistry teachers present in each school was also selected, making a total of 8 teachers in all. Many related theses were reviewed to have a foresight of what the likely factors responsible for this effect could be, and the factors found out were out-listed under two broad headings called: The School-based Factors (7) and The Extrinsic Factors (5), making a total of twelve (12) factors in all. The method of data collection employed in this thesis is the teachers’ and students’ questionnaires. The former has a total of thirty- three (33), while the latter has a total of twenty-five (25) structured items respectively. Chi-square and Correlation Coefficient were used in the analysis of the data collected. From the investigations conducted, sixteen (16) hypotheses were formulated to check the validity of the identified factors, and the following factors were found to be affecting the performance of students negatively: poor school background characteristics of students, wrong perception of students about chemistry, wrong attitudes of students toward chemistry, poor learning environment & facilities, poor/inadequate assessment of students and improper achievement test, inadequate evaluation, poor method of teaching on the part of teachers, poor English language comprehension ability and mathematical competence, the type of primary school attended, performance in JSSCE Basic/Integrated Science, and old age. Meanwhile, the following factors were speculated in the literatures reviewed, but were found to have no effect on students’ performance: gender difference, curriculum content, syllabus and workload of teachers, and students’ rudimentary understanding of chemistry. Also, parental background of students was found to have a very weak effect on the performance of students in chemistry. After all, reliable recommendations were made for the concerned bodies and individuals, including ministry of education, the school management/administration, chemistry teachers, parents, and other stakeholders. Recommendations were also made for further studies, with all of these focused on making positive changes to the performance of students in Chemistry right from the foundational education level, and to effect a transformation of the education sector of the country, Nigeria, at large.