SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS PERCEPTION OF FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DIFFICULT NATURE OF LEARNING CHEMISTRY

ABSTRACT

The Research work is on Secondary School Students' Perception of factors influencing the difficult nature of chemistry in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State.The main Purpose of the study was to investigate the perception of students regarding the difficult nature of chemistry, identify concepts in Chemistry that students perceive to be difficult and to identify the various factors that contributes to the perceived difficult nature of chemistry among students. Three (3) research questions were raised to guide the study. This study adopted a survey research design sampling technique in order to achieve the purpose of the study. The sample for this study consisted one hundred and fifty (150) respondents from there (3) public schools in Egor local government area of Edo state. Data was collected with the aid of questionnaire. The validity of the instrument were ascertain through face validity and using exert judgement. Data collected were analyzed using percentage, mean and standard deviation. The reliability was tested, 0.728 was obtained. From the findings, it was discovered that the students had a negative perception of the difficulty of chemistry learning as they agreed with items that implied a high level of difficulty and complexity in chemistry. The study also found that the students had more difficulty with topics that involve memorization and abstraction, such as separation techniques and periodic table, than topics that involve calculation and observation, such as balancing chemical equations and particulate nature of matter. The study further found that the students identified various factors that contributed to the perceived difficult nature of chemistry learning, which were mainly related to laboratory factors and learning environment factors. The study concluded that there was a need for urgent intervention from various stakeholders, such as the government, school administrators, teachers and parents to address the factors that influence the difficult nature of chemistry learning among secondary school students in Nigeria. The study recommended some possible interventions, such as providing regular and adequate practical sessions for the students, improving the laboratory equipment and environment, reducing the class size and improving the classroom physical condition