MASTERY OF SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

IN SCIENCE AMONG GRADE 8 STUDENTS OF

AYALA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Edison B. Francisco

MST – Science Education

Ateneo de Zamboanga University

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The teaching of science in high school is delivered through inquiry method where

students are engaged in activities facilitated by the teacher. Science process skills form the core

of inquiry-based learning. To learn to do science is to master the science process skills and to

apply them in scientific investigation. Acquiring science process skills is considered as “learning

how to learn” because children learn how to learn by thinking critically and using information

creatively and they continue to learn when making discriminating observations, organizing and

analyzing facts or concepts, giving reasons for particular outcomes, evaluating and interpreting

results, drawing justifiable conclusions and predicting what will happen if anything were to be

changed (Martin et al., 2001).

Since teaching science in high school is highly focused on the inquiry-based learning, the

mastery of the basic science process skills play important factor with the learner’s understanding

on the lesson. But according to Raj and Devi, 2014, there is a very low positive correlation

between science process skills and achievement in science among high school students. In the

study conducted, the researchers worked on different variables such as: gender, locality, and

medium of instruction.
 This study will assess student’s mastery level on the science process skills among the

grade 8 students of Ayala National High School and its correlation to their academic

performance in science. Mastery level of the science process skills and student’s academic

performance are both to be tested separately. A set of questions will be administered to the

respondents on science process skills to identify their mastery level, and a pre-test and post-test

will be given to the same respondents to identify their academic performance. This is to test

whether or not mastery level of science process skills has direct impact on the academic

performance of the students in science.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Science Process Skills are among the most essential skills learner should possess to be

able to fully grasp the necessary learning in science and other areas of learning. Ostlund (cited in

Raj and Devi 2014) defined science process skills as transferable skills that are applicable to

many sciences and that reflect the behaviors of scientists. They are the skills that facilitate

learning in physical sciences, ensure active student participation, have students develop the sense

of undertaking responsibility in their own learning, increase the permanence of learning, and also

have students acquire research ways and methods, that is, they ensure thinking and behaving like

a scientist. For this reason, it is an important method in teaching science lessons. SPS are the

building-blocks of critical thinking and inquiry in science.

and teaching science by inquiry involves teaching students science process skills, critical

thinking, scientific reasoning skills used by scientists (Pratt & Hackett, 1998) and inquiry is

defined as an approach to teaching, the acts scientists use in doing science and it can be a highly

effective teaching method that helps students for understanding of concepts and use of process

skills (Yager & Akçay, 2010).

Ngoh (2009) states that primary science teaching involves students in a wide range of

inquiry activities such as scientific investigation and experiments. Students are actively involved

in seeking information about phenomena, recording data, proposing alternative ideas to solve

problems, finding meaning as well as acquiring knowledge and skills. For effective science

inquiry and hands-on science learning, students should have a good mastery of the science

process skills before applying the processes. There are 12 science process skills that can be

divided into two groups: the basic processes that form the foundation for scientific investigation,

and the integrated processes that form the method of actual scientific inquiry. The basic science

processes are: observing, classifying, communicating, measuring and using numbers, predicting,

making inferences, and using space-time relationship. The integrated science processes are:

identifying and controlling variables, making hypotheses, interpreting data, defining

operationally, and experimenting. Science Process Skills instruction (Aktamis &Ergin, cited in

Zeidan and Jayosi 2015) also promotes positive attitudes toward science among students; thus,

the avoidance of teaching the process skills can be detrimental.

One of the most important goals of science education (Bilgin, cited in Zeidan and Jayosi

2015) is to teach students how to get involved in inquiry. In other words, students should
integrate skills, knowledge, and attitudes to develop a better understanding of scientific concepts.

So teachers must focus on teaching science skills such as facts, concept and theories, to

encourage students through scientific investigation. Science process skills are a necessary tool to

produce and use scientific information, to perform scientific research, and solve problems.

Students’ higher-order and critical thinking abilities develop when students are provided

opportunities to do inquiry. They are able to find information and to solve problems as well as

the development of positive attitude and disposition (Ngoh, 2009). Colvill and Pattie 2002 (cited

in Zeidan and Jayosi 2015) postulated that the activities which consist of basic and integrated

process skills are the key factor of scientific / science literacy and the key dimension of scientific

/ science literacy. Science process skills are known as procedural skills, experimental and

investigating science habits of mind or scientific inquiry abilities (Harlen, cited in Zeidan and

Jayosi 2015). The development of a positive attitude toward science is one of the most important

goals of the curriculum (Thomas, Koballa & Crawley, 1985).

In the study of Raj and Devi (2014), science process skills and achievement in science

among high school students has a very low correlation of 0.230. This might have caused by the

following intervening factors such as: gender, locality, and the method of instruction.

Most of the studies conducted have similar findings when it comes to the relationship of

acquisition and mastery level of science process skills with the academic achievement of the

students in science. When science is parallel with the inquiry-based method of teaching, these

skills are highly needed to better understand the concept of the lesson and enable students to be

more inquisitive and exploratory in nature.

This study seeks to describe the relationship between the mastery level of science process

skills and academic performance in science of the Grade 8 students of Ayala National High

School. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the mastery level on science process skills of the Grade 8 students?

2. What is the relationship between the mastery level on science process skills and the

academic performance of the Grade 8 students?

3. How does the mastery level on science process skills affect the academic performance

of the Grade 8 students?

THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Theoretical Framework
 Conceptual Framework

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Basic Science Process Skills – the basic processes form the foundation for scientific

investigation. These are observing, classifying, communicating, measuring and using numbers,

predicting, making inferences, and using space-time relationship.

Integrated Science Process Skills – the integrated processes form the method of actual

scientific inquiry. These are identifying and controlling variables, making hypotheses,

interpreting data, defining operationally, and experimenting.

Academic Performance – the academic standing of the student in science. This can be obtained

from by getting the mean percentile score of the students at the end of the quarter.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

The study will only measure the mastery level of the students on science process skills

and its correlation to the student’s academic performance, regardless of gender, locality and
medium of instruction. The respondents are only three sections of grade 8 students handled by

the same teacher in Ayala National High School.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Most of the related studies focused on the respondents abroad and rare to have conducted

the same study in the Philippines. Since Philippines has different cultural orientation, educational

background and teachers are less likely exposed in science process skills, the mastery level of the

students on science process skills may directly affect their academic performance in science.

Most of the researches say that attaining higher mastery level on the science process skills will

surely help students succeed in an inquiry-based method of teaching-learning process in science.

REFERENCES

Ngoh, T.J. (2009) Mastery of the Science Process Skills

Raj, R.J. and Devi, S.N. (2014) ​Science Process Skills and Achievement in Science
among High School Students

Zeidan, A.H. and JAyosi, M.R. (2014) ​Science Process Skills and Attitudes toward
Science among Palestinian Secondary School Students​. Doi: 10.5430/wje.v5n1p13

Padilla, M.J. ​The Science Process Skills