ASSESSMENT OF THE FUNCTIONALITY OF CHEMISTRY LABORATORY IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS ( EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Chemistry is one of the science subjects upon which technology break through is built and is the pivot on which the wheel of science relates. It is very important and helpful in fields such a medicine, agriculture, transport, housing, industries etc. life is made more meaningful with chemicals products such as drugs, cosmetics, parents, soap, fertilizer etc.
Laboratory activities as students learning experiences involve interaction with materials and/or with models in order to observe and understand the correction between science and the natural world. They are of valuable importance in science and chemical education (Hofstein&Lunetta; 1998). These activities have a potential to enhance students conceptual understanding development of some affective dimensions such as motivation and attitude with respect to science learning, scientific practical skills and problem solving (Bowen, 1999; Hofstein&Lunetta, 1982; Lazarowitz and Tamir, 1994).
Therefore, in laboratory environment, students are taught not only to design experiments and make observations but also develop more positive attitude towards learning. One of the affective dimensions of learning has a detrimental effect on students’ environment (Bowen, 1995; Ericson &Gardener, 1992; Keeves Morgenstern, 1992) students anxiety levels related to chemistry laboratory also a key role in their attitudes towards chemistry and their achievement in the laboratory. Students might give more importance and are interested in the issues related to safety and risks than chemistry learning (Hogstrom, Ottander&Benkert, 2010).
Furthermore, students need to be given sufficient time and opportunities for interactions and reflection in chemistry laboratory (Gun stone& Champagne, 1990). Using chemical materials and time effectively to complete on experiment are some issues about which students might have anxiety in chemistry laboratory (Essy, 2000). Hofstein and Lynnette (2004) argue those teachers’ expectations and assessment practices affect student about chemistry laboratory is likely to have a poor performance in carrying out laboratory activities. That is to say, chemistry laboratory anxiety has negative effects on students’ self- efficacy in performance in performance in chemistry laboratory (Kurbanoglu&Akin),-2010).
