Learning strategies and difficulties in Science as perceived by Grade 8 students

Abstract

This study was conducted at Mambusao National High School, Tumalalud, Mambusao, Capiz, on November 28, 2018 and was limited only to the learning strategies and difficulties encountered in Science as perceived by Grade 8 students. More specifically, it aimed to determine the profile that can be drawn from the respondents in terms of their personal related variables such as sex, class section and class schedule, the preferred learning strategies that the learners used to effectively learn science, and the level of difficulties in science as a whole and in terms of the following areas; earth science, biology, chemistry and physics and when grouped according to sex, class section and class schedule of the respondents. The respondents of the study were 170 randomly selected Grade 8 students of Mambusao National High School enrolled during the A.Y. 2017-2018. The researchers made use of questionnaires as an instrument for gathering data. This study was purely descriptive; frequency distribution, mean, ranks and percentage were the statistical tool used in the study. The profile of the respondents were stated in terms of sex, class section and class schedule. Majority of the respondents were female who perceived Science as moderately difficult subject and some were male who perceived the subject as difficult. Most of the respondents came from class sections Onyx with the class schedule from 2:00-3:00 pm. Among all the Learning Strategies, they preferred “Taking down notes” and the least preferred learning strategies is “Concept Mapping”. Moreover, on the level of difficulties in science in terms of the average grade, majority of the respondents perceived that science is a very difficult subject, and on the level of difficulties of the students in terms of the four areas in science, the result showed that all areas in science were difficult to learn.