Science Process Skills in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Biology Practical Examinations

doi:10.4236/ce.2013.411101

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Creative Education

2013. Vol.4, No.11, 713-717

Published Online November 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2013.411101

Open Access 713

Science Process Skills in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary

Education Biology Practical Examinations

Richard Owino Ongow o*, Francis Chisakwa Indoshi

Department of E d u cational Communication, Technology and C u rriculum Studies,

Maseno University, Maseno, Kenya

Email: *[email protected]

Received September 10th, 2013; revised Octob er 10th, 2013; accepted October 17th, 2013

under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction

in any medium, provided th e o riginal work is properly cited.

The purpose of the study was to determine the science process skills included in the Kenya Certificate of

Secondary Education (KCSE) biology practical examinations in Kenya for a period of 10 years (2002-

2012). Ex-post facto design was adopted for the study. The content of KCSE Biology Practical Questions

(KCSE-BPQ) for the period was analyzed based on 12 categories of science process skills and their de-

scriptions. The data were analyzed descriptively using percentages. The five most common science proc-

ess skills identified out of the 12 examined in the study are observation (32.24%), communicating

(14.63%), inferring (13.13%), experimenting (12.21%) and interpreting data (11.94%). The results also

revealed a high percentage of basic science process skills at 73.73% compared to the integrated science

process skills at 26.27%. It is recommended that the Kenya National Examination Council should include

more integrated science process skills into the KCSE biology practical examinations to enable the stu-

dents to develop problem solving abilities and creativity which are important tools for biotechnology.

Keywords: Biology; Practical Examinations; Science Process Skills; Kenya

Introduction

The goal of science education is to enhance all students’ sci-

entific literacy; that is to help students grasp essential science

concepts, to understand the nature of science, to realize the

relevance of science and technology in their lives and to will-

ingly continue their science study in school or beyond school

(AAAS, 1993). The student-centered active learning process

within which the teacher is merely a guide is the focal point of

contemporary education systems. The active learning is a learn-

ing process in which the learner takes the responsibility of

learning and is given the opportunity to make decisions about

various dimensions of the leaning process and to perform self-

regulation. In an active learning process, learning is no longer a

standard process, but transforms into a personalized process

where process skills are developed (Akinoglu & Tandogan,

2007).

There are three important dimensions of science, viz: 1) con-

tent of science, the basic concepts and scientific knowledge 2)

the process of doing science and 3) scientific attitudes (Opateye,

2012). One of the domains critical for the development of sci-

entific literacy is science process skills. It is natural for science

process skills to be learnt since when learners interact with the

world in a scientific way, they find themselves using process

skills (AAAS, 1993). Understanding of the world around indi-

viduals depends on the development of concepts. The devel-

opment of concepts depends on the process skills. The concepts

and process skills are interrelated. As concepts gradually be-

come sophisticated, process skills need to be refined and ex-

tended. The implication is that the goal of any science teacher

should be to foster the development of science process skills.

The application of these science process skills allows the stu-

dents to investigate important issues in the world around them.

The term science process skills refer to a set of broadly trans-

ferable abilities appropriate to many science disciplines and

reflective of the behavior of scientists (Padilla, 1990). Accord-

ing to Nwosu and Okeke (1995), science process skills are

mental and physical abilities and competencies which serve as

tools needed for the effective study of science and technology

as well as problem solving and individual societal development.

Akinbobola and Afolabi (2010) view science process skills as

cognitive and psychomotor skills employed in problem solving,

problem identification, data gathering, transformation, inter-

pretation and communication.

According to Ozgelen (2012), science process skills are

thinking skills that scientists use to construct knowledge in

order to solve problems and formulate results. Implicit in these

definitions of science process skills is that these skills are inte-

gral and natural to a scientist; they are instruments for the study

and generation of scientific knowledge; science learning and

development of science process skills are integrated activities.

Categories of Science Process Skills

The commission on science education of the American As-

sociation for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) launched a

program named Science A Process Approach (SAPA), which

emphasized the laboratory method of instruction and learning

of scientific processes by children. SAPA grouped process

*Corresponding author.

R. O. ONGOWO, F. C. INDOSHI

skills into two types—basic and integrated (AAAS, 1993).

According to Rambuda and Fraser (2004), the basic science

process skills apply specifically to foundational cognitive func-

tioning in especially elementary grades. They represent the

foundation of scientific reasoning learners are required to mas-

ter before acquiring and mastering the advanced integrated

science process skills (Brotherton & Preece, 1995). Funk et al.

(Cited in Rambuda & Fraser, 2004), maintain that basic science

process skills are interdependent, implying that investigators

may display and apply more than one of the skills in any single

activity. For instance to measure the area of a habitat, the biol-

ogy student may start by observing the habitat, then measure

the dimensions and communicate the same using a symbol.

Thereafter the student may calculate the area. In this scenario,

the student was involved in the skill of observing, measuring

and calculating. The basic science process skills include ob-

serving, inferring, measuring, communicating, classifying and

predicting (Padilla, 1990). From this, it appears the basic sci-

ence process skills provide an intellectual groundwork in prob-

lem solving.

According to Rambuda and Fraser (2004) integrated science

process skills are the immediate skills used in problem solving

or doing science experiments. As the term integrated implies,

learners are called upon to combine basic science process skills

for greater expertise and flexibility to design the tools they

apply when they study or investigate phenomena. The inte-

grated skills include controlling variables, defining operation-

ally, formulating hypotheses, interpreting data, experimenting,

and formulating models.

The Rationale for the Process Approach

According to Harlen (1999) and Sevilay (2011), the mastery

of science process skills enables students to conceptualize at a

much deeper level, the content they do know and equips them

for acquiring content knowledge in the future. Content knowl-

edge is acquired more efficiently and understood at a deeper

level when obtained through inquiry using science process

skills. The science curriculum that emphasizes science process

skills will be able to help students to improve the skills in criti-

cal thinking, creative thinking and decision making. These

skills can be transferred to other disciplines (Meador, 2003;

Halim and Meerah, 2012). According to Brotherton and Preece

(1996) and Sevilay (2011), the basic science process skills

helps in providing the intellectual groundwork in scientific

inquiry such as ability to order and describe natural objects and

events. The ability to apply basic science process skills is at-

tributed to the ability to perform empirical inductive reasoning

or piagetian concrete operational reasoning. Sevilay (2011),

holds that the integrated science process skills are the terminal

skills for solving problems or doing science experiments. The

ability to carry out integrated science process skills are attrib-

uted to hypothetico-deductive reasoning. Sevilay (2011), con-

tinues to hold that science process skills help the students to

develop a sense of responsibility in their own learning, increase

permanency of learning as well as teach them research methods.

According to Opateye (2012) and Okere (1997), science proc-

ess skills are helpful on the development of favorable scientific

attitudes and a disposition in the learners. These include being

curious and imaginative, including enthusiasm about inquisi-

tiveness.

Science Process Skills and Inquiry Approach

Science curricula around the world emphasize the philosophy

of inquiry in science teaching. In the context of science, inquiry

refers to the abilities students should develop to be able to de-

sign and conduct scientific investigations. In the context of

instruction, inquiry refers to the teaching and learning strategies

that enable concepts to be mastered through investigation and

practical work (National Research Council [NRC], 2000). Ac-

cording to Gagne (1963), scientific inquiry is constituted by a

set of activities characterized by problem solving approach in

which a newly encountered phenomenon becomes a challenge

for thinking. Such thinking begins with a careful set of system-

atic observations, proceeds to design of measurements required,

clear distinction between what is observed and what is under

ideal circumstances, brilliant leaps but always testable and

drawing reasonable conclusions. Brickman et al. (2009) ob-

serve that in sciences, inquiry based learning increases literacy

and skill development.

According to Maundu, Sambili and Muthwii (2005), in the

inquiry approach, learning is by discovery and is characterized

by the development of science process skills. Uno and Bybee

(cited in Brickman et al., 2009) hold that inquiry is a laboratory

inquiry in which the instructor leads the students to discover a

specific concept after being prompted by a basic question or

problem. Kim (2007), posits that inquiry based teaching that

engages students in various hands on activities in the science

laboratory is likely to enhance science process skills. Implicit in

these arguments is that science process skills are encompassed

in the conduct of scientific inquiry and these skills are devel-

oped in the laboratory practical situations.

In the Kenyan context, the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE)

reorganized and rationalized the current biology curriculum

with a strong recommendation for the employment of inquiry

approach to teach biology concepts and the development of

science process skills and problem solving abilities as some of

the broad objectives (KIE, 2002). According to sevilay (2011),

students can acquire the science process skills by participating

in inquiry in the science laboratory. Ango and Gyuse (Cited in

Ango, 2002), argue that practical work engenders not only the

science process skills appropriate for scientific inquiry but also

inculcates attitudes and conceptual perspectives which are nec-

essary for skilled scientific inquiry. The inquiry approach to

teaching can only be enhanced through the application of sci-

ence process skills.

The biology practical skills are science process skills. They

are taught as part of the biology curriculum. These skills can be

acquired and developed through activities involved in the biol-

ogy practical sessions. According to Maundu, Sambili and

Muthwii (2005), one of the ways of assessing the objectives of

teaching biology is through practical work. In practical work,

an opportunity is provided for testing application of scientific

procedures, manipulative abilities as well as scientific skills.

The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) makes

use of practical examinations to test students’ acquisition of

various biology practical skills which in essence are science

process skills. In these examinations, students are required to

carry out biology practical activities following some given in-

structions. The performance of students in the Kenya National

Examinations Council in Biology practical examinations has

been below average. For instance in the years 2008, 2009 and

2010 the students scored means of 17.30, 15.86 and 18.42 re-

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R. O. ONGOWO, F. C. INDOSHI

spectively out of 40 (KNEC, 2011). The scores that students

obtain from their practical exams are indirect reflections of the

process skills they could display during the practical examina-

tion. At the same time, the final score that a candidate scores in

biology is contribution of both the theory examination and the

practical examination scores. According to Afolabi and Akin-

bobola (2010), the practical assessment score of a student is a

reflection of the teaching approach that a teacher employed

during the learning situation especially the process approach.

Problem and Purpose of the Study

The science process skills are practical skills important in the

construction of scientific knowledge especially biological

knowledge at secondary school level in Kenya. However, for a

long time, no analysis has been done on the KCSE biology

practical examinations to determine the science process skills

present. There is therefore need to investigate the level of test-

ing of the science process skills and also to identify the science

process skills inherent in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Edu-

cation (KCSE) biology practical examinations and classify

them to their various categories. The purpose of the study was

to determine the science process skills included in the Kenya

Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) biology practical

examinations in Kenya for a period of 10 years.

Objectives of the Study

The study was guided by the following objectives:

• To determine the science process skills included in the

KCSE biology practical examinations in Kenya.

• To compare the basic and integrated process skills included

in the KCSE biology practical examinations in Kenya.

Research Questions

The study sought to provide answers to the following ques-

tions:

• What are the prominent science process skills in the KCSE

biology practical examinations i n Kenya?

• What are the percentages of basic and integrated process

skills included in the KCSE biology practical examinations

in Kenya?

Method

The design adopted for the study was an ex-post facto design.

The instrume nt used for the study was the Ke nya Certificate of

Secondary Education Biology Practical Questions (KCSE-BPQ)

across the years 2002-2012. The researchers and three biology

teachers collected the biology practical papers for the 10 year

period and identified all the basic and integrated process skills

for each year independently based on the descriptions of the

categories of science process skills in Table 1. Thereafter, the

researchers and the biology teachers discussed and agreed in

cases where differences in the numbers of the process skills

existed.

The study adopted the categorization of science process skills

according to American Association for the Advancement of

Science (AAAS, 1993). According to this categorization, the

basic science process skills comprise of Inferring, observing,

measuring, communicating, classifying, predicting. The inte-

grated science process skills comprised of controlling variables,

Table 1.

Basic and integrated science process skills.

Basic process skills Description

Observing Use of five senses to derive characteristics

of living organisms

Inferring Explanation of observations and data

Measuring Using standard and non-standard measures

to describe dimensions

Communicating Using words or symbols to describe an

action, object or event

Classifying Sorting, grouping and arranging b ased

similarities and differ ences

Predicting Stating the outcome of a future event based

on a pattern of evidence

Integrated Process skillsDescription

Controlling variables Identifying variables, keeping variables

constant and manipulatin g

Defining operationally Stating how to measure a variable in an

experiment

Formulating hypotheses Stating the expected outcome of an

experiment

Interpreting d ata Organizing , conclu di ng from data and

making sens e of data

Experimenting Testing by fo llowing procedures to

produce verifiable results

Formulating models Creating a mental or physic al model

of a process or event;

defining operationally, formulating variables, interpreting data,

experimenting and formulating models. The data were collected

using simple percentages. Each of the basic and integrated

process skills are briefly described in Table 1.

Results and Discussion

Research Question 1: What are the most common science

process skills in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education

biology practical examinations i n Kenya?

From the analysis shown in Tables 2 and 3, out of 330 proc-

ess skills identified within the period of 10 years (2002-2012)

in the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) biology

practical examinations, the most common science process skills

are Observation with a total frequency of 108 (32.24%), Com-

municating with a frequency of 49 (14.63%), Inferring with a

frequency of 44 (13.13%), Experimenting with a frequency of

41 (12.21%) and Interpreting data with a frequency of 40

(11.94%). This implies that out of the 12 process skills ana-

lyzed in this study, experimenting and interpreting data are the

most common integrated science process skills. On the other

hand, observation, communicating and inferring are the most

common basic science process skills. The implication is that 5

out the 12 science process skills are more common within the

years under study in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Educa-

tion biology practical examinations.

Research Question 2: what are the percentages of the basic

and integrated science process skills included in the Kenya

Certificate of Secondary Education biology practical examina-

tions?

The analysis is as shown in ables 2 and 3. The analysis T

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R. O. ONGOWO, F. C. INDOSHI

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Table 2.

Basic science process skills in the KCSE biology practical examinations from 2002-2012.

Basic Science Process Skills

Year Infer Obs Meas Comm Class Predic Total

2002 7 12 3 3 3 0 28 (8.36)

2003 8 10 5 6 2 2 33 (9.85)

2004 9 15 0 5 1 0 30 (8.95)

2005 7 14 1 5 6 0 33 (9.85)

2006 3 4 0 2 1 0 10 (2.99)

2007 3 8 0 2 3 0 16 (4.78)

2008 1 7 2 5 0 0 15 (4.48)

2009 3 9 0 7 3 0 21 (6.27)

2010 0 12 0 3 0 0 15 (4.48)

2011 0 8 1 8 1 0 13 (3.88)

2012 3 9 10 3 1 1 27 (8.06)

Total 44 (13.13) 108 (32.24) 22 (6.57) 49 (14.63) 21 (6.27) 3 (0.89) 247 (73.73 )

Note: *The figures in brackets are percentages KEY: Infer = Inferring, Obs = Observing, Meas = Measuring, Comm = Communicating, Predic = Predicting.

Table 3.

Integrated science process skills in the KCSE biology practical examinations from 2002-2012.

Integrated Science Process Skills

Year Cont. Var Def. Oper Form. Hyp Int. Dat Expt Form. Mod Total

2002 0 0 0 2 5 0 7 (2.09)

2003 0 1 1 0 6 0 8 (2.38)

2004 0 0 0 6 4 0 10 (2.98)

2005 0 0 0 9 6 0 15 (4.48)

2006 1 0 0 3 1 0 4 (1.19)

2007 1 0 0 2 3 0 6 (1.79)

2008 0 0 0 3 3 0 6 (1.79)

2009 3 0 0 3 2 0 8 (2.38)

2010 1 0 0 4 4 0 9 (2.68)

2011 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 (2.13)

2012 0 0 0 3 7 0 10 (2.98)

Total 6 (1. 79) 1 (0.30) 1 (0.30) 40 (11.94) 41 (12.24) 0 (0.00) 88 (26.27)

Note: *The figures in brack ets are percentages KEY: Cont. Var = Controll ing variables, Def. Oper = Defining Operationally, Form. Hyp = Formulating Hypotheses, Inte.

Dat = Interpreting Data, Expt = Experimenting, Form. Mod = Formulating models.

shows that among the basic science process skills identified in

this study, observation was rated highest with a frequency of

108 (32.24%), seconded by communication with a frequency of

49 (14.63%), and followed by inferring at a frequency of 44

(13.13%). Other basic process skills were rated very low. These

are Measuring at a frequency of 22 (6.57%), Classification at a

frequency of 21 (6.27%) and Prediction is the lowest at 3

(0.89%). From Tables 2 and 3, among the integrated science

process skills identified in this study, experimenting was rated

highest with a frequency of 41 (12.21%), followed by inter-

preting data at a frequency 40 (11.94%), controlling variables at

6 (1.79%). Other process skills were very low in frequency or

not tested during the period under review. These are defining

operationally, formulating hypotheses and formulating models.

From the results in the above tables, there were more basic

science process skills than the integrated science process skills

in the years under investigation. Of the basic science process

skills the skill of observation was the most emphasized. The

skill of observation is the most basic skill in science and is

subsumed in all the integrated science process skills. The inte-

grated science process skill that was most common was the

skill of experimenting which was tested in almost equal meas-

ure with the skill of interpreting data. The most probable ex-

planation is that for every experimental data gathered, and there

is need for interpretation.

The findings of this study are similar to those of Afolabi and

Akinbobola (2010) and Nwosu (1994). These studies revealed

that more basic science process skills are tested than the inte-

grated science process skills in national examinations. The

reason for overemphasis on the basic skills could be due to the

fact that these skills are easily learnt and transferable to novel

situations unlike the integrated ones that require a series of

consistent, multiple practical sessions. At the same time, the

integrated science process skills require higher order cognitive

abilities which might have not developed well or have not been

allowed to grow in the learning environments.

R. O. ONGOWO, F. C. INDOSHI

Conclusion

The five most common science process skills identified out

of twelve examined in this study are observation (32.24%),

communicating (14.63%), inferring (13.13%), experimenting

(12.21%) and interpreting data (11.94%). Out of these, the only

integrated science process skills are experimenting and inter-

preting data. The results also indicate a high percentage of basic

science process skill at 73.73% compared to the integrated sci-

ence process skills at 26.27%. The results indicate that there

was a significantly higher percentage of basic science process

skills than the integrated science process skills in the Kenya

Certificate of Secondary Education biology practical examina-

tions within the years 2002 to 2012.

Implications of the Study

The study has implications for practice and further research.

The findings of this study have indicated that in the years con-

sidered, more basic science process skills were tested than inte-

grated science process skills. In this state of affairs, there is a

likelihood that integrated science process skills are not being

emphasized in the teaching and learning process. By extension

this means that the learners graduate that from grade 12 in the

Kenyan system may not be in a position to participate effec-

tively in activities requiring problem solving skills which are

developed from the acquisition of integrated science process

skills.

The implication of this study is that there is a need to make

deliberate efforts to develop the integrated science process

skills during the teaching/learning process and thereafter test

them in the biology national examinations. There is a need to

determine from a point of study the extent of mastery of inte-

grated science process skills among the secondary school stu-

dents.

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