A study of the relationship between the acquisition of science process skills and problem solving ability among primary school pupils in urban and rural setting in Kenya.

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the relationship bet ween the acquisition of science process skills and problem solving ability among standard seven pupils in a rural and an urban environment(Nyakach division of Kisumu district and Nairobi Province). The subjects involved in the study were 528 pupils _ 279 boys and 249 girls. A science process skill teat and a problem solving test designed to measure the acquisition of science process skills and problem solving ability respectively, were administered to these subjects. It was found that a high and positive relationship (r=O.89) existed between the acquisition of science process skills and problem solving ability. It was also observed that urban pupils performed better than rural pupils in both tests. Another observation made was that boys did better than girls in both tests. It was interesting to note that pupils of relatively better educated parents obtained significantly higher scores in both tests than those from less educated parents. The findings of this study indicate the ,need for more use of inquiry method of teaching , especially in the rural areas, and an improved professional input from the area Teacher 'Advisory Center (TAC) Tutors in order to improve the quality of science instruction and have better development of science process skills and problem solving ability among our Kenyan primary school pupils.