School of Education (SEd.)

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https://dissertations.mak.ac.ug/handle/20.500.12281/40

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Browsing School of Education (SEd.) by Subject "Academic performance of biology"
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    Factors affecting the academic performance of biology students in UACE exams in government aided schools Rubaga Division, Kampala District, Uganda
    (Makerere university, 2024-10) Kawanguzi, Hassan ; Twinamatsiko, Grape ; Nabachwa, Mariam
    The study sought to Examine Factors Affecting the Academic Performance of Biology Students in UACE exams in Government-aided schools in Rubaga Division, Kampala District, Uganda. The objectives of the study were to; find out how the current Advanced-level curriculum affects students' academic performance in Biology, find out the effect of students‟ selfefficacy on their academic performance in Biology and find out how the quality of time offered by advanced-level Biology teachers affects students‟ academic performance. Researchers employed the cross-sectional survey research design since it was cheaper and less time-consuming and were able to collect data from different students at a particular time. The respondents were 48 Advanced level Biology students specifically from the senior six class, and 8 Biology teachers from the 4 selected government-aided schools in Rubaga division, Uganda making a total of 56 respondents sampled. The respondents were purposively selected targeting specific people basing on their knowledge and experience from the selected schools. The study employed interviews and focus group discussion guides as instruments for data collection. The collected data was qualitatively analyzed and the analysis was made on the Advanced level Biology curriculum and students‟ performance, Students‟ self-efficacy and their performance, and quality of time offered by Biology teachers and student performance. The study established that the advanced-level biology curriculum is too broad and cannot be completed in the two years of study, there is a mismatch between the UNEB examinations and the content as UNEB examines a narrow scope when setting biology papers, the biology teachers do not offer enough time to students for extra support due to their heavy workload. The study also established that the advanced-level students have inspiration, believe in themselves and have different strategies that will enable them to excel. From the findings, researchers concluded that the Advanced level Biology curriculum affects students‟ performance that is the teaching methods, number of lessons taught and UNEB assessment examinations format. It was also concluded that the quality of time offered by Biology teachers that is time allocated per paper and teacher availability affects learners‟ overall performance in Biology exams. Students‟ self-efficacy that is students‟ inspirations, expectations and strategies employed to achieve them also affects their performance in Biology exams. The researchers suggest various ways of improving students‟ performance in Biology exams which include; review of the Advanced level biology syllabus in terms of teaching methods and number of periods allocated to the subject, training teachers on how to integrate ICT and promotion of learner centered learning, enrolling and employing more Biology teachers by the schools so as to share the work load and to readily assist learners through extra time discussions and assessments and creating time for learners to research and get extra support and help from their teachers.