Attitudes and Academic Performance of Maritime Education Students Enrolled in General Chemistry at Siquijor State College

Abstract

The study was conducted to find some solutions to the perennial problem of the maritime education program of Siquijor State College, the incomplete and failing marks of the Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation (BSMT) and Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering (BSMarE) students in general chemistry, despite the efforts undertaken by the department. It seeks to find out the (a) significant difference between students’ grades on the subject with their profile (age, course they enrolled and section); (b) significant difference between the respondents’ attitudes towards general chemistry in the six dimensions (interest in the subject, importance, chemistry teacher, difficulty of the subject, experiments, and laboratory equipment and facilities) and their profile; and (c) relationship between the respondents’ performance in general chemistry and their attitudes towards the subject. Random sampling was used, and data were treated using percentage, weighted mean, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson product moment correlation. There is a significant difference between student’s grades, in general, chemistry and their age and section while course they enrolled was not significant. The attitudes of the students in chemistry vary significantly with their age, course, and section. There is a weak positive correlation between grades and attitudes towards chemistry particularly with laboratory equipment, teacher, importance of the chemistry subject, laboratory experiments, the difficulty of the subject and interest in the subject. To improve students’ performance, in general, chemistry the teacher can consider the following: identify the type of learners and vary teaching strategies suited for in every class; know the IQ level of the students per section, and connect theories in lectures to actual laboratory performance of experiments using different apparatus and equipment. The basis for sectioning (the students’ IQ level) of the department may also be retained to have a homogeneous grouping. Keywords-Performance in Chemistry, attitudes towards Chemistry maritime education, Siquijor State College, Philippines