HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES AND PRACTICES ON TEACHING MOLE CONCEPT

Abstract

Mole concept is one of the challenging chemical concepts in the teaching and learning of chemistry. West African Examination Council (WAEC) Chemistry Chief Examiners for years, have been hammering on students’ difficulties in this concept at the senior high school level. This study, therefore, examined the practices of teachers on the perceived nature of the teaching and learning of mole concept. A concurrent triangulation mixed methods design was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from 32 chemistry teachers from four public schools in the Central Region. The teachers were selected through multistage sampling technique. Questionnaires, interviews, and observation checklist were used to collect data from the teachers. Data was analysed using percentages, means, standard deviations, and themes. The results showed that teachers have moderately positive perceptions of the nature of teaching mole concept, which are full of uncertainty and that, teachers barely practice that they profess to teach on mole concept. It is recommended, among other things, that Ministry of Education through Heads of senior high schools should monitor chemistry teachers to ensure that they effectively teach the concept to students by implementing their planned lessons. Article visualizations: