Factors affecting students' performance in chemistry at O'level in Kawempe Division, Kampala District

Abstract

The study sought to establish whether factors affect performance in Chemistry among `O` level students in Kawempe Division, Kampala District. The study was guided by three objectives namely; to establish whether (i) home background, (ii) school climate (iii) gender respectively affect said performance in Chemistry in the said schools. The study took a cross sectional research design, involving a sample of 241 respondents selected using simple random sampling from schools in Kawempe Division, to participate in the study by answering the self administered questionnaires. Graphs and percentages were to be used to represent the distribution of the respondents on the different questions. Pearson linear correlation co-efficient (r) and t-test were used to test the level of co-relation between the variables. The study findings showed that there was positive relationship between (i) home background and academic performance, school climate and academic performance and gender of students was not significantly related with performance in Chemistry. The researcher therefore concluded that when home background is good, students` academic performance is enhanced hence ensure that home background is improved through encouraging parents to make official visits and find out how their children are progressing; when school climate of a school is good, students` academic performance is also enhanced thus ensure that school climate, for instance class sizes, school premises and instructional materials are greatly improved and considered in all secondary schools if students` academic performance is to be enhanced. And it was concluded that gender of students was not significantly related with performance in Chemistry in Kawempe Division hence the need for school to inspire awareness of students on the worth of sciences especially chemistry to all students irrespective of their gender.