Factors Affecting the Achievement of Twelve-Year Basic Students in Mathematics and Science in Rwanda

Abstract

Although there is an invaluable growth of science and technology across the world, many young people appear to lose interest in Mathematics and science-related subjects due to poor academic achievement caused by different factors. The factors affecting students' achievement in science subjects among sub-Saharan Africa countries,including Rwanda, have been an issue for stakeholders on investigating how to improve the teaching and learning of science in basic education. In this study, a purposive cluster sampling of 261 participants, including 210 students, 23 teachers, seven head teachers, seven Sector Education Inspectors (SEIs), and 14 parents were used. Data were collected through a questionnaire addressed to learners; analyzed using SPSS via descriptive statistics. An interview was conducted with students' representatives, teachers, head teachers,Sector Education Inspectors, and focus group discussion with 14 parents which was analyzed using content analysis. The analysis indicated that key factors of low performance in science subjects include the level of teachers' education; family's economic background; availability of teaching and learning materials; distance covered by learners from home to school; learner's prior knowledge; and level of parents'education and absenteeism of learners. Thus, the above seem to affect the academic achievement of students in the advanced level of Twelve-Year Basic Education in Rwanda. Views about how to improve learning achievements in science such as equipping the laboratories, constructing more 12YBE schools in various areas to curb the problem of long distances covered by learners to and from school, training teachers on innovative teaching methods were suggested. The results informed that in-service teachers' training and parental involvement should be encouraged to track and sustain learners’ learning.

Effect of Task-Based Learning on Students’ Understanding of Chemical Reactions Among Selected Rwandan Lower Secondary School Students

“…This idea is opposed to that of normal group work in which only talented students in the group are conducting the activities while others remain unresponsive and lose interest in the learning process. To them, the learned content becomes more complex as they have not been involved in the construction of knowledge (Byusa et al, 2020;Sibomana et al, 2021). TBL method was therefore found to improve the understanding level of students in chemical reactions in the present study.…”

“…Despite the worldwide known application of chemistry, studies have revealed the learning difficulties of some basic chemistry concepts at the school level (Gongden et al, 2011;Lati et al, 2012;Supasorn & Waengchin, 2014). Among the reasons given includes poor teaching methodologies used by secondary school teachers (Sibomana et al, 2021).…”

“…To this end, many studies have been conducted on different educational methods' effects on learning outcomes (Maxwell et al, 2015). Nevertheless, the existing literature indicates the persistence of students' low academic achievement in chemistry (Sibomana et al, 2021). Therefore, today's teaching and learning strategies that empower students with developed mental abilities, creativity, and innovation needed to boost the essential competencies must be emphasized.…”

“…Being optional to teachers, better instructional methods, properly used, lead to better understanding. Surprisingly, in most cases, teachers are still using inadequate teaching methods that invariably translate to students' low achievement (Byusa et al, 2020;Musengimana et al, 2021a;Sibomana et al, 2021). Research indicated that student achievement in science learning improves dramatically if students are active participants in constructing their knowledge (Freeman et al, 2014;Theobald et al, 2020).…”

Enhancing students’ achievement in biology using inquiry-based learning in Rwanda

“…Despite these efforts, studies revealed that teachers in Rwandan secondary schools did not well implement competence based curriculum and still use inappropriate teaching approaches that did not reflect learncentered method [12], [13]. This has a negative impact on students' achievement due to the lack of desired knowledge, skills, values and attitudes [8], [14].…”