The perceptions of senior high school students and teachers about organic chemistry: A Ghanaian perspective

The purpose of the study was to determine the perceptions that senior high school (SHS) chemistry students, and teachers have about organic chemistry as well as to compare organic chemistry topics that are difficult for students and teachers. Simple random sampling (lottery) and purposive sampling methods were used to select a sample of 100 SHS students who studied elective chemistry and ten chemistry teachers. The research instruments used to collect data for this study were the “organic chemistry perceptions questionnaire for students” and “organic chemistry perceptions questionnaire for teachers.” Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) were used to analyze the data collected. The findings revealed that these SHS students have a fairly positive perception of organic chemistry while their teachers had a highly positive perception of organic chemistry. Preparation and chemical reactions of alkenes, preparation and chemical reactions of alkynes, structure and stability of benzene, reactions of benzene, comparison of reactions of benzene and alkenes, petroleum, polymers and naming of alkanes, and structural isomerism were perceived by students as difficult to understand. The rest of the Ghanaian SHS organic chemistry topics (26 out of 34 topics) were perceived as easy to understand by students. Furthermore, the teachers perceived all the SHS organic chemistry topics as easy to teach with the exception of reactions of benzene. The insights gained about teachers’ and students’ perceived difficult organic chemistry topics in this study imply that teachers’ perceptions and how these are communicated to students can have significant effects on learning. The authors believe that both teachers and learners could benefit from this increased awareness of perceptions about difficulties in teaching and learning organic chemistry. They therefore suggest that further studies into how teachers’ perceptions influence their teaching and consequently their students’ experiences are carried out. In addition, in future research, a diagnostic test based on the topics in the SHS organic chemistry syllabus could be added to ascertain whether the perceived difficult topics are actually difficult for students to answer questions on. This would help teachers to separate perceived difficulties from the actual difficulties (realities) and be able to address them in their lessons.