Student's perceived science inquiry process skills in relation to school type and gender

Seventeen years after the end of the Liberian civil war, which is partly blamed for the waning of the standard of education, the country is still grappling with providing a competency-based science educational experience that will enhance the science inquiry process skills of its youth. In this paper we used the constructivist theoretical perspective to compare the science inquiry process skills of Grade 11 students in government and private schools. The study employed a descriptive survey design and the quantitative research method. Six high schools were selected by cluster random sampling, and a total of 360 students constituted the study sample. This study found that government school students have significantly higher perceived science inquiry process skills than their private school counterparts and that an average of 42% of private school students cannot demonstrate any skills related to experimental design, data representation, communication and presentation. Male students indicated having significantly higher science inquiry process skills compared to their female counterparts. However, a varying majority across study groups practise the science inquiry process skills occasionally.