Science Process Skills in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Biology Practical Examinations

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the science process skills included in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) biology practical examinations in Kenya for a period of 10 years (2002-2012). Ex-post facto design was adopted for the study. The content of KCSE Biology Practical Questions (KCSE-BPQ) for the period was analyzed based on 12 categories of science process skills and their descriptions. The data were analyzed descriptively using percentages. The five most common science process skills identified out of the 12 examined in the study are observation (32.24%), communicating (14.63%), inferring (13.13%), experimenting (12.21%) and interpreting data (11.94%). The results also revealed a high percentage of basic science process skills at 73.73% compared to the integrated science process skills at 26.27%. It is recommended that the Kenya National Examination Council should include more integrated science process skills into the KCSE biology practical examinations to enable the students to develop problem solving abilities and creativity which are important tools for biotechnology.