Elementary School Students’ Conceptual Difficulties in the Subject of General Science: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

The current study is designed to explore the conceptual difficulties of elementary school students in the subject of general science. The current research was descriptive in nature. Data was collected through the survey method. A diagnostic test was made. For the development of the test, General Science Text Book for 8^thclass published by Punjab Text Book Board Lahore, edition 2020 was consulted.  A table of the specification was prepared and delimited to the first three levels of the cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy. The concept-based test consisted of 25 items with four options. Criteria of item analysis were determined, and every item was analyzed based on data. The 300 elementary students in Khanqah Sharif Bahawalpur district Punjab, was approached through simple random sampling. The results illuminated that 78% of concept-based items were difficult.  The chemistry-based concepts consisting of chemical reaction, properties of acids, and physics-based concepts including thermal contradiction, working of Iris, Radiation, ozone depletion, air pollutants were considered most difficult concepts to understand by elementary students.