Relationship of Some Variables in Predicting Pre-Service Teachers’ Problem Solving Performance in Chemistry

The study examines the extent to which the relationship between pre-service Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) teachers’ academic level, college specialization and gender could predict their problem solving performance in chemistry. The sample for the study involved two hundred and four, 200 and 300 level, chemistry major and non major pre service teachers drawn from eight colleges of education of Plateau and Six states of Northeast Nigeria. Three instruments were developed and used for data collection. Namely, chemistry problem-solving test (CPST); chemistry achievement test (CAT) and mathematics skill test (MST). Data were analysed using one-way ANOVA, ttest and multiple regression. The results showed that, based on academic level and college specialization, there was a significant difference between the mean problem solving performances of the pre-service teachers at 0.05 α-level. However, there was no significant difference between the mean performance of male and female pre-service teachers. Academic level, college specialization, and gender taken together significantly predict pre-service teacher’s problem solving performance. Among these three independent variables, academic level contributed most in the prediction.