Performance-based assessment of pre-service teachers’ planning skills in selected topics in the chemistry curriculum for colleges of education in Ghana

This study examined the extent to which pre-service teachers in a Ghanaian college of education exhibit planning skills as a key science process skill, using performance-based assessment. Grounded in constructivist learning theory, inquiry-based science education, and authentic assessment, the study adopted a quantitative approach complemented with an alternative assessment strategy. The target population was level 300 pre-service teachers. A purposive sample of 227 level 300 pre-service teachers offering primary education participated in the study. Data were collected using three performance-based tasks designed from the general chemistry curriculum—distillation, density, and osmosis—implemented through a station-by-station assessment model. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the extent of planning skills exhibited, while independent samples t-tests examined gender differences. Results revealed that pre-service teachers demonstrated generally high levels of planning skills across all three tasks, particularly in identifying procedures, sequencing steps, and organising experimental activities. However, persistent weaknesses were observed in the integration of safety measures, measurement accuracy, and explicit conceptual justification. Inferential analysis showed no statistically significant gender differences in planning skills across the tasks. These findings suggest that planning skills develop equitably among male and female pre-service teachers when assessed through authentic, inquiry-oriented tasks. It is recommended that colleges of education explicitly integrate laboratory safety reasoning into the teaching and assessment of science process skills.