Abstract

• The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-concept and science achievement of high school students. Then, to investigate whether there would be significant differences between gender, school and district on Grade 10 students’ self-concept and science achievement were next interest. Descriptive survey research method and quantitative data analysis were used in this study. As a research instruments, Self-Concept Inventory (SCI) developed by Fleming (2007) was applied. Self-Concept Inventory (SCI) consisted of eight subscales with 61 items of 5-point Likert scale. The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha) of self-concept was 0.882. The data used to represent the science achievement of participants were the results of Grade 10 students’ first semester test scores including three science subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Biology). This test was held in October, 2015. A total of 820 Grade 10 students from four Government Schools and eight Private Schools in four districts of Yangon Region participated in this study. The data collection was completed in the second week of January, 2016. In the analysis of data, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, Post Hoc test and one-way ANOVA were used in this study. The result of this study revealed that significant differences in science achievement were found with respect to gender, school and district. The finding revealed that there was positive relationship between students’ self-concept and science achievement. It could be concluded that the higher the students’ self-concept, the higher his or her science achievement. This result generally supported the “reciprocal effect” model concerning the relation between self-concept and science achievement. Students’ self-concept was the best predictor for their science achievement.