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TABLE OF CONTENT
Title --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------i
Declaration------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ii
Table of Content-----------------------------------------------------------------------------iii
List of figures---------------------------------------------------------------------------------vi
List of tables----------------------------------------------------------------------------------vi
Acronyms and Abbreviation---------------------------------------------------------------vii
Abstract--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------viii
2.1 Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------19
3.1 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------31
3.6.1 Questionnaire-----------------------------------------------------------------34
3.7.1 Validity------------------------------------------------------------------------36
3.7.2 Reliability---------------------------------------------------------------------36
BIBLIOGRAPHY--------------------------------------------------------------------------40
Appendices-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------44
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.2: KCSE- Science analysis for the year 2009-2012, Nationally ....6
ABSTRACT
Educational reforms and development have been the objectives of the government since
independence. This includes provision of quality education which lead to both economic
and social development. Despite the government efforts on education and especially
achievement on sciences and intervention measures, achievement in chemistry has for
many years remained poor. The statement of the problem of this study is to establish
determinants of students achievement in Chemistry despite concerted efforts by
stakeholders to provide resources and other components aimed at enhancing its
achievement. The objectives of this study are to find out students perception towards
chemistry achievement, to establish whether teacher qualification and experience affect
achievement of chemistry in secondary school, identify the availability of ICT facilities
and other teaching and learning resources in secondary schools and if their use influence
achievement of chemistry and finally identify strategies used by teachers and learners to
enhance achievement in chemistry in Mwala District. The study is based on production
function theory where combination of inputs like students factors, teacher factors and
school environment interact through teaching and learning process to produce output in
form of learners achievement. The study has reviewed performance of students in
chemistry and other subjects within the country, in Africa and outside Africa. The study
will adopt descriptive survey design and also will use an ex-post facto design. The location
of this study is at Mwala District in Machakos County, Kenya, where students
achievement in chemistry has been low for repeated number of years. The study population
is school Principal, chemistry teachers and form3 students taking chemistry subject. The
study will constitute a sample size of 25 Principals, 25 Chemistry teachers and 250 Form
3 students to give a total of 300 respondents. The study will adopt stratified sampling to
select the public schools to be included in the sample. Proportional allocation of sample
size of the public schools in each stratum will be used. This study will use questionnaires
to collect data from the respondents in order to obtain the feedback for the purpose of
coming up study findings for generalization.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
For many years, since independence, education has been identified as one of the key factor
population growth, long life, better health outcomes, low crime rates etc in Kenya and
many other parts of the world. Harbison (1973) argues that the wealth of nations depend
on their capacity to develop their human resources and not so much on their physical
resources.
He argues that a country which is unable to develop skills and knowledge of its
people and utilize them effectively in the national economy will be unable to
develop anything else.
prosperity, the key to scientific and technological advancement, the means to combat
Glennerster et al (2011) noted that education is widely seen as one of the most promising
paths of individuals to realize better and more productive lives and as one of the primary
It is against this backdrop that education reforms and development have been long the
standing objectives of the Government of Kenya (GoK) since it gained its independence in
1963. Although the causal relationship between schooling and development in Kenya is
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conclude that access to and provision of quality education leads to both economic and
social development. It is in this regard that the GoK has continued to invest heavily in
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased from 5.1% in 1980/1981 to 15% in
2008/2009. Compared to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with similar GDP per
capita, Kenya spends considerable more funds on education in relation to its Government
expenditure and Gross National Product (GNP). The percentage of government spending
Kenya
Pre-primary Education 0
Primary Education 55
Secondary Education 27
Tertiary Education 16
Others 2
From the above table, the percentage of funds is majorly allocated at primary and secondary
level of education. Such allocation should translate to greater output at these levels of
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education. One way to reflect this is through students achievement in their examination.
If this is not reflected, then the funds allocated towards education at primary and secondary
In appreciating the global importance of scientific literacy, the Kenya government linked
envisages the attainment of Vision 2030 by primarily equipping learners with scientific
knowledge and process skills for industrial and technological development which is one of
the national goals of education. It is hoped that the attainment of this knowledge and
process skills will propel the country to achieve Vision 2030 hence make it technologically
more competitive on the international markets. However, sound science teaching that
would lead to acquisition of process skills and scientific knowledge requires an appropriate
With regard to the curriculum, the 8-4-4 science curriculum in Kenya stipulates in
secondary school, science is compulsory up to form two for all students after which
students select at least two science subjects as they proceed to form three regardless of the
focus of specialization (KIE, 2005). Therefore one must do a science subject which makes
it compulsory. The curriculum further recommends the allocation of a double lesson every
week for laboratory based activities for every science subject so as to enable learners
develop scientific process skills. This is based on the belief that frequent laboratory use
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will not only enable learners acquire scientific process skills but also foster the
More importantly, the Ministry of Education, (MoE) has identified the science laboratory
as critical in the teaching of science since its use enhances the achievements of the national
as to create an environment conducive for effective science teaching and learning (Waititu
Besides providing physical resources, the Government has also instituted in-service
schools (SMASSE) (Nui & Wahome, 2006; Waititu & Orado, 2009). The INSET is based
on a baseline survey that showed that there was need to change the teachers attitudes
towards the teaching of science, equip them with appropriate teaching methodologies and
boost their content knowledge. It was hoped that by focusing on these three aspects, the
teachers would be able to manipulate the science teaching environment (classroom and
to make teachers embrace hands on and minds on teaching approaches (Nui &
Wahome, 2006). These are approaches that require learners to actively participate in
learning activities. Such teaching approaches will inherently require the use of the science
laboratory.
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The Government of Kenya has also adopted a national ICT policy in January 2006. This
was after many failed attempt in preceding years (Waema, 2006; Kariuki, 2009). The
The GoK, through MoE plays a coordinating, overseer and mobilization role in bringing
together key stakeholders in the ICT in education sector. (Farrel, 2007) A numbers of
initiatives have delivered ICT infrastructure to schools, mainly secondary level. These
agencies and the private sector. (Farrel, 2007) Notable among these are EMIS, Computer
Other initiative by the government was bringing the Kenya Economic Stimulus Program
(ESP) to boost economic growth. This was after the Kenyan economy being led into a
recession situation brought about by economic slowdown after 2007/2008 post election
violence which led to decline in economic growth rate from 7.1% in 2007 to 1.7% in 2009.
The total budget allocated amounted to 22 Billion Kenyan shillings going towards the
construction of schools, horticultural markets and health sector among others in all the 210
10500 primary school teachers and 2100 secondary school teacher among other things.
These interventions and efforts by government are all meant to ensure that science students
achieve the requisite scientific knowledge and process skills that they will harness to build
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that science education has been accorded a prime position worldwide. Within the context
of science education, Chemistry has been identified as a very important science subject and
its importance in scientific and technological development of any nation has been widely
reported. It was as a result of the recognition given to Chemistry in the development of the
individual and the nation that it was made a core subject among the natural sciences and
other science related courses in Nigerian education system. It has been a pre-requisite
subject for offering most science oriented courses in the tertiary institution and this calls
Chemistry teaching is supposed to be result oriented and students centred, and this can only
be achieved when students are willing and the teachers are favourably disposed, using the
appropriate methods and resources in teaching the students. Students need to be actively
involved in the learning process in which they are continuously equipping, testing,
speculating and building their own personal construct and knowledge. It is only by
personalizing such knowledge that it becomes valid, meaningful and useful to them. In
chemistry, students need to actively construct their own personal awareness and meaning.
Despite the prime position chemistry occupies in our educational system and the efforts
sciences in general are still low. This is clearly seen from candidates continued poor
YEAR
The table 1.2 above shows that performance in Chemistry is the poorest among the three
science subjects for consecutive years. It further reveals that sometimes there is
improvement and other times it drops unlike other subjects which are reflecting
improvement in all the years for the years extracted. This implies that, it is difficult to
predict the achievement of Chemistry by students in future years. This in turn will continue
to lock out those students wishing to pursue science-related courses that require chemistry
Mwala District is one of the districts noted for poor performance especially in the science
subjects over the past several years. The performance in chemistry for the last three years
can be compared with overall performance and other science subjects in the KCSE Exam
Table 1.3; Science performance in KCSE exam (2009 2011), Mwala district
Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
M.S. M.G. M.S. M.G M.S. M.G M.S. M.G. M.S. M.G.
Key: M.S.= Mean Score, M.G.= Mean Grade and O/Score= Overall score
Source: Extracted from Mwala District result analysis, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The above table 1.3 shows that Chemistry is the poorest done subject of the three science
subject at Mwala District. The mean score and mean grade of chemistry indicate that
majority of the students in the District achieve low grade in chemistry which implies that
also noted some improvement in the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 but of the three subject
with biology ,+0.71(19.1%) and physics +0.424 (10.0%). If the cause behind such low
achievement is not identified and then addressed, the resources channeled towards
Chemistry subject will continue to be wasted and also the potential skilled manpower in
those science-related courses requiring chemistry skills and knowledge will miss out in the
District.
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Despite the heavy investment in education by the government, parents and private sector
the Performance of sciences has continued to be poor and worst in chemistry among the
sciences. In spite of the efforts made to improve science performance including Chemistry,
the achievement of chemistry has remained poor in most parts of the country. Mwala
district in Machakos County has been identified by the researcher to be one of the districts
continued low achievement in Chemistry subjects will hinder most of secondary school
minded graduates and will continue to widen the gap between the rich and the poor. At the
same time continued poor performance in sciences will lead to retarded scientific,
technological and industrial development both within and outside the country. In response
to these arguments, there is the need then to carry out a study to establish what determine
County.
industrial developments in any nation cannot be over emphasized. However one cannot
ignore the fact that teaching and learning process of these subjects primarily involve
learners and teachers. The learners interact with teachers, learning and teaching materials
and resources for the performance to be realized. How the teacher will apply the knowledge
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and skills acquired during the time of training, use and execute the available teaching
resources and the teachers and learners perceptions towards chemistry and other science
The main purpose of the study is to identify factors which influence poor performance in
chemistry and propose strategies to solve them at Mwala district in Machakos County,
Kenya.
Mwala district.
iii. To identify the availability of ICT facilities and whether their use in teaching
iv. To identify the availability and use of chemistry teaching and learning resources
district.
Based on the objectives of this study listed above, the researcher has come up with the
i. What is the perception of students towards chemistry which may lead to a given
iii. Are there ICT material in schools and are they used in teaching and learning
exams?
iv. Are the chemistry teaching and learning resources including laboratory technician
available and if they are there are they being used in order to improve performance
of chemistry?
When causes of poor performance of chemistry subject and the proposed strategies in
Mwala district are identified, the findings will be of great importance to the following
group of peoples.
i) The current and future students taking chemistry as final examinable subject,
chemistry teachers and head of schools will be aware of the problems behind poor
ii) The findings will enable the school heads and other educational stake holders to
iii) The information obtained from this study will help the curriculum developers and
iv) The findings of this study will guide the education financing groups to the relevant
v) The findings of the study will assist in improving internal efficiency in education.
i. All the respondents will be cooperative and information given will be true and
accurate.
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ii. The Form 3 students to be selected from different schools have acquired enough
performance but due to financial constraints, only a few have been selected for this
study.
ii. Only the sampled students, teacher and head teachers responses will be used to
generalize the findings of the study because of limited time allocated to complete
iii. The study will limit itself to the selected respondents. For more conclusive
findings, all students taking chemistry, teachers, head teachers, parents and other
education stakeholders should have been studied. However, this will not be
possible due to financial and other logistic constraints like unavailability and
inaccessibility.
i. The proposed study will confine itself to only form three students, chemistry
teachers and head teachers in public secondary schools that have the direct
ii. Only students currently in form three and teachers handling form three or form
four classes to be included in the sample although the form four students and
those who have completed form four will not be included even though they can
and Woodhall (1985) inputs that go into education production process are divided into two
major categories. Exogenous inputs and are inputs which the school does not have direct
control like poverty levels, income levels, politics, weather conditions etc. The second
category is endogenous inputs where the school has direct control in them. They include
The production function is used to determine maximum product which can be derived from
resources in teaching and learning, availability of ICT facilities and their use, strategies
f =Function
The school which is a formal institution is where students receive education and are
theory, the raw materials i.e. students and others like teachers, books, laboratory, ICT
materials etc act as inputs. Interaction of students during teaching and learning process is
the process to produce certain outputs like Academic performance. The school therefore
takes human raw materials (students) and converts them into more useful, valuable persons
(Who have knowledge, attitude and skills and can pursue further studies or are skilful and
employable adults)
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School factors
Teaching/Learning Resources
ICT Facilities
Teachers Availability
Teachers factors
Students factors
Academic qualification
Perception
Teaching experience
Learning style
Teaching style
Teaching and
Learning Environment
variety of variables such as teaching and learning resources, perception towards learning,
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instructional and revision strategies among others. This study will restrict itself to students,
teachers and school factors. This is because they are the main factors responsible of
learning environment and hence acquisition of knowledge and skills for performance in
chemistry.
The independent factors are students factors, teachers factors and school factors.
These are the main factors responsible for teaching and learning of environment which in
Students factors include students perception to a given subject or thing, learning styles
and strategies used to learn in order to pass in examinations. Teachers factors include
teacher qualifications and experience, teaching styles, execution of the available ICT
facilities and Teaching resources in order to influence performance. The school factors
involve Teachers availability, ICT facility e.g. computers and internet, Teaching and
The students factors, teachers factors and school factors form the independent variables
and which interact with one another during the teaching and learning process. The teaching
and learning environment is the process that finally influences educational outcomes
teachers employment.
Teaching/learning resource: These are materials used by teachers and learners and
which aid in acquiring of knowledge, attitude and skills during teaching and
learning process.
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