Perception Of Chemistry Teachers Towards Use Of Electronic Media For Instruction In Public Secondary Schools In Nairobi County- Kenya

ABSTRACT

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become the fundamental pillars of the modern society today. They have brought along a lot of changes, many of them deep-seated, in almost all the aspects of societal functions and services. Just like any other field, the field of education has been greatly influenced by advancement in technology. Ultimately this has led to changes in teaching, learning and research. Despite the potential that ICTs have in enabling and enhancing a teaching and learning environment, various other factors intervene. One of these factors is that of educational stakeholders’ regard towards the integration of technology in teaching and learning. Arguably the most influential stakeholders are the teachers and their perceptions towards the use of e-media in teaching. This study focuses on the perception of Chemistry teachers towards use of electronic media for teaching students in Nairobi secondary schools. The study has been necessitated by the revelations that performance of Chemistry in secondary schools in Nairobi County failed to raise an average grade of C in KCSE. Specifically, the study aimed to answer four questions; (1) how does teachers’ experience influence the perception of Teachers of chemistry towards use of e–media for instruction? (2) How do gender differences influence the perception of Teachers of chemistry towards use of e-media for instruction? (3) How does teachers’ level of training influence the perception of Teachers of chemistry towards use of e-media for instruction? and (4) Which e- media is/are available for use in secondary schools and how frequently are they used for instructions? The study’s conceptual framework was also constructed to demonstrate the researcher’s own understanding of the problem. The study used the descriptive research design to obtain answers for the research questions. The study location was Nairobi County. The study targeted public secondary schools’ chemistry teachers in Nairobi County. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select schools that participated in the study from all the national, county and district secondary schools in Nairobi County. A proportion of 10% from each category of school in the sampling frame was found to be representative enough, therefore one national, three county and two sub-county schools made up a total of 6 schools which were randomly chosen as study centers. 23 chemistry teachers were randomly selected as respondents. Primary data was collected through semi-structured questionnaires. From the analysis, 45% of the teachers, which represented the majority proportion, were of the opinion that teaching experience influenced their perception towards the use of e-media to a great extent. A further scrutiny of the results revealed that the more experienced the teachers, the less likely they were willing to adopt the use of electronic media to teach chemistry lessons. The survey established that the male teachers responded more positively towards the use of technology in teaching than their female counterparts. All trained teachers of chemistry can use the stated technology in their classes and effectively obtain optimum output regardless of the period they have been in the teaching profession. It therefore follows that the government and all other educational stakeholders should formulate policies that will ensure all schools in the country acquire at least basic electronic media devices to complement the teachers' efforts in class.