The Impact Of Asei Movement On Students’ Achievement In Secondary School Biology In Nakuru County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to assess the extent to which the ASEI movement and lecture method of instruction had an impact on students‟ biology achievement in Nakuru County. The objectives of the study were threefold: the first objective was to find out the attitude of students towards the teaching/learning of biology. The second one was to find out the type of teaching/learning methods/approaches used by teachers of biology in teaching the subject; to find out the extent to which the principle of ASEI movement influences students‟ achievement in Biology. The study reviewed literature related to the study and was justified by supporting agencies like the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) projects. The study employed Ex-Post-Facto research design where both the “treatment” and “control” groups exist, but are not assigned or manipulated by the researcher. Secondly, there is no manipulation of conditions under which the study is being conducted. The ASEI movement was the independent variable while students‟ achievement in biology was the dependent variable. The pilot study was carried out on ten students in two identical schools which were not included in the study. The face and content validity of the instruments were determined by subject experts in biology while reliability was done by use of the test-retest method. Seven secondary schools out of the 75 public schools in Nakuru County were purposively sampled using the criteria of each school‟s status (day or boarding), gender (boys, girls or mixed) and location (urban or rural). From the sampled schools, an equal number of four students was selected from form three and form four classes. Two teachers of biology, one head of department (Science) and one head teacher were selected from each school that was sampled. Data were collected using lesson observation schedule and questionnaires. Data were analysed using the Chi-Square statistic (χ2) with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17). Descriptive statistics such as percentages and means were presented using tables, charts and graphs. The study established that the ASEI movement changed the attitude of students and teachers towards biology education. Findings showed that there was a high positive relationship between attitude and student achievement in biology. The study also found that those teachers who had attended in-service training developed skills in areas of improvisation and small scale experiments which encouraged student-centred participatory learning in the classroom. The study concluded that curriculum developers and planners should find it beneficial to incorporate the ASEI movement during the implementation of school curricula. Apart from adding to existing knowledge, the findings of this study would be expected to add to the existing knowledge in the teaching of biology. The study recommended that student-centred learning be introduced and used in teaching other science subjects. The use of ASEI movement in our schools should be encouraged and all serving teachers should continue attending in-service courses to entrench the strategies advocated by the ASEI movement towards improving learner achievement in biology.