ABSTRACT

With the country’s vision of industrialization by 2030 students’ performance in science subjects to produce the expertise to drive the country to its realization has been given the first priority. The effect of school and home-based factors may have a considerable effect on students’ performance in science subjects at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education(K.C.S.E.).The government has provided support, policy framework and teachers. It has also prioritized science performance in Kenya. However compared to other subjects, students’ performance in science subjects has been below average. This study aimed at investigating the effect school and home-based factors on students’ performance in science subjects. The study was guided by the objectives of establishing the influence of students’ role on performance in sciences, influence of family background on performance in sciences, influence of school environment on performance in sciences and effects of peer influence on performance in sciences. The study utilized descriptive survey research design. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain the study sample. The population study of thirty two public secondary schools was divided into two strata; county school and sub-county schools. The county schools were further stratified into girls’ boarding schools and boys’ boarding schools. Purposive sampling was used to select Form Two students because they had not yet selected the subjects. Random sampling was used to select the desired number of respondents from each stratum on proportionate basis. The study used questionnaires to collect data from the deputy principals, Science teachers and form two students while interview schedules were used to collect data from Heads of science Department and parents. These provided information on financial status of families, family sizes, teacher-student relationships, school influence and involvement of learners in co-curriculum activities, relationship among students, school size and parental involvement in school activities. The questionnaires were pre-tested to establish their validity and reliability before being administered to the respondents. The statistical packaged for social sciences (SPSS) was used to aid in data analysis. The analyzed data was represented using frequency distribution tables and pie charts for easier interpretation. The study established that there was significant relationship between gender and students’ science performance; males performed better than females. Adequate time allocation resulted in better sciences performance while the students who participated in co- curriculum activities performed well in sciences as compared to those who did not participate. The study established that parents with high level of education had their children performing well in sciences. Students who live with both parents performed better in sciences than those without both parents. The students who stayed with the mother had good performance compared to those who stayed with only the father, grandparent or at children homes. Children of financially stable parents performed better in sciences than those who come from financially unstable parents. The research found that peer influence and peer negligence significantly influenced science performance. The research established that the county schools had better science performance than sub-county schools, that the availability of material resources and good student/teacher relationship influenced the students’ science performance positively. The greatest influence on science performance was by B.Ed. and diploma holder teachers while B.Sc. holder teachers had the least influence.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

The performance of students in science subjects in secondary schools in Kenya has continued to be low for many years. School and home-based factors are some of the factors that affect the performance in the science subjects.

              Background of the Study

Science, engineering and technology play an increasingly crucial role in the Kenyan economy. Science, engineering and technology skills are vital, as they provide the basis for an innovative and globally competitive workforce. When learning science, the learner acquires skills such as communicating scientifically, experimenting and testing of hypothesis. These experiences can make a learner to predict the future outcome of various events with great accuracy. The learner is able to inductively, deductively and flexibly approach new situations with confidence and high degree of precision.

Science today dominates such a wide area of human activity that it’s no longer the concern of a select group of people in a society but has become a concern for everybody in the society. This is supported by Das (1990) who adds that science is part and parcel of our life. In the developed countries science has entered every fabric of life and even in the developing countries its impact on life is felt in an increasing manner. Such a situation obviously demands everybody’s acquaintance, with science, both as a product as well as a process (Das, 1990). According to Das (1990) a man without contact with science and its manifestations would be a complete misfit in the modern society .If we conceive education as a process for preparation of a socially efficient citizen, it is imperative that each individual of the society acquires knowledge of science as well as

scientific attitude of mind as a consequent discipline (Das, 1990).Students carry out experiments in order to acquire scientific knowledge and skills. The acquisition of the knowledge and skills can only be assessed by looking at the performance of the students in science at the secondary school level .For a long period of time the students’ performance in science has continued to be below average. Feedback from formal assessment and observation from stakeholders indicate a shortfall in science. It is included in the school’s curriculum for the same reasons as any other subject, but in addition science inculcates special values in a student and which no other subject can provide. Therefore when its performance continues to go down year in year out it raises a concern among the parents, teacher’s, government and other stakeholders.

Parents, teachers, government and other stakeholders invest heavily in sciences in terms of human and material resources and it is their expectation that their input yields substantial output (Jesse, 2005). The stakeholder’s immediate feedback is students’ good performance in examination and subsequent acquisition of scientific knowledge and skills bearing in mind that Kenya intends to become industrialized by 2030. Despite all this effort science performance continued to be lower than the other subjects (Samuel, 2005). Despite the much effort put by educational administrators and stakeholders, the performance of students in science subjects continues to be poor year in year out compared to other curriculum subjects.

Table 1.1 shows students’ performance in science subjects in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E) as compared to other subjects for the last five (5) years.

Table 1.1 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Performances for Five years

Source: Kenya National Examination Council Reports (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and

2009)

From Table 1.1, it can be observed that the mean score of the science subjects has remained lower than that of most curriculum subjects. Student failure to take precaution when carrying out experiments led to poor performance by the students(K.N.E.C report, 2005).According to K.N.E.C report ( 2005) student usually make inaccurate observations and writes observations in un acceptable scientific language hence poor performance in the subjects. This may have been contributed by lack of adequate previous exposure to the process of experimentation.