Pedagogy and Information Technology Integration, As Strategies for Improving Academic Performance in Stem Subjects: A Critical Literature Review

Globally, the teaching of STEM subjects has been construed as a plausible solution to solving societal problems ranging from economic to social development issues. In order to realize these benefits, there is need to focus on the pedagogy in teaching of STEM subjects. Besides in 21st Century use of IT has become both enabler and a driver of every part of life including education. As such this study purposes to explore and synthesize major trends of research on stem subjects’ pedagogy and IT integration and academic performance. The systematic critical review methodology for this study included perusal of quality journal articles related to topic of study in the last three years. However, in cases of absence of more recent studies, collection of information from previous years was allowed. The main search key themes included: Pedagogical beliefs and attitudes, IT access and integration, Skills capacity interventions, Cloud digital content and academic and Performance in STEM Subjects The selected journals include but not limited to Emerald, Taylor and Francis, JSTOR, EBSCOhost and Wiley Online. Study findings show varying propositions regarding teacher pedagogy aspects and integration of IT in STEM subjects. Particularly teacher beliefs and attitudes seem to have implication on probability of IT integration in STEM teaching; while IT access, skills capacity interventions, access to cloud digital content pose a challenge in teachers’ pedagogical practices which in turn affect the learner performance. Despite the comprehensive literature search and review across geographical regions within limits of time and access, it is clear that the study findings prepare ground for further research and possibility of capacity building interventions. KEY WORDS: Pedagogical beliefs, IT access and integration, Skills capacity interventions, Cloud digital content and academic Performance in STEM Subjects DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-21-21 Publication date:July 31st 202

FACTORS INFLUENCING FIRE DISASTER MANAGEMENT PREPAREDNESS: A CASE OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN MAKUENI COUNTY, KENYA

The study sought to establish the factors influencing fire disaster preparedness in primary schools in Makueni County in Kenya. Using multiple regression analysis, the findings showed that fire safety policy knowledge had a beta (), fire safety guidelines implementation practices  and fire safety resources provision. This infers that fire safety support resources provision affects fire disaster management preparedness in primary schools to a great extent followed by safety policy knowledge while fire safety guidelines implementation had the least effect. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated a significance value of 0.009 which is less than 0.05 thus the model was significant in predicting how policy knowledge, guidelines implementation practices and support resources provision influence fire disaster management preparedness in primary schools. A paired t-test revealed that there was no significant difference in the means of fire disaster preparedness in the public and private primary schools. Therefore, the study recommends more emphasis should be put on training of school stakeholders on fire disaster preparedness and provision of fire safety support resources for combating fire disasters in primary schools.     Article visualizations

Effects of Shoppers’ Individual Characteristics, Price and Product Knowledge on Shoppers Purchase Behavior

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of shopper’s individual characteristics, price and product knowledge (knowledge concerning processed milk) on the outcome of purchase behavior (amount of milk bought from supermarkets in Kenya). Based on regression analysis, the study employed a survey design and a primary data set of 1000 shoppers of fresh processed milk. Except for shopper’s gender and price, other shoppers’ individual characteristics (education, age, family size) and product knowledge (knowledge level for processed milk) had a significant effect on the outcome of behavior in terms of the amount of milk bought from the supermarkets in Kenya. The study provides empirical evidence on the effect of shoppers’ individual characteristics, price and level of product knowledge on the amount of processed milk bought from supermarkets in Kenya. From the accessible literature, there is no study that has investigated the effect of shoppers’ individual characteristics, price and product Knowledge on the amount of processed milk bought from supermarkets in Kenya. The findings could guide milk processing companies and supermarkets’ management when planning and implementing their marketing strategies in attempt to increase sales of processed milk. Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Shoppers’ Individual Characteristics, Product Knowledge, Pric