Enhancing productivity of water under variable climate

Crop productionMaizeClimateRainFamersDecision making

Enhancing productivity of water under variable climate

Irrigated farmingProductivityCrop productionMaizeSimulation modelsClimateForecasting

INFLUENCE OF TEACHER RELATED FACTORS ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN KISWAHILI COMPOSITION IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KISUMU WEST SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

 Composition writing helps learners to acquire writing skills. However, students’ performance in Kiswahili composition at the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination shows that national performance has been fluctuating with a mean of 14.20 in 2008, 15.40 in 2009, 14.32 in 2010, 16.43 in 2011 and 10.43 in 2012out of 40 marks. From year 2008 to 2012, Kisumu West Sub-County students’ performance in the Joint Evaluation Test (JET) shows that performance was lower compared to other sub-counties in Kisumu County with a mean of 11.20 which was below the county mean of 13.49. Although studies have established that teachers are key determinants of performance, students’ academic performance in Kiswahili composition has remained below average in public secondary schools in Kisumu West Sub-County. The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of teacher related factors on students’ academic performance in Kiswahili composition in public secondary schools in Kisumu West Sub-County, Kenya. The study employed descriptive survey and correlation designs. Target population was 1622 Form 4 students, 54 teachers of Kiswahili Language, 33 Heads of Department (HOD) and 1 Sub-County Curriculum Support Officer (SCCSO). Purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of 48 teachers, 29 HOD and 1 SCCSO. Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) formula was used to select a sample of 310 Form 4 students. Teacher and student questionnaire, HOD/SCCSO interview schedule and Kiswahili composition test were used for data collection. The study found a positive strong relationship between teacher related factors (R=.518*, p=.000) and students’ academic performance. It was concluded that an improvement in teacher related factors increased students’ academic performance in Kiswahili composition. The study therefore recommends that teachers should be constantly engaged in refresher courses, seminars and symposia to update their skills on Kiswahili language pedagogy so as to improve students’ academic performance.  Article visualizations

INFLUENCE OF SENSITIZATION OF ENGLISH TEACHERS TOWARDS INTERNAL INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION ON THEIR TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KAKAMEGA COUNTY, KENYA

Instructional supervision is key to effective teaching. Whereas emphasis has been put on external instructional supervision, less attention has been given to Internal Instructional Supervision (IIS), probably because its influence on teaching effectiveness is yet to be established. Kakamega County is the second largest County in terms of population yet achievement in English is low at a mean score of 5.28 in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (2007-2012). The County’s Panel of Standards Assessment report, 2010 and 2011 pegged this to weak IIS structures. The purpose of this study was to establish influence of sensitization of teachers of English towards IIS on their teaching effectiveness. A conceptual framework constituting of sensitization of teachers of English towards internal instructional supervision as the independent variables and teaching effectiveness as the dependent variable was used. The study used ex-post –facto, correlation and descriptive survey. Population was 13 Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (QUASO), 247 principals, 247 HODs and 494 English Teachers (ET). It sampled 13 QUASO, 74 principals, 74 HODs and 215 teachers purposively. Questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis guide were used. To establish validity, the instruments were given to experts in language pedagogy. A pilot study was conducted using 10% of the population; hence, 24 principals, 24 HODs and 50 teachers were used to establish reliability. Quantitative data was analysed using frequencies, percentages and Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression. Qualitative data was transcribed, categorized and reported in themes relevant to the study. Findings revealed that teachersof English had been greatly sensitized on professional documents but least sensitized on purpose of IIS and they were rarely sensitized on matters of IIS through in-service. The study concludes that sensitization of ET towards IIS is not a significant factor of predicting teaching effectiveness and only 10.4 % of teaching effectiveness can be predicted by sensitization of ET towards IIS. The study thus recommends that stakeholders of IIS should sensitize teachers of English on the purpose of IIS, frequency of conducting IIS, teacher preparedness towards IIS and exposure through in-service since these are positively significant to teaching effectiveness.  Article visualizations

Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement (HOPE) of Sorghum and Millets in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia [HOPE Project: Annual Progress Report for Year 3 (July 2011 – June 2012)]

The HOPE project has successfully completed its third year of operations. The project implemented all activities scheduled for Year 3, and produced a large number of major planned outputs. While a few outputs targeted for Years 2 and 3 still lag behind, quite a number of outputs scheduled for completion in Year 4 have already been produced by the end of Year 3

LEARNERS’ ATTITUDE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING OF KISWAHILI IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS: CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES

Existing studies indicate that increasing effectiveness in teaching and learning positively influence performance. However, challenges may diminish effectiveness in teaching and learning leading to poor performance. The study focused on challenges in relation to learners’ attitude towards Kiswahili and the strategies for coping with the challenges in teaching of Kiswahili in public secondary schools in Hamisi Sub-county, Vihiga County, Kenya. Study population was 4,106 form four students, 139 Kiswahili teachers, 47 principals and 1 Quality Assurance and Standards Officer. Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) formula was used to select a sample of 351 form four students and purposive sampling was used to select 42 form four teachers of Kiswahili. Saturated sampling technique was used to select 42 principals and 1 QASO. In this study, questionnaires and interview schedule were used in data collection. Quantitative data was analysed by descriptive statistics involving frequencies, means and percentages and presented on tables. Qualitative data was categorized into themes and reported in verbatim excerpts. Learners had positive attitude towards objectives and content at mean ratings of 3.02 and 2.94 respectively. However, learners had challenges in teaching methods and evaluation techniques. They had negative attitude towards teaching methods and evaluation techniques at mean ratings of 2.44 and 2.34 respectively. The main strategy for coping with these challenges was speaking Kiswahili on specific days highly applied at 3.22. Motivational speeches and rewards as well as encouraging wide reading were lowly applied at 2.45 and 2.43 respectively. Other strategies that emerged from the study were use of Kiswahili clubs, discouraging learners from listening to adulterated Kiswahili and making Kiswahili lessons interesting. In conclusions, though the overall learners’ attitude towards objectives and content is positive, they have negative attitude towards teaching methods and evaluation techniques. Schools have various strategies for coping with the challenges applied at different extents. The study recommends that schools endeavor to inculcate positive attitude among learners towards teaching methods and evaluation procedures by making them learner centered and properly guiding them in these activities. Teachers need to expose learners to a variety of teaching methods and evaluation techniques and provide timely feedback. This will make learners more enthusiastic and confident and in turn improve performance. The study findings may benefit teachers, scholars, curriculum developers, policy makers and other interested parties in understanding the challenges in relation to learners’ attitude, adopting and strengthening the strategies as well as seeking solutions to the challenges in order to improve the teaching and learning process.  Article visualizations

Climate Variability and Change: Farmer Perceptions and Understanding of Intra-Seasonal Variability in Rainfall and Associated Risk in Semi-Arid Kenya

This study examines farmers’ perceptions of short- and long-term variability in climate, their ability to discern trends in climate and how the perceived trends converge with actual weather observations in five districts of Eastern Province in Kenya where the climate is semi-arid with high intra- and inter-annual variability in rainfall. Field surveys to elicit farmers’ perceptions about climate variability and change were conducted in Machakos, Makueni, Kitui, Mwingi and Mutomo districts. Long-term rainfall records from five meteorological stations within a 10 km radius from the survey locations were obtained from the Kenya Meteorological Department and were analysed to compare with farmers’ observations. Farmers’ responses indicate that they are well aware of the general climate in their location, its variability, the probabilistic nature of the variability and the impacts of this variability on crop production. However, their ability to synthesize the knowledge they have gained from their observations and discern longterm trends in the probabilistic distribution of seasonal conditions is more subjective, mainly due to the compounding interactions between climate and other factors such as soil fertility, soil water and land use change that determine the climate’s overall influence on crop productivity. There is a general tendency among the farmers to give greater weight to negative impacts leading to higher risk perception. In relation to long-term changes in the climate, farmer observations in our study that rainfall patterns are changing corroborated well with reported perceptions from other places across the African continent but were not supported by the observed trends in rainfall data from the five study locations. The main implication of our findings is the need to be aware of and account for the risk during the development and promotion of technologies involving significant investments by smallholder farmers and exercise caution in interpreting farmers’ perceptions about long-term climate variability and change

Decision support tools for site-specific fertilizer recommendations and agricultural planning in selected countries in sub-Sahara Africa

Peer Revie

Contribution of primary schooling to the learning of social norms, mutual social responsibility and obedience, in Kenya : a case study of Maranda primary school

Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Masters of Arts in Education, University of Nairobi, 198

Primary schooling and agricultural education in Kenya : can principles of "modern" agriculture be taught effectively in schools?

Includes abstract in FrenchDoctor of Philosoph