Secondary School Teachers’ Perceptions of a Biology Constructivist Learning Environment in Gem District, Kenya

This study investigated the teachers’ perceptions of actual and preferred constructivist biology learning environment. The study adopted a survey design. Data were collected from a sample of 41 biology teachers from Gem District, Kenya using a 20-item Teacher Perception Questionnaire (TPQ) which is a modified version of Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), the teachers’ version. The TPQ consisted of two forms which are “Actual” and “Preferred”. While the actual form assessed the current biology learning environment, the preferred form assessed the teacher perception of a constructivist learning environment. The data were analyzed using paired t-test. The results showed that the teachers’ scores on the preferred form of some scales (Personal relevance, uncertainty and student negotiation) were significantly different from the actual form (p< 0.05). On the other hand the teachers’ scores for scales of critical voice and shared control scales of actual and preferred forms of TPQ were not statistically significant (p< 0.05). The implications of the study for practice and further research are discussed

Perception of Constructivist Learning Environment: Gender and School Type Differences in Siaya County, Kenya

Aims: The study aimed at investigating gender and school type differences in perception of Biology constructivist learning environment. Study Design: The study adopted a survey design. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Siaya County in Kenya between October and November 2013 during the school term. Methodology: The study sampled 815 grade 12 students (466 boys, 349 girls, 399 high achieving students and 416 low achieving students). Two instruments were used viz. Learners Perception Questionnaire (LPQ) and Learners Interview Guide (LIG). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, two-way MANOVA and two-way ANOVA. The qualitative data were used to explain quantitative data. Results: The findings show that there existed statistically significant difference in perception between the low achieving schools and high achieving schools in favor of the low achieving schools in all the subscales of SPQ (p =.00) and statistically significant gender (Hotelling’s trace = .131, F = 21.19, p = .000) and school type (Hotelling’s trace = .269, F = 43.48, p = .000) differences with respect to the collective dimensions of the SPQ. The results also revealed that there was an interaction between gender and school type and vice versa with respect to collective dimensions of the SPQ (Hotelling’s trace = .176, F = 23.40, p = .000). Conclusion: It is concluded that low achieving schools have higher preference for a constructivist learning environment than high achieving schools and there exists gender and school type differences in perception of constructivist learning environment in favor of girls and low achieving schools respectively. The implications of the findings are discussed