IMPACT OF SMASSE INSET ON STUDENTS' ATTITUDE AND PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BOMET COUNTY, KENYA

Performance in mathematics has been steadily deteriorating over the last few years. This prompted the researcher to investigate the impact of SMASSE INSET on students’ attitudes and performance in mathematics. The objectives of the study were to investigate whether SMASSE INSET has changed the students’ attitudes, improved the performance and the teaching approaches and methodology in mathematics. This study was based on the theory of Reasoned action and the theory of Planned behaviour as proposed by Ajzen and Fishbein (1975 and 1980). This was a field study that was conducted in Bomet district. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The respondents of the study were selected from the Form four students of the year 2008. A sample of 371 students, 20 mathematics Heads of Department and 20 Mathematics teachers were selected using both stratified and simple random sampling. Data was collected through the use of students’ questionnaires, HOD Mathematics Questionnaire and Teacher’s Questionnaire. Analysis of data was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. For descriptive statistics, frequency tables, means and standard deviations were used. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed for the inferential statistics. The study established that the students’ attitudes towards mathematics have greatly improved as a result of SMASSE INSET. The study also found out that teacher’s teaching approaches and methodology have greatly improved as a result of SMASSE INSET. However, the attitude and teaching approaches could not translate to good performance. In order to make SMASSE INSET more effective in schools and in the teaching of mathematics, it could be included in the programmes of Teacher Education at the level of teacher preparation.  Article visualizations

Alternative Strategies of Funding Secondary School Education in Kenya : A Case Study of Emuhaya District

Education remains important for human resource development in the world because it brings about attitudinal and behavioural changes in people. This has made countries to invest in expansion of education by allocating large proportion of their resources to the sector. But as the government resources continue to decrease, many schools are forced to source for alternative funds to sustain their educational programmes. The purpose of the study was to investigate measures that secondary schools undertake to supplement financing of education. Four specific objectives were used in the study from which four research questions were developed. The study was done in Emuhaya District in Western Province. An Ex-Post Facto Research Design was used in the study. From a total population of 25 public secondary schools, Stratified Random Sampling was used to select 22 schools from two strata (Provincial and District). Questionnaires were administered to head teachers, class teachers and school bursars while interviews were conducted for head teachers. Data obtained was organised and presented in form of frequency tables, counts and percentages. Descriptive Satistics involving use of frequency tables, percentages and means were used to analyse data. The findings of the study revealed that institutions faced problems of funds, low fee payment, lack of community support, delays in deliveries and late remission of bursary funds. The financial sources of acquiring teaching and learning resources were identified to be the Government (in form of teachers’ salaries), school fees, teacher improvising, PTA and Ministry of Education supplies. The study revealed that bigger proportions of fund raising initiatives schools undertook came from the PTAs, fund raising, donations, and bursaries while meager finances came from hiring of school conference halls, poultry keeping activities, community labour, rent and sponsors. The study recommended the need for secondary schools to innovate new strategies of generating income. Bursaries, CDF and LATF funds needed to be disbursed on time to schools. There was a need to in-service school administrators on ways of utilising local resources to finance school programmes

Teaching of Physical Education Course as a Fundamental Right of Students in Secondary Schools in Kenya: A Study of Bomet District

The purpose of this study was to assess the gap in policy between the promise and reality in physical education in secondary schools in Bomet District - Kenya. The objective was to establish the extent to which the teaching of physical education formed a fundamental right for students in secondary schools. Biological Sciences Curriculum Study model guided the study. This study utilized descriptive survey method of research. Sampling designs used were simple random, purposive and stratified random sampling. Questionnaire, interview guide and observation schedules were used to collect data and a total of 281 respondents took part in the study. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found that the students were denied their right to be educated physically in secondary schools in Bomet District. This research recommends that the Directorate of Quality Assurance should deploy specialist physical educators to district levels that are responsible for the periodic supervision and evaluation of physical education in secondary schools. Key word: Physical educatio

Attitudes Towards Use of Hypermedia in Hearing Impaired Students’ Pedagogy

This study investigated the attitudes on use of hypermedia based on constructivist learning context. Traditional methods and tools applied in classrooms are not found to be attractive or thrilling resulting to boredom, fatigue and negative attitude towards learning. New technologies such as hypermedia proved to be successful for improving the ability of deaf children in pedagogical process promoting attention, interest and attitude. While using hypermedia can be viewed as a new platform for delivery, there are still many teachers who look to hypermedia as a replacement of their current teaching methods. The objectives of the study were to; investigate students’ attitude towards the use of hypermedia and establish teachers’ attitude on use of hypermedia. The study was informed by constructivist theory emphasizes learner-centered learning. The study assumed a pragmatic research paradigm adopting mixed methods using quasi experimental approach involving Solomon four nonequivalent control group design.  The sample size consisted of 79 students and 10 teachers. Data instrument was questionnaire. Data were analyzed through inferential statistic chi- square and descriptive include; tables, mean, frequency, percentage and standard deviation. The results indicate that hypermedia impact positively; students were positive and satisfied with hypermedia because it is found to be enjoyable, motivating, interactive, promotes understanding, encourages autonomy and foster learning than traditional learning. Teachers agreed that hypermedia leads to greater understanding of abstract topics. The findings of this study may create awareness and need for integrating hypermedia in pedagogy to improve attitude, thus helping learners to focus attention that promotes teachers’ instructional technique. Keywords: Hypermedia, Attitude, Pedagogy, Hearing Impaired, Geomorpholog

EFFECT OF COLLABORATIVE CONCEPT MAPPING TEACHING STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS MATHEMATICS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA

Achievement level in Mathematics in Secondary Schools in Kenya is still low despite numerous interventions. Conceptual understanding and attitudes have emerged in recent discoveries as the critical factors contributing to the continued inertia in performance in the subject. This study sought to establish the effect of Collaborative Concept Mapping (CCM) teaching strategy on secondary school students’ development of cognitive and affective domain. Specifically, the study sought to find out if there was any difference in Students’ achievement in mathematics, as a group and gender wise, and students’ attitude toward Mathematics subject when taught using the Collaborative Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy and the Conventional Methods of Instruction. The theoretical framework is based on constructivist theory which views learners as active constructors of meaning from input by processing it through existing cognitive structures and retaining it in the long-term memory. This study used a Quasi-experimental Solomon Four-Fold research design. The sample for the study comprised 161 form three students and 4 teachers of mathematics from 4 randomly selected sub-county co-educational secondary schools in the 4 sub-counties of Bomet County. The four co-educational schools were randomly assigned into two experimental (E1 & E2) and two control (C1 & C2) groups. Students in the experimental group were taught using Collaborative Concept Mapping (CCM) Teaching Strategy for three weeks while the control group was taught using Conventional Methods of Instruction. Students’ Attitude Towards Mathematics Questionnaire (SATMQ) was used to collect data. Circles Concept Achievement Test (CCAT) was administered to determine students’ conceptual understanding and achievement on the topic of ‘circles concept’ in Mathematics. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis which included frequencies, mean, t-test and ANOVA. All the statistical tests were subjected to a test of significance at alpha (α) level of 0.05. The results revealed that there was statistically significant difference in mathematics achievement and attitudes towards mathematics in favour of CCM between students exposed to Collaborative Concept Mapping teaching strategy (CCM) and those taught using Conventional Method of Instruction. The findings further revealed that there was no statistically significant gender difference among students exposed to CCM teaching strategy. From the findings it can be concluded that the level of achievement in the learning of mathematical concepts and the attitude towards mathematics is marked higher when the students are taught using the Collaborative Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy (CCM) than when the conventional method is employed. Based on the findings, recommendations were made on the need for teachers to integrate Collaborative Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy (CCM) teaching strategy in the mathematics instruction to enhance conceptual understanding, improve achievement and foster positive attitude in the subject. There is also need for teacher training institutions to incorporate CCM as one of the strategies in mathematics instruction and that the serving teachers can be retooled to enable them to integrate CCM teaching strategy effectively in Mathematics learning. Mathematics curriculum developers need to restructure and integrate CCM among learner-centred strategies in Mathematics education.  Article visualizations

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING GEOGEBRA AND GRAPES ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BOMET COUNTY, KENYA

Mathematics teaching and learning are crucial to the future of Kenya’s knowledge economy and deserve a special focus in our education system. The objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of using Grapes and GeoGebra on students’ learning of graphs as compared to the traditional approach. This study was guided by Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989). Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) explains computer-usage behavior that relates to reasons why some people use computers and their attitudes towards them. This study adopted Solomon four group experimental research design. The respondents were selected using both stratified and simple random sampling. Data was collected through the use of students’ questionnaires, pre-test and post-test. Analysis of data was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. For descriptive statistics, frequency tables, means and percentages were used. Anova, t-test and Multiple Regression Analysis were employed for the inferential statistics. The study found out that the students who were taught using Grapes and GeoGebra performed much better than those who were taught using the conventional method. It is recommended that ICT integration in the teaching of Mathematics should be included in the curriculum of pre-service teachers at the university level.  Article visualizations

Information knowledge and technology for Development in Africa

Information, knowledge, and technology occupy significant space in the information and knowledge society and ongoing debates on development such as sustainable development goals (SDGs) agenda 2030 and the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). Disruptive technologies and cyber-physical systems, obscuring the lines between the physical, digital and biological, escalated by the COVID-19 pandemic, present a ‘new normal’ that profoundly affects the nature and magnitude of responses required to sustain and benefit from the new developments. Africa, known for late adoption of new technologies and innovations, is leapfrogging development stages in several enviable ways. This book, Information knowledge and technology for development in Africa’, written by eminent African scholars, comprises chapters that satisfactorily address information access, artificial intelligence, information ethics, e-learning, library and information science education (LISE) in the 4IR, data literacy and e-scholarship, and knowledge management, which are increasingly essential for information access, services, and LISE in Africa. We expect the book to support research, teaching and learning in African higher education and worldwide for comparative scholarship

Information knowledge and technology for Development in Africa

Information, knowledge, and technology occupy significant space in the information and knowledge society and ongoing debates on development such as sustainable development goals (SDGs) agenda 2030 and the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). Disruptive technologies and cyber-physical systems, obscuring the lines between the physical, digital and biological, escalated by the COVID-19 pandemic, present a ‘new normal’ that profoundly affects the nature and magnitude of responses required to sustain and benefit from the new developments. Africa, known for late adoption of new technologies and innovations, is leapfrogging development stages in several enviable ways. This book, Information knowledge and technology for development in Africa’, written by eminent African scholars, comprises chapters that satisfactorily address information access, artificial intelligence, information ethics, e-learning, library and information science education (LISE) in the 4IR, data literacy and e-scholarship, and knowledge management, which are increasingly essential for information access, services, and LISE in Africa. We expect the book to support research, teaching and learning in African higher education and worldwide for comparative scholarship

Charged and Hydrophobic Surfaces on the A Chain of Shiga-Like Toxin 1 Recognize the C-Terminal Domain of Ribosomal Stalk Proteins

Shiga-like toxins are ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIP) produced by pathogenic E. coli strains that are responsible for hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome. The catalytic A1 chain of Shiga-like toxin 1 (SLT-1), a representative RIP, first docks onto a conserved peptide SD[D/E]DMGFGLFD located at the C-terminus of all three eukaryotic ribosomal stalk proteins and halts protein synthesis through the depurination of an adenine base in the sarcin-ricin loop of 28S rRNA. Here, we report that the A1 chain of SLT-1 rapidly binds to and dissociates from the C-terminal peptide with a monomeric dissociation constant of 13 µM. An alanine scan performed on the conserved peptide revealed that the SLT-1 A1 chain interacts with the anionic tripeptide DDD and the hydrophobic tetrapeptide motif FGLF within its sequence. Based on these 2 peptide motifs, SLT-1 A1 variants were generated that displayed decreased affinities for the stalk protein C-terminus and also correlated with reduced ribosome-inactivating activities in relation to the wild-type A1 chain. The toxin-peptide interaction and subsequent toxicity were shown to be mediated by cationic and hydrophobic docking surfaces on the SLT-1 catalytic domain. These docking surfaces are located on the opposite face of the catalytic cleft and suggest that the docking of the A1 chain to SDDDMGFGLFD may reorient its catalytic domain to face its RNA substrate. More importantly, both the delineated A1 chain ribosomal docking surfaces and the ribosomal peptide itself represent a target and a scaffold, respectively, for the design of generic inhibitors to block the action of RIPs