RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CULTURAL BELIEFS AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY IN SAMBURU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

African Societies have a relatively rich body of Indigenous Knowledge. This is embodied in the Continent’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems. This knowledge has been used by the African people for thousands of years to solve their specific problems. According to Kenya National Examination Council reports, secondary school students’ achievement in chemistry has been persistently poor. This has been attributed to many factors including cultural beliefs. However, it is not clear how cultural beliefs are related to students’ achievement in chemistry. The current concern in Samburu County among parents and other education stakeholders is that, students’ achievement in chemistry is poor and is likely to be affected by cultural beliefs that have a bearing on chemistry. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between cultural beliefs and secondary school students’ achievement in chemistry in Samburu County. Descriptive Correlational survey research design was used. The target population was all the secondary school chemistry students in Samburu County. The accessible population was all the Form Three chemistry students in the County in the year 2022. Cluster sampling was used to select nine secondary schools as sampling units and this included both public and private schools.  Stratified and simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 286 students. Two instruments were used for data collection namely: Students’ Chemistry Achievement Test (SCAT) and Students’ Cultural Beliefs Questionnaire (SCBQ). The instruments were validated by five experts in educational research. The reliability coefficient of SCAT was estimated using Guttman’s Lambda (λ6) formula. This yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.80. Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient (α) was used to estimate reliability coefficient of SCBQ. This yielded reliability coefficients of 0.85. The data collected was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Simple Linear Regression was used to establish the relationships between the different variables in the study. All statistical tests of significance were conducted at a coefficient level of alpha (α) equal to 0.05 with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 for windows. There was no statistically significant relationship between Cultural Beliefs and students’ achievement in chemistry. The findings, however, indicate that there was a gender difference in achievement in chemistry in favour of boys. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education should initiate in-service courses for science teachers to equip them with requisite skills to enhance their effectiveness in teaching of chemistry and science subjects as a whole. The findings of this study would benefit chemistry teachers, curriculum developers, teacher educators and policy makers in addressing necessary interventions to facilitate meaningful learning of chemistry and thus improve students’ achievement in the subject in secondary schools Countrywide.&nbsp