Instructional influences on the implementation of the curriculum for Physics for Secondary Schools in Kenya

Abstract

mplementation of the curriculum is a critical stage in the curriculum development cycle. Yet over the years 2011 to 2015 students’ achievement in Physics at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) has been low coupled with low students’ enrollment. This study sought to determine the influence of teaching methods and learners’ motivation on implementation of Physics curriculum. This study was guided by cognitive constructivism theory of learning. This study targeted 224 teachers of Physics and 4140 Form three Physics students in 283 public secondary schools in Bungoma County. Stratified and simple random techniques were used to select 22 schools. The sample size was 22 teachers and 393 students making a total of 415 respondents. Data was using Teacher Questionnaire (TQ), Student Questionnaire (SQ), Lesson Observation Schedule (LOS) and Observation Checklists (OC). Data was presented using frequency tables, figures and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics used to analyze quantitative data include; percentages and means while the inferential statistics used include; Chi-square and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to compute the analysis at α = 0.05 level of significance. Both quantitative and qualitative results showed that non-use of student- centered teaching methods and lack of learners’ motivation influenced the implementation of the curriculum for Physics. The study concluded that for effective implementation of the curriculum; students-centered teaching methods should be employed and learners’ be motivated. The study recommended that the teachers of Physic should be in-serviced on learner- centered methods and they should focus more on arousing learner’s motivation. Further, the findings provide a guide to the government on enhancing the implementation of the curriculum for Physics for improved performance.