Determinants of Use of Inquiry Based Instruction by Early Childhood Teachers’ in Teaching Science in Meru South Sub-County, Kenya
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Date
2016-05
Authors
Njagi, Joachim
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Members of the society require science skills to cope with technologically-changing
world. Despite this realization, the perfomance in science subjects is still below the
required standards wordwide. The impetus to conduct this study stemmed from the
fact that science education plays a significant role in the a child‟s development as it
can bridge the gap in education achievement in science performance at higher levels
of learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of early
childhood teachers‟ use of inquiry based instructional approaches in science
activities. The main objectives of this study were to: establish the extent to which
teachers used inquiry based instructional approaches in teaching science in early
childhood development education, investigate the extent to which teachers‟ level of
training influences use of inquiry based instructional approaches in teaching science
in early childhood development education, determine the extent to which the type of
training institution influences use of inquiry based instructional approaches in
teaching science in early childhood development education and examine the extent
to which teaching experience influences use of inquiry based instructional
approaches in teaching science in early childhood development education. The
target population for this study was 270 teachers. Eighteen teachers were
purposively selected to take part in the study. The instruments for data collection
were phenomenological interview and science lesson observation schedules.
Interview questions were pretested on two teachers from Maara Sub County.
Credibility of the study instruments was established through member check,
prolonged engagement, persistent observation, peer debriefing, triangulation,
multiple data sources and by comparing pretest results from the pilot study in two
districts. The reliability of the study instruments was ensured by keeping accurate
descriptions and interpretations of respondent experiences and corroboration of the
data by participants at all stages of the research process. This study adopted in-depth
phenomenological interviewing of participants for 30 minutes. The researcher
randomly selected and observed three separate science lessons taught by each
teacher in the study sample. Descriptive statistics including frequency counts and
percentages were used to summarize and organize quantitative data while data
elicited by interview questions and observation were analyzed qualitatively using
content analysis. The responses were thematically discussed. The study found that
there was limited use of inquiry-based instruction in science teaching. The result
shows that the teacher‟s level of training, type of training institution and teaching
experience had no significant influence on teachers‟ use of IBI. This study
concluded that teachers were currently practicing inquiry-based instruction and that
the level of training, experience and type of training institution did not significantly
bring about differences in the use of inquiry-based instructional approaches. The
recommendations from this study are that the Government should prioritize the
allocation of instructional resources to promote the practice of inquiry-based
learning. This study recommends training of teachers on the use of inquiry-based
learning approaches in pre-primary schools.
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of master of education (early childhood studies) in the school of education of Kenyatta University, May, 2016