An Investigation of the Utilization of Community Resources by the Home Science Teachears in Secondary Schools. A Case Study of Embu and Kirinyaga Districts.
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Date
1989
Authors
Gaciabu, R. W.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
This case study was conducted to investigate the
extent to which teachers of Home Science in Embu and
Kirinyaga Districts utilize community resources to
provide more relevant education to individual learners.
Literature review was organized around six areas;
importance of community resources; extent to which local
resources have been used; problems encountered by teachers
in using community resources; situation in Kenya that
calls for urgent use of community resources; types of
community resources that can be used to enrich learning
experiences and some common methods, procedures and
activities that can be applied in usage of community
resources.
The descriptive survey was used as a suitable
research design. The five research instruments used
included: A teachers' questionnaire, headteachers'
questionnaire, students' questionnaire, an observation
schedule and a checklist. The samples included two
hundred and eighty eight students, forty teachers and
twenty four headteachers.
Based on the results of data analysis, the
respondents confirmed that their secondary schools did
not have enough teaching/learning materials. Majority
reported to have had only a few of teaching/learning
materials.
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The subjects were well conversant with community
resources found in their school districts.
The opinions of teachers and headteachers
favoured the need for using community resources as a
way of making learning experiences more relevant.
Home Science teachers did not seem to have made
adequate and effective use of community resources during
their lessons. While items found in the community were
used, resource people, field trips and activities of the
community were poorly utilized. The reasons volunteered
by teachers for poor utilization of local resources were
that they had time and financial constraints. The
headteachers complained that there was lack of time to
cover the assigned syllabus if attention was given to
practical experiences involving use of resources not
suggested in the syllabus.
Recommendations
The key recommendations arising from the findings
of the study are as follows:
1. There is a need for a policy that encourages the
use of community resources in Home Science;
2. The Kenya Institute of Education should prepare
a teaching/learning guide to the use of community
resources;
3. Teacher training institutions should train student
teachers to use community resources; and
4. The number of students in a Home Science class
should be kept between fifteen and twenty.
Description
Degree of Master of Education, 168pg. 1989