Gender-related difference in using computer assisted teaching strategy on student academic achievement in biology in public secondary schools Kenya Baringo County, Kenya
Keywords:
computer assisted teaching strategy, achievement, student genderAbstract
Variations in biology achievement based on gender are of great concern to educators. Some of these differences are can be due to gender discrimination, exhibited in the instructional resources, environment and the patriarchal worldview predominant in most societies. Thus, this study sought to investigate the effects of computer-assisted teaching methods on student academic performance based on gender in public secondary schools in Baringo County. Experimental design, precisely Solomon's four techniques, was used. Schools selected for the study had a computer for integrating computer-assisted teaching strategies. These schools were purposively sampled, and eight different county schools were established. Further, the investigator used a stratified sampling method to sample 324 biology students from the county schools. Simple random sampling was used to select the experimental and the control groups. The experimental groups chosen were treated with a computer-assisted teaching strategy, while the control group was subjected to traditional instruction. The researcher used the instruments of the Biology Achievement Test and Biology Motivation Questionnaires to collect data. The data were analysed descriptively with frequencies and percentages and inferentially with Analysis of Variance and t-test. The study established that, students exposed to CATS performed better than those exposed to the traditional teaching strategy. The results also indicated no statistically significant difference in student academic achievement in Biology based on gender when taught using the strategy. The study findings will aid curriculum makers at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in developing policies and standards for integrating, designing, and implementing CATS in school curricula to increase learning, student accomplishment, and motivation. As a result, to boost academic attainment in biology, teachers should incorporate the computer teaching technique into their lessons.
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