Educational input factors influencing girl’s performance in mathematics in Kenya certificate of secondary education in Baringo central sub-county
Date
2021-06
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Publisher
Mount Kenya University
Abstract
Mathematics is a very important subject in the achievement of Vision 2030 in which Kenya intends to be industrialized. Unfortunately, girls’ performance in Mathematics has been dismal over the years at secondary school level. The reason for this study was to investigate the educational input factors that influence the performance of girls in Mathematics in KCSE in Baringo Central Sub-County. The specific objectives of the study were: to establish the extent to which teaching methods influence girls’ performance in Mathematics in KCSE and to determine the extent to which girls’ motivation influence KCSE performance of girls in Mathematics. The third objective was to establish the status of instructional resources used in teaching and learning and its influence on girls’ performance in Mathematics and the last one was to find out the extent to which girls’ attitudes towards Mathematics influence KCSE performance of girls in Mathematics. The study was guided by education production function theory developed by Eric Hanushek and teaching and learning theory of systems approach developed by Ayotand Patel. The study adopted descriptive survey research design because of its ability to understand a population from a part of it, enables rapid data collection and that it is economical. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed. The target populationfigure of 763 included 18 Mathematics teachers,6 Mathematics HODs and 739 Form Four girls from 6 secondary schoolsin Baringo Central Sub-county.A sample size of 190 comprising of 18 Mathematics trainers, 6 Mathematics Head of departments and 166 girls was selected.Purposive sampling was used to select HODs and Mathematics teachers while simple random sampling was used to select Form 4 girls. Two questionnaires, one for Mathematics teachers and the other for students, interview schedule for Mathematics HODs andobservation checklist were used in data collection. The research instruments were validated with the help of research supervisors and reliability was established at 0.7using test- retest method. The collected data was analysed using both inferential statistical techniques in which the Chi-square and Karl Pearson correlations were utilized as well as descriptive statistical techniques like standard deviation, percentages, frequency tables and means. The study established that the four educational input factors; teaching methods, motivation, instructional materials use and girls students’ attitude had significant influence (p<0.05) on girls performance in KCSE Mathematics examinations. All the four null hypothesis for the study were rejected.The study concluded that indeed, performance of girls in KCSE Mathematics was influenced by the four educational input factors. The output of the education system (girls’ performance in Mathematics) was determined by the inputs that were provided to girls (in right quality and quantity) in Baringo Central Sub County. The study recommends that teachers should go for in-service training in Mathematics teachings, extrinsic motivation strategies needs to be applied by teachers and government to aid schools in setting up infrastructure facilities to enable full utilisation of instructional materials for learning.
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Keywords
Mathematics, Girls’ performance, Teaching