Effect of Computer Assisted Teaching Strategy on Students’ Academic Achievement And Motivation in Biology in Public Secondary Schools in Baringo County, Kenya

Abstract

Biology is a branch of science studied at secondary school that lays the foundation for careers in medicine, education, agriculture, environment, and biotechnology important in industrial and technological development. Despite the importance of biology in the society, its achievement in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education has been low, as indicated by the low academic scores of the students. This low achievement could be attributed by factors that could include inappropriate teaching strategy and lack of mastery of concepts by the students. The purpose of study was to determine the effect of integration of Computer Assisted Teaching Strategy (CATS) on student academic achievement and motivation in Biology in public Secondary schools in Baringo County. The study used Solomon Four-Quasi experimental design. Purposive sampling was used to select eight extra-County Secondary schools in Baringo. Stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting sample schools for the study. The researcher sampled 324 biology students from the stratified selected extra County secondary schools. In selected schools with more than one stream, simple random sampling was used to sample form three biology students and assigning them experimental and control group. The experimental groups were manipulated by exposing them to Computer Assisted teaching strategy while the control groups were taught using the traditional teaching strategy. The research instruments that were used to collect data included; Biology Achievement Test and Biology Motivation Questionnaire. The instruments were piloted to establish the reliability. Reliability of the research instruments was determined by using split half method and correlation coefficient was determined by using Spearman Brown prophecy formula. The Reliability coefficient for the instruments was 0.704 and 0.709 for BAT and BMQ respectively with the overall reliability coefficient being 0.706 that was considered suitable for the study. The data obtained was analyzed descriptively using frequencies, percentages and inferentially using Analysis of Variance and t-test. The hypotheses of the study were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The validity of the research instruments was determined by incorporating the expert judgment from the biology teachers and supervisors. The findings of the study showed that integration of CATS enhances students’ achievement in biology. Additionally the findings indicated that the strategy positively influence student motivation in biology. Further the findings shows that there is statistical significance in students’ academic achievement based on gender. Similarly, statistical significance was reported in student motivation based on gender when exposed to CATS. From the findings of the study CATS is effective in improving student academic achievement and enhances motivation in biology. The study findings will be beneficial to curriculum developers at Kenya institute of curriculum development in formulation of policy and guidelines for integration, planning and implementation of CAT in school curriculum in order to enhance learning and improve student achievement and motivation. Therefore, biology teachers should incorporate the computer teaching strategy in teaching in order to improve academic achievement and motivation in biology.