Effects of cooperative teaching strategy on students achievement and motivation to learn agriculture in secondary schools of Kirinyaga east sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

Agricultural education plays a pivotal role in preparing secondary school students to become future nutritionists, scientists, instructors, agents of change among others in Kenya. Agricultural educational programmes are also critical components of economic development, as learners are imparted with the knowledge and skills requisite for industrial sector. Despite its importance, achievement in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in agriculture in Kirinyaga East subCounty has been below average since the year 2017 to 2022. The low achievement is a pointer that motivation to learn the subject has also been low, since the two are significantly related. It is possible that the unsatisfactory achievement and motivation to learn agriculture could be due to the teaching strategies adopted by instructors. The study, investigated the effect of cooperative teaching strategy (CTS) on students’ achievement and motivation to learn agriculture in secondary schools in Kirinyaga East Sub-County, Kenya. The study utilized collaborative and Social Interdependence theory. The study adopted the Solomon Four Group-Design. The study population was 3,570 Form Two students. Purposive and simple random sampling were used to select four county co-educational secondary schools which participated in the study. A sample size of 186 Form Two students was involved in the study. Agriculture Achievement Test (AAT) and Agriculture Motivation Questionnaire (AMQ) were used to collect data. The face and content validity of the instruments were ascertained by the supervisors. The reliability of AAT and AMQ that was tested using, Kuder Richardson KR 21 and Cronbachs’ alpha was 0.714 and 0.811 respectively. Hypothesis were tested at .05 significance level using the ANOVA, t-test, Mann Whitney U-test and Kruskal Wallis H-test. The findings of this study showed significant difference in achievement between students exposed to CTS and those taught using conventional strategy. A significant difference in achievement by gender of students exposed to CTS was also observed. The findings further showed an insignificant difference in motivation to learn agriculture by teaching strategy and gender. The study concluded that CTS is more effective in enhancing students’ achievement in agriculture than conventional teaching strategy. The study also concluded that improvement in students’ motivation to learn agriculture is not affected by teaching strategy and also gender wise. Teacher training institutions may use the results of the study when reviewing their endeavour to improve their effectiveness. Therefore, agriculture teachers should integrate CTS in content deliverly.