An Evaluation of the Type of Exercises Used by Chemistry Teachers in Kenyan Secondary Schools

Abstract

Acquisition of basic chemical knowledge is supposed to be at secondary school level; however, there is sufficient evidence to show that many students in the developing world come out of the secondary school system having learnt very little science. The type of techniques of teaching used by organic chemistry teachers could contribute to the students‘ poor mastery of subject matter. This study sought to explore the type of exercises given by chemistry teachers in the class after presentation of new content. Twenty four teachers, two hundred and six students and twenty heads of departments took part in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect data for the study. The study revealed that most teachers did not give written exercises to be done in class during lesson presentation and that the assessments done were school organised tests given at the end of the month, mid-term or end of term. The research further found that a big proportion (87.50%) of the teachers did not adequately plan for the assessments they intend to give their students. Unplanned-for assessments made students concentrate on issues not relevant to the syllabus hence contributed to the poor performance in the summative examinations set by the Kenya National Examinations Council. From the study findings, it is recommended that Teachers should plan the exercises to give to their learners before hand and even include them in schemes of work and lesson planning. Prior planning for assessment would ensure that the three main aims of learning science, namely to acquire scientific knowledge, to develop scientific skills/ processes and attain positive attitudes, are catered for in the assessments.