EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTEGRATED STEM PROGRAMME IN IMPROVING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PHYSICS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NAIROBI METROPOLITAN REGION, KENYA

Abstract

ABSTRACT This “study sought to establish the effectiveness of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programme in improving students’ academic achievements in public secondary schools in Nairobi metropolitan region. It evaluated: effectiveness of STEM program on students’ academic achievement, effectiveness of STEM based learning approaches, teacher characteristics and school climate characteristics as an influence in the students’ academic achievement and student characteristic influenced by STEM programme on student’s academic achievement. Academic achievement was measured by Kenya national examination done at the end of form four and the enrollment changes in physics shortly before (2015-2016) and after STEM integration in schools (2018-2020). The evaluation was anchored on Bruner theory and Kirkpatrick’s four level evaluation models. Convergent parallel mixed methods, particularly cross-section survey and phenomenological designs guided the study. The target population had a total of 1448 participants that included principals, teachers and students from 11 STEM model schools. Proportionate stratified sampling and simple random sampling were used to select 549 students while purposive sampling was used to select 60 teachers of physics and 11 principals. Questionnaires, document analysis guide and interview guide were used to collect data. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24.0 and inferential statistics. Karl Pearson correlation analysis was used to test hypothesis. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically and presented in narrative form and direct quotes. Study results revealed STEM programme is effective in improving students’ academic achievements because it offers chances for teachers to be trained on new and emerging teaching and learning approaches and it showed significant increase in student’s enrollment in physics each year. The results showed integrated STEM programme is effective in improving student’s interest in learning physics and motivates students to own the subject. Studies too revealed that STEM learning approaches are very effective in improving student’s practical skills, creativity, innovativeness and students’ academic achievements. Study findings revealed that teacher characteristics, school climate characteristics and student’s characteristics had a positive and significant influence on students’ academic achievement in physics. Findings revealed that in majority of schools, teachers were friendly and they guided students in learning physics content. In adequacy of learning resources and teacher work overload were seen as the glaring challenges to effective implementation of STEM programme. The study recommends the Ministry of Education to ensure that rigorous pre-service and in-service programs are undertaken so as to have high qualified physics teachers who have the capacity and competence to teach and enable the learners get high and quality grades that will enable them to pursue science related careers. Moreover, Teachers Service Commission should hire more physics teachers to address teacher shortage as well as check on distribution of teachers in schools across all counties in order to improve the teacher-pupil ratio thus enhancing student teacher relations and effective curriculum delivery.