Articles: Department of Education

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Browsing Articles: Department of Education by Author "Karuku, Simon"

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    Effects of Performance Ranking in Mathematics on Students’ and Teachers’ Identity Development
    (Science Publishing Group, 2019-04) Njiru, Samson Murithi; Nyaga, Milcah Njoki; Karuku, Simon
    Student and teacher identities are generally considered to influence students’ academic performance in Mathematics. The objective of the study reported in this paper was to investigate the effects of performance ranking in Mathematics on students’ and teachers’ identity development. The participants for the study were Mathematics teachers and students in secondary schools in Embu County in Kenya. A random sample of 1989 students and 101 teachers drawn from a population of 41925 students and 414 teachers participated in the study. The study adopted a mixed methods research design. Data were collected through one-on-one semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and surveys. Chi-square test was used to test the hypothesis; performance ranking does not mediate Mathematics students’ and teachers’ identity development. The findings indicate that, performance ranking is a tool used by teachers and students in giving them feedback on their level of capabilities as Mathematics teachers and students. Secondly, performance ranking influence Mathematics teachers in furthering their studies in Mathematics-related courses, and students in aligning themselves to their preferred careers. Additionally, the study revealed that performance ranking is a motivation for students to work hard so as to have good relationships with their teachers as teachers are friendly to the students at the top of the rank. Similarly, the students identify themselves with peers of their abilities as far as Mathematics is concerned. The study recommends that the practice of performance ranking in Mathematics should continue and be used as a tool to identify the best Mathematics classes, students and teachers so as to act as a benchmark to encourage the rest to learn from
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    An Exploration of Factors that Contribute to Low Performance in Physics: A Case of a Secondary School in Kenya
    (2015-08) Njiru, Samson M.; Karuku, Simon
    The study reported in this paper aimed at exploring the factors that contribute to students’ low performance in physics. Study participants were 2 physics teachers (a male and a female) and 57 physics students (30 males and 27 females) drawn from a coeducational, government day secondary school located in Embu County in Kenya. The study adopted a mixed method approach, whereby both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized to gather data. Analysis of quantitative data was done using the SPSS software package while the qualitative data were analyzed manually using thematic content analysis. Three major categories of factors were identified as contributing to students’ low performance in physics; namely, learning factors, teaching factors, and administrative factors. Learning factors are those factors that emanate from the learners, such as time management skills and background in mathematics; teaching factors are those factors that are attributable to the teacher, such as quality of teacher-student interactions and teacher’s content knowledge; while administrative factors are those factors that can be attributed to the administrative context within the school, such as access to resources and quality of guidance provision. Based on the research findings, a number of recommendations are made to practitioners and policy makers. For teacher educators, a proposal is made to include a course on improvisation in physics education during teacher pre-service training. For the school administrators, it is recommended that mechanisms be put in place to ensure that the students’ voice is heard and supported during selection of preferred subject combinations. For teachers, it is recommended that the use of practical and interesting learning experiences during lessons be inculcated right from the first year of secondary education so as to engage the learners and sustain their attention.
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    Implementing Language-in- Education Policy in Multilingual Mathematics Classrooms: Pedagogical Implications
    (2013) Halai, Anjum; Karuku, Simon
    In this paper, we examine selected literature on classroom-based research to understand how students and teachers (re)negotiate the language of interaction in a mathematics classroom when the official medium of instruction is different from the students’ dominant language. We identify the tensions and dilemmas associated with the implementation of language-in-education policy in selected postcolonial Anglophone countries where English is used as a medium of instruction at various stages of formal schooling. We also examine the pedagogical implications of these tensions and dilemmas, paying particular attention to emerging issues of code-switching, translation and ‘safe’ use of language.
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    Manifestations and meanings of cognitive conflict among mathematics students in Embu, Kenya
    (ACADEMIC JOURNALS, 2020-11) Ngicho, Dickens O.; Karuku, Simon; King'endo, Madrine
    Establishing how cognitive conflict is manifested by students is an important first step in understanding how teachers can utilize cognitive conflict to improve students' learning experiences. This paper presents findings from the analysis of qualitative data drawn from a larger study that explored the role of cognitive conflict in promoting students’ conceptual development in mathematics. The study participants were secondary school mathematics students and their teachers drawn from twenty-five public secondary schools in Embu West Sub-County in Kenya. Data were gathered through surveys and semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and coded, followed by organization of the codes into categories that were used to develop themes. The findings indicate that students experienced cognitive conflict in three significant ways: a moment to (co) construct one’s mathematical meaning, confusion as a result of teacher’s behaviorist stance, and a fleeting moment of magic. The paper recommends that teachers should take advantage of cognitive conflict as a strategy for scaffolding mathematics learning by giving students tasks that provoke critical thinking so that as students work on the tasks, their naïve understandings of the concepts are challenged.
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    Performance ranking in school mathematics in Kenya: A device that conceals and naturalizes inappropriate teaching strategies
    (2020-08) Njiru, Samson M.; Karuku, Simon; Nyaga, Milcah Njoki
    Teaching strategies have a significant influence on students’ academic performance. This paper presents results from a qualitative study that examined the effects that performance ranking in Mathematics has on teaching strategies employed in Mathematics classrooms. In particular, the paper demonstrates how performance ranking disguises and legalizes inappropriate Mathematics teaching strategies. The participants for the study were Mathematics teachers and students in secondary schools in Embu County in Kenya. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were employed in data collection. Results showed that due to competition by teachers to achieve a higher mean score, they engaged in examination malpractices such as leaking examination questions to students. Secondly, teachers’ desire for excellence in their subjects, and achieving top rank to receive prizes was found to be another reason behind teaching students to pass examinations rather than for conceptual understanding. Additionally, the study revealed that performance ranking promoted private tuition to offer assistance to the weak students in Mathematics to improve performance in the subject. This paper recommends that the practice of ranking should be tailored to include all the aspects.
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    Performance rankings in education: Implications for policy and practice
    (ACADEMIC JOURNALS, 2020-11) Njiru, Samson M.; Karuku, Simon; Nyaga, Milcah Njoki
    In recent decades, school performance ranking (or ‘league table’) have become a common feature of many education systems in the world. The ranking is usually published by government and news agencies in an attempt to measure and compare the relative performance of individual schools against a number of criteria, including academic performance. This paper reports parts of larger case study that set out to investigate teachers’ and students’ perceptions of performance ranking in secondary schools in Kenya. The study participants were teachers and students of Mathematics drawn from secondary schools in Embu County in Kenya. Data were gathered through one-on-one semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and surveys. The transcriptions of the audio-recorded interviews and focus group discussions were analyzed by first reading the texts of the transcriptions holistically, followed by the development of codes, organizing the codes into larger categories and, finally, organizing the categories into overarching themes. This paper, in particular, examines the research findings through the lens of the existing literature on school performance rankings. The paper demonstrates how school performance rankings in Kenya have been abused over the years to the detriment of quality teaching and learning. Finally, the paper highlights the implications of school performance ranking for policy and practice.
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    Students’ experiences of seeking injustice-induced help in a Mathematics classroom
    (2012) Karuku, Simon; Simmt, Elaine
    In this paper, we describe the phenomenon of a need for help that comes about as a result of problematic classroom practices, as experienced by high school mathematics students. Through students’ experiences, we demonstrate how unequal power relations in the classroom can suppress students’ voices, rendering their attempts at seeking justice futile. The students’ experiences were characterized by wishful thinking, blame, and resignation. The data are taken from a phenomenological study that is seeking to understand the meaning of help in mathematics from the students’ perspective. Students shared their lived experiences through oral and written stories told to the researcher.