FACTORS AFFECTING PERFORMANCE IN BIOLOGY AT TACHASIS GIRLS SECONDARY SCHOOL, UASIN-GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish factors associated with poor academic performance amongst learners in biology subject in Tachasis girl’s secondary school in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. This research was guided by four research objectives. Namely: To establish the attitude of learners towards biology subject and how it affects its performance, to determine the attitude of biology teachers towards learners, to establish methodology employed in teaching and to determine the resources employed by the school in delivering biology content. The study employed diagnostic research design where the inception of issue at hand was addressed then diagnosis of the underlying problem lastly strategies to solve the problem are searched. Purposive sampling was used in selecting teachers of biology and data was drawn them for the study. A sample of 163 students were selected for the study using stratified random sampling technique. The researcher used various methods to obtain data including use of questionnaire, analysis of past results and interviews. The results showed that there is laxity among learners in terms of performing exemplary well in biology performance. The study showed that learners prefer humanities and tend to participate well in classes compared to biology. The study recommends that collaborative teaching experience should be put in place to improve learning methodology. Another recommendation is that the school system should put in place activities such as internal symposiums, biology contests and topical review of questions organized wholly for junior classes that is form 1 and form 2. The results of this study are of benefit to Tachasis girl’s secondary school.