Science process skills are central to the acquisition of scientific knowledge which is useful in solving problems in society. In Kenya, students' achievement in

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of gender and knowledge on scientific creativity among form three biology students (third year in secondary school cycle) in Nakuru district in Kenya. The cross-sectional survey research was employed. The population of the study comprised all form three biology students in public secondary schools in Nakuru district. A sample of eight schools with a total of 363 students was selected from the population using stratified sampling technique. Two instruments, namely, Biology Achievement Test (BAT) and Biology Scientific Creativity Test (BSCT) were used to collect data. The psychological definitions of creativity tested are sensitivity, recognition, flexibility and planning. The mapping of these psychological definitions of creativity onto scientific meanings is explained using the model that guided construction of items in BSCT. Data analysis was done using quantitative methods. The statistics used were Pearson correlation coefficient(r), chisquare, t-test and ANOVA, at α=0.05 level of significance. The findings of this study indicate that the form three biology students who participated in the study had a low level of scientific creativity. Secondly, the level of scientific creativity is knowledge and gender dependent. The findings may help teachers and other stake holders in education in inculcating creativity skills amongst science students.Key words: Influence, Gender, Knowledge, Scientific creativity Treffinger (2002) argues that much of what we know today we did not know four decades ago, and in the not-very-distant future much of what we think we know now, will be absolutely irrelevant. He further argues that the "shelf life" of knowledge in this time of constant change and how long knowledge lasts before it is overcome by events or replaced by new, better or different knowledge is getting shorter and shorter. Therefore, students will need another kind of information and tools, "Knowing how" to access, organise, modify, use and construct information. What Treffinger has suggested are the attributes and skills that should be acquired by students if they are to be creative in the scientific discipline. Loehle (1990) argues that, those areas of science such as biology, medicine and theoretical physics need more creativity because the phenomena involved in those subjects are complex. The term creativity has been used and given different meanings in different fields. According to the heritage dictionary, originality and imagination characterize creativity. Some of the important instances of creativity include discoveries of knowledge in science and medicine, invention of new technology, composing beautiful music or analyzing situations in a new way (Standler, 1998). Crawford (1954 is credited with starting a training course to increase creativity among professionals by use of attribute listing. This involved putting down certain attributes of a product and the modifications that could be done to each attribute to improve it. Treffinger, Isaksen and Dorval...

This study investigated the extent to which primary and secondary school pupils believe in cultural interpretations of the biological concepts of conception, birth of twins and sex determination and the influence of education level and gender. Cross-sectional survey research design was used. The target population was Standard Seven (7th grade in the primary school cycle), Form one and Form Three (1st and 3rd grades in the secondary school cycle) pupils in 10 districts in Kenya. A total of 3452 pupils (1875 girls and 1577 boys) participated. The pupils were drawn from 15 primary and 31 secondary schools. A questionnaire was used to gather information from the pupils. The findings indicate that pupils believe in the cultural interpretations of biological phenomena investigated. The findings further indicate that there is a relationship between the pupils' believe in cultural interpretations and the academic grade level and gender. The findings from this study, therefore, inform curriculum developers that cultural believes are likely to militate against the pupils' learning of science. It is recommended that teachers discuss cultural interpretations of scientific concepts before introducing them in their lessons.

<p style="text-align: justify;">Chemistry is one of the subjects that students sit for in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). The attainment of students in chemistry in KCSE has been quite low. An analysis of the past Chemistry examination papers taken in KCSE reveals that the papers test students’ competencies in various aspects of Cognitive Science Process Skill of Evaluation (CSPSE). It was hypthesised that school characteristics could be influencing students’ acquisition of various aspects of CSPSE. The school characteristics investigated were social set up (single – sex and co-educational schools) and school location (rural and urban schools). The aspects of CSPSE investigated were: reformulation of scientific statements, evaluation of experimental procedures, evaluation of inferences from scientific data, and evaluation of scientific arguments. Cross- sectional survey research design was used in this study. Cognitive Science Process Skills Test (CSPST) was constructed and administered to a stratified random sample of 386 Form Three Chemistry students drawn from Public County Secondary Schools in Rift Valley Province of Kenya. The findings of the study show that students from single-sex secondary schools performed significantly better than their counterparts from co-educational schools in all the categories of CSPSE. The school location did not have a significant influence on students’ performance on CSPSE.</p>

Within the constructivist framework, a science teacher is expected to be an active facilitator who orchestrates and supports interaction with learners with the aim of stimulating learning. The quality of teacherpupil interaction would, therefore, determine the effectiveness of the learning process. This study investigated the nature and quality of teacherpupil interactions in primary science lessons. The sample included standard eight pupils in eight primary schools from four districts in Kenya. A total of 196 pupils and 8 science teachers participated in this study. Data was collected by use of a Science Teaching Observation Schedule (STOS). The findings indicate that teachers do not initiate meaningful interactions that would enable pupils to actively learn science as envisaged within the constructivist framework. Suggestions on how teachers can improve interaction with pupils for effective learning are discussed. It is also recommended that the constructivist approach to the teaching of science be emphasized in the primary science teacher education curriculum.