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><em>This study investigated the effects of using advance organizers on students’ achievement in biology in secondary schools in Kilifi County. </em><em>Solomon Four, Non-Equivalent control group design was used in this study. The study targeted all secondary school students in Kilifi County. The accessible population consisted of all form two students in Kilifi County. Purposive sampling was used to select four co-educational secondary schools in Kilifi County. The four schools were randomly assigned to experimental groups (E₁) and (E₂) and control groups C₁ and C₂. A total of 156 students participated in the study. Data was collected using Biology Achievement Test (BAT). The reliability of BAT was estimated using Kuder-Richardson (K-R) 20 and Cronbach’s coefficient. This yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.82 and 0.79 respectively. BAT was validated by experts in science education from Egerton University. The data collected was analyzed using mean, </em><em>o</em><em>ne-way ANOVA and t</em><em>-</em><em>test. The level of significance was 0.05. The findings of this study show that there was statistically significant difference in achievement between learners in favour of those taught using advance organizers compared to those taught using conventional teaching methods. The findings also indicate that there was no statistically significant gender difference in achievement.</em><em></em></p>

The study investigated the effectiveness of Cooperative E-learning approach (CELA) on secondary school students' achievement in Chemistry. It was carried out in Koibatek sub county in Kenya, where there has been persistent low achievement in the subject. The Solomon Four Group, Non-equivalent Control Group Design was employed in the study. Three students from twelve county schools, purposively selected from 40 secondary schools were taught the same course content on the topic "mole" for a period of five weeks. The experimental groups (E 1 and E 2) received their instruction through the use of CELA approach and control groups (C 1 and C 2) using the conventional teaching method. The researcher trained the teachers in the experimental groups on the technique of CELA before treatment. The Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) was used for data collection. Pre-test was administered to students in the experimental group (E 1) and control group (C 1) before teaching commences and after the teaching a post-test was administered to the four groups. The instrument was pilot tested to ascertain its reliability. The data collected was analyzed using t-test, ANOVA and ANCOVA. Hypothesis of the study was tested at α = 0.05 level of significance. Results indicated that, the students in the experimental groups outperformed the control groups in the Chemistry Achievement Test. It was concluded that CELA enhanced better performance in Chemistry than conventional teaching method. Science teachers, educationist and policy makers are expected to benefit from the findings of the study. It should be included in regular pre-services and in-service training of Chemistry teachers in Kenya.

Emerging evidence indicates that culture influences pupils learning of science. However, the influence of culture on science learning is usually not considered when developing science curricular for both primary and secondary schools. This study investigated the extent to which primary and secondary school pupils believe in cultural interpretations of the physical phenomenon of 'heat' associated with anger and the influence of education level, ethnic communities and gender on cultural beliefs. Cross-sectional survey research design was used. The target population was Standard Seven, Form one and Form Three pupils in ten districts selected from Nyanza, Rift Valley, Central, Eastern and Coast Provinces in Kenya. The ten districts were selected purposively to represent 10 different ethnic communities from the five provinces. A total of 2837 secondary and 625 primary school pupils participated. The pupils were drawn from 15 primary and 31 secondary schools .A questionnaire was used to gather information from pupils. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used in analyzing data. Hypotheses were tested using the chi square (  2) statistic at α = 0.05 level of significance. Some of the results obtained give statistically significant relationship between pupils' beliefs in cultural interpretations of scientific phenomenon of heat associated with anger and the communities where they come from. This implies that such beliefs are confined to specific communities studied. There appears to be no significant association between pupils' beliefs in cultural interpretations of the scientific phenomenon of heat and level of education in some of the communities. The implication is that education reduces beliefs in cultural interpretations in such communities but does not eradicate such beliefs. There was also no statistically significant association between pupils' beliefs in cultural interpretations of the scientific phenomenon of heat and gender, implying that both boys and girls equally believe in cultural interpretations. The findings from this study inform curriculum developers of some of the cultural beliefs that are likely to influence the learning of science. It is recommended that teachers discuss cultural interpretations of scientific concepts before introducing them in their lessons.

The use of case-based learning and team-based learning may help increase students’ self-concept in chemistry. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap by finding out the effects of case-based learning, team-based learning and regular teaching methods on secondary school students’ self-concept in chemistry in Maara Sub-County, Kenya. The study employed a 3 × 2 × 2 pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental factorial design. The study targeted 18,611 students in 52 secondary schools. Purposive sampling was used to choose three co-educational secondary schools with similar characteristics in Maara Sub-County. A total of 106 form two chemistry students were selected for the study using simple random sampling method. The experimental groups were taught using case-based learning and team-based learning while the control group was taught by regular teaching methods. The three groups were compared two-by-two to find out groups in which the differences in self-concept in chemistry would occur. Student’s self-concept questionnaire was administered to the students in the three groups. The validity of the instrument was ascertained by experts from Egerton University. Pilot testing was done in Meru South Sub-County in schools with similar characteristics. Reliability of the instruments estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.81. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis at α = 0.05. The mean differences in self-concept in the post-test were statistically significant among the three groups. The results of this study may offer valuable knowledge to policy makers as well as chemistry teachers so as to give greater attention to chemistry self-concept among students. The study findings fill a knowledge gap of effectiveness of methods of teaching chemistry.