Abstract:
Achievement in Biology in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education has consistently
been low for the period between 2000 and 2006. This would imply that the objectives of
Biology teaching have not been achieved. In addition, the performance of girls has often been
lower as compared to that of boys. Low achievement in examinations would partly be
attributed to lack of effective learning, as a result of ineffective teaching approaches. The
expository approach has been the main method used for teaching Biology in secondary
schools in Kenya. The stakeholders in education attribute failure of students to adequately
master Biology content to the use of expository approach that does not assist learners relate
skills, formulae, laws and procedures they learn to previous knowledge and experiences.
Concept and Vee mapping strategies have had positive results in other parts of the world such
as England, Wales and North America and could probably have a positive impact if used in
the teaching of Biology in Kenya. In this study, a hybrid of the two strategies referred as
Concept and Vee Mapping Strategy (CVMS) was used. The purpose of the study was to
measure the CVMS’ effect on students’ achievement and motivation in Biology in mixed
provincial secondary schools in Uasin Gishu District, Kenya. A Quasi-experimental research
based on the Solomon Four group design was used. All students in secondary school in Uasin
Gishu District constituted the target population. The accessible population constituted all the
form two students. Four mixed schools were sampled and randomly assigned to the
experimental and control groups. One form two stream from each school was selected and
this gave a total sample size of 144 students. The research instruments used to collect data
included the Biology Achievement Test (BAT) and the Students’ Motivation Questionnaires
(SMQ 1 and SMQ 2). The data was analysed using one-way ANOVA and t-test. Hypotheses
were tested at alpha is equal to 0.05 level of significance. The results show that students
taught using the CVMS had higher motivation and achievement than students taught using
the traditional methods. The results also indicated that students’ gender did affect
achievement in Biology where girls performed better than boys. It is therefore concluded that
CVMS is an effective approach in improving students’ performance in Biology in secondary
schools as well as reducing the gender disparity in achievement. This study recommends
CVMS teaching method for adoption in Kenyan secondary schools.
