An evaluation of the appropriateness of agriculture textbooks used in Kenyan secondary schools

Abstract

This research is conducted with an aim of establishing good criteria for selecting appropriate textbooks for teaching Ilearning agriculture in Kenyan Secondary Schools. The research evaluates the aspects considered most important in determining the appropriateness of an agriculture textbook. These aspects include content coverage, where the content of each topic in analyzed against the syllabus and science process skills tested by the book, which are also analyzed. These science process skills includes experimenting, application, discussion, prediction, interpretation, designing, hypothesizing, analysis and evaluation. These skills are analyzed from the questions or exercises given at the end of the topic. The nature of practical provided are evaluated either on the basis of proposed sequence of project or follow the procedure given. The nature of illustrations given in the textbooks are analyzed i.e. tables, graphs, pictures and diagrams. From a population of twelve books. four of the most commonly used books in secondary schools are analyzed. Out of these, three were established after the introduction of the 8-4-4 system of education syllabus and one was in use in the former system of education. It is assumed that this research will be useful to teachers, students and parents when selecting appropriate agriculture textbooks from a wide field in the market.