An Enquiry Into The Methods Of Teaching History In Lower Secondary Schools In Kenya

Abstract

The aim of this.study was to investigate into the methods of teaching History in lower secondary schools in Kenya. The problem of finding a suitable teaching method that would enable children to meet the educational objectives continues to occupy the minds of many educators today. This study attempted to determine the methods used for teaching History in Kenya schools. Major research questions were: What are the most prevalent methods of teaching History in Forms 1 and 2? What are the most popular methods of instruction in Kenya schools? What methods of teaching are likely to make history an interesting subject to teach and learn? What factors hinder the use of some teaching methods? What instructional activities are employed by history teachers? What instructional media are used by History teachers? Chapter two of the study discussed previous studies and researches done by local and foreign researchers. The previous studies found in this chapter provided the rationale and strategies for the course of the study. Furthermore, it provided suggestions, methods and the findings that contributed to the present study. In chapter three, the methodology employed in this study was described in detail. The sample for the study consisted of 20 secondary schools in Kenya, 10 of which were in Siaya District in Nyanza Province and another 10 were in the City of Nairobi. In the 20 schools, 800 pupils and 34 history teachers were given questionnaires to answer. Other samples in the study included subject inspectors, Kenya Institute of Education officials particularly History Panel, University lecturers and other Government officials. Research tools used were Questionnaire, Observation Cum-Survey Schedule and Interview Schedule. Discussions were also held with various subject specialists mentioned above. Analysis of data was done using simple calculation to obtain the percentages which were marked out and presented in frequency distribution. Obtained results indicated that traditional methods are the most prevalent methods of teaching history in Kenyan Secondary Schools. These methods included the following, lecture, note making, note taking, question and answer technique and discussion. It was further found that the chalk and talk, question and answer, and discussion were the most popular instructional activities used by history teachers. The results revealed that history is regarded on the average ranging scale among school subjects. This. attitude of the teachers towards history was also found to be favourable. The favourable attitude was' also reflected in the teacher response, for more than two-thirds (65%) of the teachers responded that history was interesting. Furthermore, results drawn from three categories of schools showed that lecture method was more popular in Harambee Schools than in Government and Private Schools. • The results showed that History is taught by teachers with the highest professional qualifications and long teaching experience. Teaching load was found to be normal as no single teacher complained of overload. The instructional media used by-history teachers are charts, pictures, maps and atlases, radio, tape-recorders, projectors and films. A number of serious problems that face the history teachers are administrative, professional and personal as summarised in Chapter 5. On the integration of history with other Social Studies subjects, the male teachers were in favour of the integration while the female folks were against it. It was also found that the defenders of pure history were more likely to be found among the older teachers. The reported findings are the results of the study which was conducted to investigate the methods of teaching history in Kenya secondary schools