| dc.description.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 | en |
