EFFECT OF USING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE TEACHING STRATEGY IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (R.E.) FOR ACQUISITION OF VALUING SKILLS AMONGST YOUTH IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA

Abstract

The purpose of education is not to impart knowledge but instead to facilitate a child’s thinking and problem solving skills which can be transferred to a range of situations. The major purpose of teaching is that of helping students gain knowledge, feelings and valuing skills that they need to function effectively in the society. One way of making students acquire valuing skills is through use of individual difference teaching strategy. In this respect, the purpose of the study was to find out the effect on the use of Individual Difference Strategy in the acquisition of Valuing Skills amongst youths in secondary schools in Kenya. The study was anchored on the Constructivism theory by Brunner and adopted a descriptive survey design biased to quantitative approach that utilize questionnaire to collect data from 13 teachers’ and 309 students. Stratified random sampling technique was employed to select the sample of students and purposive sampling was applied in choice of the teachers. Piloting of instruments was conducted in two schools outside the study area to test reliability, and the validity was established by the expertise of the supervisors. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed that both teachers and students opined that using individual difference strategy facilitated youths in secondary schools in the acquisition of valuing skills. The study concluded that Teacher Services Commission (T.S.C) in liaison with Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (K.I.C.D) need to facilitated teachers in building capacity to update teaching skills. The study therefore recommends an in-service training to enhance teachers’ skills in use of individual difference strategies in teaching, encourage teacher training colleges to train teachers on innovative Instructional Strategy, and revise Religious Education (R.E) Curriculum align to individual difference teaching strategy in order to assist youths in schools acquire valuing skills. Article visualizations: