Relationship between Teacher’s Level of Training in Information Communication and Technology and Students’ Academic Achievement in Physics in Makueni County, Kenya

Abstract

Recent studies have found out that the use of Information communication and Technology (ICT) in teaching makes learning enjoyable thereby leading to improvement of academic achievement by the learner. Teachers who have high ICT skills have been found to demonstrate high levels of competency in using ICT in teaching. To get sufficient skills in the use of ICT, one has to undergo training or get exposed to the use of ICT through interaction with peers or through self-learning on the internet. This study sought to investigate the relationship between teacher’s level of ICT training and how it influences a learner’s academic achievement in physics in Makueni County. Stratified random sampling was applied to select a sample of 60 schools from a total population of 375 schools. The research used descriptive survey design where participants answered questions administered through interviews and questionnaires. Microsoft (MS) Excel (2010) was used to analyze the data. The objectives were analyzed through descriptive statistics and conceptual content analysis whereas analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. From the study, it was observed that students taught by teachers who trained ICT from an ICT training college obtained higher scores than students taught by teachers who took ICT as a unit in teacher training colleges. It was also observed that students taught by teachers with high levels of ICT training obtained a high means core than students taught by teachers with low level of ICT training. However, the study found out that students taught by teachers who were trained to use physics software produced students with low mean score than teachers who were not trained to use any physics software. From the findings, it was concluded that the teacher’s level of ICT training affects student’s academic achievement in physics with teachers who have high level of ICT training producing students who have a higher performance than students taught by teachers with low level of ICT training. From these findings, it was recommended that ICT training centers which specialize in training teachers be established, the ministry of education to organize more frequent in-service training (INSET) programs to enable teachers acquire more ICT skills and lastly, more research to be done on the influence physics software’s have on the academic achievement of students in physics.