Abstract:
The quality of science graduates largely depends on the quality of teachers and their classroom practices during secondary school training period. Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary School Education (SMASSE) is an in-service course for mathematics and science teachers aimed at improving their classroom approaches and students‘ achievement. The focus of this study was to establish if the aims of SMASSE INSET were achieved. The study sought to find out the influence of SMASSE INSET on chemistry teachers‘ classroom practices, students‘ attitude and achievement in chemistry subject in Nandi East Sub-County, Kenya. The study targeted 98 Chemistry teachers and 13620 Chemistry students. A sample size of 19 Chemistry teachers and 160 chemistry students were purposively selected. Questionnaire for both chemistry teachers and students were administered. The instruments were piloted in one public secondary school in Nandi Central Sub County Nandi County to ensure they were of acceptable reliability and validity. To test reliability of instruments the Cronbach‘s alpha of coefficient was used. Cronbach‘s alpha coefficient value of 0.931 for chemistry teachers` classroom practices questionnaire and 0.885 for students‘ attitude towards chemistry subject questionnaire were obtained from pilot. Instruments were considered reliable since the coefficients were within the acceptable threshold of 0.7 and above. Data collected was organized and entered into SPSS program version 21 for analysis. Descriptive data was presented in terms of frequency tables, mean, standard deviation and percentages. Inferential data was analyzed using Pearson correlation, linear regression Analysis and t-test statistic at a significant level of 0.05. Descriptive data was presented in form of tables and figures. The findings of the study indicate that SMASSE INSET had a positive and statistically significant influence on chemistry teachers` classroom practices and students‘ attitude towards chemistry subject in public secondary schools in Nandi East Sub-County, Kenya. However, the findings showed that SMASSE INSET had no statistically significant influence on students‘ chemistry achievement in public secondary schools in Nandi East Sub-County, Kenya. In conclusion, despite the positive changes on the chemistry teachers‘ classroom practice and students‘ attitude towards chemistry, achievement has not improved as expected. The study recommends that chemistry teachers should be given chance to attend SMASSE INSET since it brings positive impact on student‘s attitude towards chemistry subject. Finally, the ministry of education should invest more on new interventions that will improve students‘ chemistry achievement at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education
