International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue IV, April 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Using Community Learning Resources to Enhance the Acquisition of Science Process Skills

Dr. Stella Kabesa¹, Dr. Lazarus M. Okioma^2
1University of Eldoret, Kenya
²Moi University, Kenya

Abstract: – Current curriculum reforms in science education calls for a new look at using community resources. The science syllabi require access to the world beyond the classroom so that students get educational experiences that can diversify the array of learning opportunities and connect school lessons with daily life and real problems. A schools’ immediate community is a wonderful curriculum laboratory, which can provide extremely dynamic, interesting and real life opportunities for the acquisition of science process skills which include: observation, classification, measurement, inference, prediction and communication. In view of that, this study was conducted to investigate the use of community resources in helping students acquire science process skills. The study resides in a general survey model (Karasar, 1999).The study targeted form four students in 33 secondary schools of Uasin Gishu County. Data was collected from a sample of 186 form four students using self administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Correlation was employed to establish the association while multiple regressions were used to test the study hypotheses. The results revealed that use of school grounds, objects and specimens; use of zoos, parks and botanical gardens; resource persons; museums; models and dioramas exert statistically significant effect on the student’s acquisition of science process skills. It is recommended that school management should support the use of community resources by allowing and facilitating students to go for out-of-classroom activities and closely monitoring their full participation. Further, resource persons should be occasionally engaged in teaching and learning since they are full of memory, experience and expertise. This study provides theoretical insight that community resources can help students make connections between learning science skills and applying them in daily life.

Keywords: – Community resources, Science process skills, Kenya

Paper type: – Research paper

I. INTRODUCTION

Out-of-classroom activities are indispensable parts of learning experiences. These activities enable learners acquire both science process skills and learning scientific method for learning experiences. Benchmarks for Science Literacy emphasize the importance of skills development in preparing students to “make their way in the real world, a world in which problems abound-in the home, in the workplace, in the community and on the planet. If science is to be learned effectively, it must be experienced.