COMPARISON OF TEST SCORES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL LEARNERS ASSESSED UNDER CONCEPT MAPPING AND BIOLOGY ACHIEVEMENT TEST (BAT) AS MEASURING INSTRUMENTS OF QUALITY IN KENYA

Abstract

Despite the importance of knowledge of biology, candidates’ performance at national examinations is poor. This implies that the quality of education low though access is satisfactory. Poor academic performance of learners is usually attributed teaching methods. However, examination methods are often ignored yet their effect could be significant too. The purpose of this study was to compare differential effectiveness of two assessment tools Concept Mapping(CM) and Biology Achievement Test(BAT) on learners/academic achievement in secondary school education. The study was quasi-experimental using non-equivalent control group design with 4 groups. 2 of the groups comprised boys while 2 were for girls to allow for investigation for gender. The accessible population was all students in national schools of which 20 were sampled. The students in the 4 schools were taught the same topic in biology: “general characteristics of enzymes” and were assessed using the two measuring instruments in equal proportion. Before commencement of teaching, pre-test was given as post-test after re-arrangement of test items was done. The test had 25 objective questions testing knowledge of facts, application of knowledge and problem solving ability. Data analysis was done using ANOVA. In order to test the hypothesis at significant level of 0.05. The results and findings of the study shows that use of Biology Achievement Test (BAT) led to higher mean scores compared to use of concept maps. This difference could be attributed to lack of adequate skill and experience by learners in constructing good concept maps. The findings of this study could be helpful to curriculum developers and teachers in an effort to comply with the newly launched Competency–Based Curriculum (CBC) framework in Kenya.