Motivation to Learn Biology: Gender and School Type Differences in Co-Educational Schools in Siaya County, Kenya

Aims: The purpose of the study was to investigate gender and school type differences in motivational orientations among grade 10 students in co-educational schools of Siaya County, Kenya.

Study Design: The study adopted a concurrent mixed methods design.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Siaya County, Kenya during the second term of the year 2018 in June.

Methodology: The sample consisted of 680 students (380 boys, 300 girls) from a population of 6800 students (3800 boys, 3000 girls) using multi-stage cluster sampling and simple random sampling. The study used Biology Motivation Questionnaire (BMQ) adopted and modified to suit the study from Tuan, Chin and Shieh (2005) and Biology Interview Guide (BIG). To test gender and school type differences in motivation, independent sample t-tests were used. The hypotheses were accepted at a significance level of α=0.05.

Results: The findings indicate statistically significant gender differences in Self-efficacy (SE), Active Learning strategies (ALS) and Learning Environment Stimulation (LES) in favour of boys. There were gender differences in Performance Goal (PG) and Achievement Goal (AG) in favour of girls; there were no significant gender differences in Biology Learning Value (BLV). The findings indicated statistically significant school type differences in SE, ALS, and LES in favour of High Performing Schools (HPS). There were also statistically significant school type differences in PG and AG in favour of Low Performing Schools (LPS). There were no statistically significant school type differences with regard to BLV.

Conclusion: It is concluded that gender and school type differences exist with regard to motivational orientations and beliefs. Implications for practice are highlighted.