Effects of Vee Heuristic Teaching Approach on Achievement of Boys and Girls in Biology in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya

This study determined the effects of Vee Heuristic Teaching Approach on students' achievement Biology based on gender. This study was conducted in public secondary schools in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya. Solomon Four Group Non Equivalent Control Group Design was used. Data was collected from 12 schools randomly sampled from within the county. The sample comprised of 396 Form 2 students from four boys, four girls and four co educational schools. A Biology Achievement Tests were developed and used for data collection. The instruments were pilot tested in one boy's, one girl's and one co educational school to ascertain its reliability. A reliability coefficient value of 0.83 was obtained. Hypotheses were tested using ANOVA, ANCOVA and t test statistics at a 0.05 level of significance. Means were separated using Least Significant Difference (LSD) pair wise post hoc comparisons. The study found that Vee Heuristics Teaching Approach VHTA facilitated students' achievements in biology regardless of gender. Key words; Vee heuristic, achievements, biology, gender.  The international community all over the world aim at educating millennial qualified enough to serve in the global task force particularly in scientific, industrial and capacity building. To this end, more and more studies are conducted in science education and continuously developing discipline which obtains information on the existence, development, modification and interrelationships of living organisms on earth (Hulya Punar, 2010) Problems related to reproduction, nourishment, environment, health, diseases, marriage and family relationships, learning and memory can be solved only through biology education (Sucuoglu, 2003) Biological knowledge plays fundamental role in most aspects of human life; its application in genetic engineering has made a tremendous contribution towards meeting the demand of food security, medicine and control of a variety of diseases (UNESCO, 2013) Despite this significant role, there is a global concern about the performance in biology by high school students especially at physiology and anatomy topics particularly in South East Asia and Sub Saharan Africa. In Kenya, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) examinations reports (2013) indicate that the performance of students at the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in Biology is poor when compared with other science subject with boys preforming better than girls in virtually all topics in biology. Other related studies suggest that the separation of sexes promotes ISSN: 2411 5681 www.ijern.com 24 better educational experience and improves academic success of students. Those in support of single sex classrooms believe that mixed sex classrooms can be destruction from a child's educational achievement (NASSPE, 2013) Wachanga and Mwangi (2004) while investigating the effects of school category on students' performance established that students in single sex schools outshone those in co educational schools in Nakuru, Kenya. While investigating the processes that influence gender differences in access to post secondary institutions, Deborah (1996) found that gender gap in achievements was as a result of a complex and dynamic interplay between societal factors, the school environment and gender role behavior that structural aspect like poor facilities, inadequate teaching and unethical practices were also reflected as symptoms that could contribute to gender gap in achievement. One of the notable interventions in teaching of sciences is the use of Vee diagrams approaches. This approach emphasizes the structure of and interplay between the theoretical and methodological dimensions of knowledge. It is essentially a pedagogical technique, heuristic where learning occurs through student directed, constructivist and inquiry based discoveries (Roehrig, Edward, 2001) It is ideal for enabling students to understand how events, processes and objects are meaningfully related because its overall purpose is the interplay between what is familiar and what is to be taught in scientific or mathematical explanation (Novak Alvarez, 2005) Vee heuristic enables the learners to understand the structure of knowledge, and the process of knowledge construction because knowledge is not absolute, but dependent upon concepts, theories and methodologies upon which world is viewed (Roehrig Edwards, 2001) While investigating the effects of Vee heuristics and concepts mapping on achievements of students in chemistry in Liceo de Cagayan University in Philippines, Dominic (2012) observed that Vee diagrams help students develop a rich system of concepts and their learning strategies. It was observed that Vee diagrams help students to use concepts to build conceptual interconnections which help the students to formulate explanations about observed changes. The use of Vee heuristic has been proven to be effective tool in enhancing achievements in chemistry and physics, however there is no research known to the researcher that has been conducted in Kenya to evaluate the effects of VHTA on students achievements based on gender. It is against this background that the present study was designed.  Despite the massive allocation of resources to education sector in Kenya, the sector is still faced by challenges which are likely to undermine the achievement of envisioned 2030 development blue print. One of the challenges is gender parity in performance in science subjects among high school students particularly in biology KNEC reports indicates that students are unable to interpret questions, possess poor scientific language and fail to relate biological knowledge to real life leading to low average mean scores. Research findings recommend a shift from conventional methods of teaching biology to metacognitive approaches to reverse on this negative trend.  The study sought to investigate how VHTA affected achievements of boys and girls in secondary school biology. International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 4 No. 10 October 2016 25 HYPOTHESES To achieve the study objectives, the following hypothesis were tested at a= 0.05 level of significant.  There is no statistical significant difference in achievement scores in biology between boys exposed to Vee Heuristic Teaching Approach and those who are not exposed to it.  There is no statistical significant difference in achievement scores in biology between girls exposed to Vee Heuristic Teaching Approach and those who are not exposed to it.  There is no statistically significant difference in achievement scores in Biology test between boys and girls who are exposed to Vee Heuristic Teaching Approach.  Education psychologists have consistently found that girls are found to have higher standards in the classroom, and evaluate their own performance more critically. Girls also outperform boys in schools, as measured by students' grades in all subjects and in all age group (Paul, Antonio Robert, 2001) Although girls do better in school (as measured by report card grades one might imagine that girls would be more self confident about their academic activities and a higher academic self esteem. But that is not the case, paradoxically; girls are more likely to be excessively critical in evaluating their own academic performance. Conversely, boys tend to have unrealistically high estimates of their own academic activities accomplishment (Eva, Ellen Jill, 2002) While investigation the interest and attitudes of school students towards biology Prokop (2007) found that biology lessons were relatively popular with greatest preference found among students learning zoology. Girls showed significant interest than boys. It was also observed that interest to learn biology decreased with age. Girls assessed biology as more important and less difficult than boys. A research conducted on women in learning science and mathematics in Britain revealed that factors that alienate and exclude women from science and mathematics classes beyond the compulsory age include comparisons in performance, lack of co operative learning environment, lack of teachers, enthusiasm in subject while discouraging teaching methods (Isaac, 1996) While studying the gender influence on learning styles and preferences of medical students, although not significantly different, the female students population tended to be more diverse than the male population encompassing a broader range of sensory modality combinations within their preference profiles. Teachers need to be cognizant of these differences and broaden their range of teaching styles accordingly. There is growing recognition that there are psychological differences between genders that affect the way that male and female think, communicate and behave. According to UNESCO (2013) there is no great difference between the attainment of boys and girls in the national examinations. In recent years, however, evidence shows that while boys and girls have improved their performance, girls are achieving higher grades than boys. They outperform boys in examination at all levels and in virtually all subjects even those traditionally considered to be male preserves such as physics and mathematics (NASSPE, 2014) A growing body of research indicates that there are key differences between boys and girls that can affect both learning and attainment. Boys tend to like recognition for what they have achieved, whereas girls tend to get more on appreciation for who they are as person. An increasing number of schools praise boys in a more covert way, (Eva, Ellen Jill, 2002)  2411 5681 www.ijern.com 26 Mondoh (1998) revealed that girls tend to perceive information concretely and process it reflectively. All efforts to include more activity in Biology lessons could be of great advantage since girls understand better by seeing patterns and connec