| dc.description.abstract | The issue of quality secondary school geography education has been of great concern in
Kenya for several years. Several factors have been considered as being responsible for
the low quality, such as poor teaching methods, lack of resources and negative attitudes
of teachers and students. The use of new Information Communication Technologies
(lCTs) in education is being seen as fundamental in developing student interest in
performance in the subject. The use of technology in teaching and learning may have
potential to improve performance of learners in Geography but this has not attracted the
interest of researchers. In Kenya, there is pervasive lack of teaching and learning
resources to improve the quality of geography education, especially those that incorporate
new ICTs, hence poor performance in certain abstract concepts in Geography. The
purpose of the study was to determine potential for incorporation of computer simulations
in the teaching of Geography in secondary schools. The design of the study was
descriptive surveys and completely randomized bock design that were conducted in
Kisumu District of Nyanza Province, Kenya. The study targeted 240 secondary school
geography teachers and 3500 form three students. Simple random sampling technique
was used to select the respondents. The sample was 80 teachers and 1165 form three
students. Questionnaire surveys and interviews were used to collect data from geography
teachers and students on their attitudes towards the use of computer technology in
teaching and learning. Analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics.
Quantitative data from questionnaire surveys were analyzed using descriptive surveys
such.as percentages, means and frequencies, and, presented in form of tables and graphs.
Qualitative data from the interviews were organized into themes, categorized, coded,
converted into percentages and presented in a narrative form. A test was given to find out
the effect of computer use on learners' performance. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney
U Test was used to determine statistical differences between the control and experimental
groups at a confidence level of 0.05. The study concluded that many schools in Kisumu
District did not have computers dedicated for geography education and use of the
technology for teaching and learning Geography was non existent. It is of necessity to
motivate, facilitate and equip secondary school geography teachers with requisite
knowledge and expertise on innovative computer uses. The study revealed that both
geography teachers (mean of 4.89) and students (mean of 4.81) had a positive attitude
towards the use of computer technology in geographic instruction. It was also revealed
that students had problems comprehending certain topics because of their abstract nature
and teachers lacked knowledge on innovative uses of computer based resources. The
study established that the most difficult topic for learners to comprehend and teachers to
teach was 'The earth and the solar system'. The study concluded that computer
simulations, used simultaneously with the traditional method of teaching were very
effective in teaching and learning difficult topics in Geography. The study recommends
that computer simulations be integrated in to the geography curriculum. The study also
concluded that it was of necessity to consider sound educational practices and
philosophies that underpin the use of interactive computer simulations, such as
constructivism, and, relevant curriculum considerations. Design considerations for the
simulations software to be considered ought to include friendliness in the user interface
and ease of navigation, enhanced interaction and feedback mechanisms. | en_US |
