CORRELATION BETWEEN TEACHERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS AND STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN GEOMORPHOLOGY IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MURANG’A EAST SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Development of technology has transformed pedagogical practices across the globe, offering new opportunities for experiential learning. In geography, teachers have long relied on physical field trips when teaching geomorphological processes and to allow experiential learning. However, physical field trips are limited by financial, logistical, safety and accessibility difficulties. Low student performance in visualization dependent geomorphology has been evident in KCSE examinations as questions in this area consistently appear in the list of poorly performed topics. Virtual field trips (VFTs) provide an alternative to expose learners to real world geomorphological features and processes while still in classroom. Despite the potential of VFTs to bridge classroom theory with real world application, little is known about teacher’s implementation of VFTs and how this relates to students’ performance. The purpose of this study therefore was to investigate the relationship between teacher’s use of VFTs and students’ academic achievements in geomorphology. Guiding objectives of the study included; To determine the extent to which secondary school geography teachers in Murang’a east sub county use VFTs in teaching geomorphology. To investigate how geography teachers implement virtual field trips based the experiential learning model to enhance student achievement in geomorphology. To establish the relationship between teachers’ use of VFTs and students’ academic achievement in geomorphology. To explore the factors that influence the teachers’ integration of VFTs in teaching geomorphology. This research was anchored by Experiential Learning Theory and Teacher Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model. The study adopted the descriptive correlational design. The target population included 9,058 students and 537 teachers in 33 secondary schools in Murang’a East. The sample size of this research study constituted of 364 form three geography students and their respective11 geography teachers. Purposive sampling was used to select 10 secondary schools, stratified sampling to select form three stratum, purposive stratified sampling to select form three geography class, proportionate sampling to distribute the student sample size (364) among the 10 selected schools based on each school’s enrollment, simple random sampling to select form three geography students and census sampling to select all form three geography teachers. Data collection was done using teacher questionnaire, Classroom Observation Checklist and student marksheet. Quantitative data was analyzed using the descriptive statistics and inferential statistics while qualitative data was thematically analyzed. Findings revealed that VFTs were familiar to most geography teachers (90.9%) but only 72.7% used them in classroom teaching. Teachers partially engaged in experiential learning strategies with strong reflection practices and very weak application activities to real life. At the student level, frequency of VFTs use showed a strong positive correlation with individual student scores (r = .658, p < .001, n = 314), while implementation quality showed a moderate but highly significant correlation (r = .535, p < .001, n = 263). In addition, both were confirmed at the teacher level (r = .784, p = .004; r = .719, p = .045). Teacher motivation and awareness were high, however, lack of ICT skills, resources, poor internet availability and training minimized successful and common implementation of VFT. The data was presented in statistical charts, tables and graphs. The information will be useful in encouraging increased investment in ICT equipment necessary for implementation of VFTs.