PROF. JUSTUS O. INYEGA

Students intellectual, social and human development is enhanced if lecturers are equipped with appropriate pedagogical and people-skills. Insights gained from lecturers capacity-building in-service training programs in a public university in Kenya are presented in this paper. Twenty thematic areas were covered aimed at improving competences of lecturers in facilitating students' learning. In-service lecturers' responses were analyzed qualitatively. In-service lecturers have training expectations and challenges in teaching university students when preparing them to become responsible citizens. They are generally satisfied with focused professional development seminars they attend, and are likely to provide effective lecturing and improved classroom practices in their faculties.

Decline in quality education has become one of the major challenges facing the education sector as the Government tries to widen access to basic education. To address these challenges, the major thrust has been to develop feasible policies, objectives, strategies, programs and activities to guide the development of the sector. For instance, the strategies proposed by MPET for primary education included increasing access and participation as well as raising relevance and quality. However, the quality of education can not be improved without improving the teacher. Consequently, many primary school teachers went back to school and enrolled in degree courses at universities. This paper discusses the attempt to assess the extent to which the teacher who enrolled in the B.Ed. program of the University of Nairobi have been able to expand their knowledge and pedagogical skills in different subjects. Can these teachers contribute to improved efficiency and effectiveness with respect to the provision and delivery of education? In what ways have they contributed to increased in education at the primary level?

This paper examines multi-site cases of in-service teachers' classroom practices and experiences about chemistry unit lesson planning and implementation following the Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) professional development programs in Kenya. A descriptive comparison was made of chemistry district in-service educators in two districts in four different settings (boys' boarding, girls' boarding, mixed boarding, and mixed day schools). The study found that participants prepared student-centred lesson activities, improvised teaching/learning materials, and conducted small-scale experiments in areas involving dangerous reactions. They enhanced their lesson planning and teaching skills in the areas of the periodic table, the "mole concept," electrochemistry and organic chemistry (the satisfiers or benefits from the In-service education). Participants were dissatisfied because of increased school workloads and not being compensated for implementing district in-service education programs during the 5-year project duration. Implementation of inquiry-based student activities and improvisations in chemistry was hindered by national examinations which do not contain items from such areas.

Our research study provides a glimpse into difficulties high school chemistry teachers in Thailand and
Kenya encounter in classroom practice when addressing issues of learning atomic structure and the periodic
table. In this paper, we focus on chemistry teachers’ reflections using surveys with questionnaires and interviews
to learn about the difficulties they encounter in teaching basic concepts related to atomic structure and the
periodic table in chemistry. We do not believe that teachers in Thailand and Kenya are different from those in
the global community, but little data exists to support this claim especially with regard to rural areas. Our data
is being used to design and create curriculum materials relevant to the teachers’ and students’ needs and we are
planning to investigate its usefulness.
Keywords: atomic structure, chemistry, Kenya, periodic table, teachers’ perspectives, Thailand

The book focus on teaching methodology with special reference to reading

This paper examines multi-site cases of in-service teachers' classroom practices and experiences about chemistry unit lesson planning and implementation following the Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) professional development programs in Kenya. A descriptive comparison was made of chemistry district in-service educators in two districts in four different settings (boys' boarding, girls' boarding, mixed boarding, and mixed day schools). The study found that participants prepared student-centred lesson activities, improvised teaching/learning materials, and conducted small-scale experiments in areas involving dangerous reactions. They enhanced their lesson planning and teaching skills in the areas of the periodic table, the "mole concept," electrochemistry and organic chemistry (the satisfiers or benefits from the In-service education). Participants were dissatisfied because of increased school workloads and not being compensated for implementing district in-service education programs during the 5-year project duration. Implementation of inquiry-based student activities and improvisations in chemistry was hindered by national examinations which do not contain items from such areas.

This paper examines multi-site cases of in-service teachers' classroom practices and experiences about chemistry unit lesson planning and implementation following the Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) professional development programs in Kenya. A descriptive comparison was made of chemistry district in-service educators in two districts in four different settings (boys' boarding, girls' boarding, mixed boarding, and mixed day schools). The study found that participants prepared student-centred lesson activities, improvised teaching/learning materials, and conducted small-scale experiments in areas involving dangerous reactions. They enhanced their lesson planning and teaching skills in the areas of the periodic table, the "mole concept," electrochemistry and organic chemistry (the satisfiers or benefits from the In-service education). Participants were dissatisfied because of increased school workloads and not being compensated for implementing district in-service education programs during the 5-year project duration. Implementation of inquiry-based student activities and improvisations in chemistry was hindered by national examinations which do not contain items from such areas.

In this qualitative research case study, multi-site cases of teachers' practices and experiences about chemistry unit lesson planning and implementation following an in-service teacher education program in Kenya are examined. Specifically, a descriptive comparison of chemistry educators in the Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) In-service Program in four different school settings (boys' boarding, girls' boarding, mixed boarding, and mixed day) was made. The intent of this study was to determine what changes, if any, teachers made in the design and implementation of their lessons, how these changes were implemented, and why the teachers made such changes. Among other findings, the study established that participants planned, prepared and implemented student-centered activity lessons using a new lesson plan format during chemistry unit lessons on the Periodic Table, "Mole Concept", Electrochemistry, and Organic Chemistry. They improvised teaching/learning materials, where conventional equipment were not available in school.