IMPACT OF COOPERATIVE MASTERY LEARNING APPROACH ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY BY GENDER IN BOMET COUNTY, KENYA
Purpose: The study investigated the Impact of Cooperative Mastery Learning Approach (CMLA) on Students’ Achievement in Chemistry by Gender in Bomet County, Kenya. Methodology: Non-equivalent control group design under quasi-experimental research was used in which samples of four co-educational sub-county secondary schools were drawn from the schools in the County. Each school provided one Form Two class for the study. This translated to a total of 205 subjects. Students in all the four groups were taught the same chemistry content of the topic, Effect of Electric Current on Substances for a period of five weeks. In the experimental groups, CMLA teaching strategy was used while Conventional Teaching Methods were used in the control groups. Data was collected using a Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) whose reliability coefficient was found to be 0.78, hence suitable for data collection since the value was greater than the threshold of 0.70.One null hypothesis was stated. The data collected were subjected to statistical analysis at 0.05 α-level of significance using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer package. t-test statistics was used. Results: The findings from the study indicate that the achievement level was high for students taught using CMLA compared to those taught using Conventional Teaching Methods (CTM). The results also indicate that there was no gender difference in achievement when boys and girls were taught through CMLA implying that the teaching approach is suitable for teaching both male and female students. This in turn will help in bridging the persistent gender gap in chemistry achievement among secondary school students. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy : Since CMLA enhances students’ achievement in chemistry, educators and teachers should be encouraged to use it in an attempt to improve performance in chemistry. In addition, teacher education institutions should make it part of their teacher training curriculum content.