Enhancement of Chemistry Self-efficacy of Students using Computer Aided Instruction among Secondary School Learners in Kenya

Chemisrty self-efficacy is to do with desire or confidence to perform well in Chemistry and has been predominantly low among secondary school students in Kenya, and many other developing countries. The study investigated the effect of computer aided instruction (CAI) on Chemisrty self-efficacy of students as compared toconventional methods(CM). The study adopted solomon Four-Group, Non-equivalent Control Group Design which emphasises Quasi-Experimental design. A sample of 174 Form Two secondary school Chemistry students in Tharaka Nithi County in Kenya was used. Four schools were purposively samlped and randomly assigned as either Experimental Groups or Control Groups. The students of experimental groups were taught chemisrty through CAI while the control groups were taught using Conventional Methods on the topics "the structure of the Atom, the periodic table and chemical families" for six weeks. Data was colected using students self-efficacy questionnaire(SSEQ) and was administered before and after exposure of intervention (CAI). Both descriptive and inferential statistics, in particular, t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse the data. The study revealed that the students taught through Computer aided instruction obtained significantly higher chemisrty self-efficacy scores than the students taught using conventional methods. Further, the study revealed that girls obtained higher self-efficacy scores than thier counterpart boys when taught using CAI. Thus, Chemistry teachers should adopt CAI in thier teaching to help in enhancing Chemisrty self-efficacy of students, and by extention enhance performance in Chemistry.