Girls' participation in science subjects in secondary schools in Kenya

© 2010 Florence M. IvongoThis research aims at uncovering girls' participation in sciences in Kenya at secondary schools so as to provide a comprehensive picture that has been previously overlooked when researching under-representation of females and girls in science and science related careers. The study will help the government of Kenya through the Ministry of Education find out the causes of girls' participation in science and how to help them improve in science performance which is anticipated to improve the lifestyle of the girl-child in Kenya. A qualitative inquiry with case study aspects method was employed for this study with a descriptive case study design. Stratified purposeful sampling was used and data were collected through open-ended survey questionnaires using two groups of participants from State House Girls High School in Kenya. The findings of this research show that an assumption that girls hate science is unfounded. In fact there are a range of complex attitudinal factors and influences present. As this research was based in one single school, it would be of value to focus similar future research on multiple sites and external beyond this year group to track pathways from school into higher education careers