INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS' INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES AND STUDENTS' LEARNING STYLES ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN KENYAN HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS

This study investigated the influence of Teachers’ instructional strategies and students’ learning styles on academic achievement in physics among Kenyan high school students. A quasi–experimental pre-test post–test non-equivalent control group design was employed to investigate how three teachers' instructional strategies (guided-inquiry, cooperative learning and direct instruction) and three learning styles (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic) influence academic achievement in Physics practical work while controlling for gender. The target population was all form three Physics students in Navakholo Sub-County area of Kakamega County. A sample size of five hundred and nineteen (519) form three physics students were selected through multistage sampling procedures (purposive sampling, proportionate stratified random sampling and simple random sampling). One null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance to guide the study. Physics Achievement Tests 1 and 2 (PAT1 & PAT2) and Learning Style Questionnaire. Teachers’ Instructional Guides on Guided-Inquiry (TIGITS), Cooperative (TIGCTS) and Direct Instructional Strategy (TIGDITS) were used to collect data. Validity and reliability of the instruments were assessed. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) and Scheffe multiple comparison test were used to analyse the data. Findings revealed, a significant effect on the academic achievement of physics students taught with different instructional strategies considering their different learning styles. Recommendations were provided