Effects of Concept Mapping Teaching Approach on Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Biology in Kitui County, Kenya

This study investigated the impact of the Concept Mapping Teaching Approach (CMTA) on Biology achievement among year four students in selected secondary schools in Kitui County, Kenya. The Solomon Four Non-Equivalent Control Group design was used. The target population included all secondary school Biology students, while the accessible population comprised Form Four students from co-educational secondary schools in the county. A purposive sample of four secondary co-educational Sub County schools was selected. Two schools were randomly assigned as experimental groups and the remaining two schools served as control groups. The study sample comprised 173 Form four Biology students. Biology Achievement Test (BAT) was used to collect data. The BAT was validated by five experts. The reliability of BAT was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient formula. This yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.78. One-way ANOVA, ANCOVA and t-tests were used to analyze data at 0.05 level of significance. Results indicated that students exposed to CMTA showed significant improvements in their biology performance. Additionally, the study findings indicate that CTMA bridged the gender disparity in achievement.