Secondary School Learners’ Views on STEM Teachers’ Non Verbal Communication that Inspires Them to Participate in STEM Subjects

Dr. Anne C. Barmao & Dr. Grace C. W. Ndeke
Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Management
Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya
E-mail: ann.barmao@egerton.ac.ke

Abstract: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) play a critical role in a country’s socio-economic development. Therefore, it is important for learners to excel in these subjects since they are prerequisites for admission to STEM courses in higher education institutions. This will provide the much needed workforce to drive a country’s socio-economic development. However, statistics indicate that fewer learners enroll for these courses with an even fewer number graduating from the institutions. This could be attributed to inappropriate STEM teachers’ nonverbal communication that does not inspire learners to participate in the subjects. Hence, this study sought to find out secondary school learners’ views of their STEM teachers nonverbal communication that inspires them to participate in STEM subjects. Stratified simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 466 form three learners from Nakuru County, Kenya. A secondary school learner’s questionnaire, which was validated by experts in Curriculum and Education Psychology was used to collect data. Data was analysed by categorising the responses into themes, which were then tallied and expressed as percentages. The findings indicated that learners’ view STEM teachers’ nonverbal communication as influencing their participation in STEM subjects. It is therefore, recommended that STEM teacher education programmes mainstream nonverbal communication in their training and that the Teacher Service Commission should provide clear guidelines, monitor and enforce teachers’ nonverbal communication.