KCSE Results 2021/2022; How KCSE Performance in Sciences Can be Boosted
BLOOMS IS THE WAY TO GO FOR IMPROVED PERFORMANCE IN SCIENCES DURING KCSE EXAMINATIONS
The Dust On 2020 KCSE Perfomance Has Still Not Settled and Even If It settles We Still Have another Storm Coming When 2021 Exam Is Released In May Next Year.
There Shall still Be An Outcry in the perfomance Of Sciences. We Shall Still Lament, “Had It Not Been For Chemistry, Math And Biology, WE Could Have Done Better”.
Looking At The Sciences, Teachers Did Alot And Prepared Students so well but they made one grave mistake that cost them results-They never focused on BLOOMS TAXONOMY.
According To BLOOMS, A Standard Exam Must Test six core skills :Recall, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation. Those Setting Science Subjects Have Fully Embraced That. Also Science By Its Very Nature Lends itself To Testing Higher Level Skills.
For Many Years Maths Was the Only Subject That Was Poorly Perfomed. Chemistry and Biology were Better Perfomed.
This is Because Maths Has Never Tested Lower Level Skills. You can never Get an A Mathematics Exam Asking Students To Define, State, Mention, Outline, Explain etc. The Action Verbs In Mathematics Exams Has Alsways Been Evaluate, calculate, Find The Value Of etc.
Now the Setting Of Chemistry And Biology Is Fully Embracing BLOOMS Taxonomy. In the recent exam 56% Of Text Items Tested Higher Level Skills. Average Students Were Left With 44 Marks To Battle With. By The Start Of The Exam They Already Could Not Score Above C.
Higher Level Testing Is still The Same Case With Biology Where Students Are Being Tested On How To Interpret, Analyze, infer and Apply Concepts As opposed To Memorazation Of Facts.
The Whole Of Last, Champions Kept Singing About Emerging Trends In The Setting And Marking Of KCSE and Matters BLOOMS Were One Of the Choruses .
The Only Certainty I Know Is The Schools Will Still Perfom Poorly In The Sciences Until The Day They Shall Start pressing BLOOMS Button.
Let Science Teachers Press That Button. Let Science Teachers Study Action Verbs that Test higher Level Skills and Start using Those Action Verbs In Setting Internal Exams.
For How Long Shall They Continue Ignoring This Basic Fact Knowing Well Enough That Is the Route KNEC Has Taken.
Wether They Like It Or Not They Shall Go Round And Round The Mountain of Average Perfomance Till The Day They Shall Start Applying BLOOMS.
A Careful Study Of KNEC Reports and A Revision Of Past KCSE Papers Will Help Expose Students To The Nature Of Exams To Expect. Sample Bloom Questions Are A button Away In Google.
Chemistry and Biology Can Still Be Perfomed Well. Let Us not create a picture That These Subjects are Tough. Almost Every School In This Country Had An A In Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology.
Don’t Say Even School So Did Not Perfom Well In Biology, We Have Many Schools In This Country That Got A Mean Score Of 8 And Above.
When You Visit The Science Departments In Those Schools And Look At Their Internal Exams You Won’t Find Test Items Like Label The Part Marked X. Internal Exams Are Set Inline With BLOOMS and So Students Are Equipped With Analytical Skills From Early Time.
To The Science Teachers, The Sun Shall Not Rise Again unless You Become proactive and Master The standard Practices In The Setting Of Science Exams Where BLOOMS Must Be The Standard Benchmark
Courtesy of a Seasoned KCSE Examiner with broad knowledge on Sciences
