Academic Scaffolding as a Predictor of Achievement Motivation for Learning Chemistry Among Secondary School Students in Kenya

This research was carried to examine academic scaffolding as a predictor of achievement motivation for learning chemistry among secondary school students in Kenya. The study was anchored on scaffolding theory developed by Bruner and achievement motivation theory by McClelland. The researcher used convergent parallel mixed research design to examine the relationship between the study variables. The target population was 10528 form three students taking chemistry in 284 public secondary schools in Kiambu County in the year 2020. Purposive sampling was used to select Kiambu County and form three students taking chemistry. Stratified sampling was used to select the schools while simple random sampling was used to select students to participate in the study. The study was conducted in 17 secondary schools using a sample of 440 students. A pilot study was done in one school involving 40 students to establish the validity and reliability of the research instruments. Data were collected using questionnaires and interview schedules and then analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicated that there was a moderate positive and statistically significant correlation between academic scaffolding and achievement motivation for learning chemistry, r (336) = .50, p< .05. Academic scaffolding was found to be a significant predictor of academic scaffolding and R square was .25 which suggested that 25% variance in achievement motivation for learning chemistry can be explained by academic scaffolding. Qualitative results also showed that academic scaffolding influenced the student’s achievement motivation for learning chemistry. The study recommends that school counsellors and chemistry teachers should enhance academic scaffolding in order to boost the student’s achievement motivation for learning chemistry for better learning outcomes in the subject.