American Research Journal of Mathematics

Perennial poor performance in Mathematics at National examinations has elicited concern by the 

Government of Kenya. This dismal performance was attributed to broad curriculum, lack of facilities, inadequate 

staffing, poor pedagogical approaches and lack of hands on activities. Mathematics, which is crucial in Kenya's 

realization of vision 2030, hampers its achievement. Studies have shown that interventions so far adopted had 

yielded negligible impact. The acronym ASEI stands for Activity, Students, Experiment, Improvisation whereas 

PDSI stands for Plan, Do, See and Improve, hence the ASEI-PDSI movement. Therefore, there was need to 

establish the extent of practice and implementation of ASEI-PDSI pedagogical approach in Vihiga County. This 

work established the preparedness of Stakeholders in their roles to implement the ASEI-PDSI movement; and the 

extent of practice of this approach. The data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules; with 

principals, Heads of Mathematics department, teachers and Education officers as the respondents. The data was 

analysed statistically. The study ascertained the practice of PDSI approach, rated at 4.332 on a 5-point Likert 

scale, impacting positively on performance and attitude. There were improved teaching methodologies, 

improvisation of resources, and use of lesson rationale in Mathematics. It was noted that 95.89 % of the teachers 

employed the ASEI approach. Also, 67.12 % and 10.96 % of the teachers improvised teaching and learning aids 

in the absence of the conventional ones mostly and always respectively. Teachers engaged students in varied 

activities in class and at home. However, 27.40 % rarely improvised since 35.71% of the teachers were new in the 

profession or experienced burn out syndrome due to overstaying in a station or missed critical SMASSE 

(strengthening of mathematics and science in secondary education) cycles. The study showed that 97.26 % of the 

teachers had schemes of work, affirming the importance of the tool for planning in any teaching and learning setup. The schemes of work were always used by 45.83 % and mostly used by 40.28 % of the sample respondents. 

However, 12.50 % used them rarely. These results need to inform stakeholders on effectiveness of the SMASSE 

in-service education training and make a follow up with a view of strengthening the Programme.