Do Kenyan Set Book Novel Kidagaa Kimemwozea Advance Environmental Education?

Abstract

Environmental protection is a sensitive issue in the world today. Erratic weather changes have been witnessed in many parts world including Kenya. Indeed, scholars and critics have argued that human beings are a major contributing factor to destruction of nature through industrialization, farming activities, transport, deforestation, wildlife attacks, and destruction of wetlands, unplanned rubbish dumping and pollution. Environmental protection as a problem is real and has dire consequences such as global warming, soil erosion, floods, reduction in wetlands, drought, pollution, human wildlife conflict, diseases and illnesses, food insecurity, unsafe drinking water, desertification among other threats. In underdeveloped countries like Kenya the consequences are devastating. It’s because of this global reality that the researcher sought to establish whether environmental education is advanced in Kidagaa Kimemwozea; a Kenyan secondary school Swahili novel set book. The objectives were: To examine the environmental themes in the Kidagaa Kimemwozea Swahili novel set book and to evaluate its environmental protection impact on learners. The sampled Kidagaa Kimemwozea novel set book was content analyzed in terms of environmental theme illustrations through ordinary words. Moreover, a questionnaire was given to randomly sampled 43 secondary school students to collect their views on how those illustrations impacted on their views on environmental protection.

Keywords: Environmental Education and Protection, Themes, Ordinary Text, Set Book