Dissertation topic: Culturally Relevant Elements for K-12 Education in Kisii. Recommended nine culturally relevant elements to be integrated into the Kisii education system in Kenya using the Akumbu Cultural Integration and Augmentation Framework.

ABSTRACT
This research aims to examine the relationship between the key elements, if any, of culturally relevant education that might enhance learning for primary and secondary students in the Kisii tribe in Kenya. It explores the influence of colonization on the structure and execution of the school curriculum in the Kisii tribe, focusing on mathematics. This study argues that there is a mismatch between what and how Kisii children learn in school and at home. Thus, it seeks to understand how decolonized practices in mathematics education could simultaneously promote more learning and richer cultural fidelity and heritage. The study examined elements of culture such as beliefs, norms, and values that can be leveraged from participants’ knowledge and experiences to enhance learning, with a focus on mathematics. This qualitative research examined lived experiences of teachers, parents, students, cultural experts, and administrators using the focused ethnographic research approach. Data were collected from a total of 60 participants, divided into eight focus groups consisting of six to nine participants. The following analysis techniques aided in examining data: thematic analysis for the development of themes, Hammond’s (2015) culture tree for examining the significance of elements on learning, and epistemic network analysis for validating the finding from the thematic analysis. This research confirms that there is a mismatch between what and how Kisii children learn in school and at home. The Epistemic Network Analysis result confirms the following elements support learning and teaching for students in Kisii K-12 schools: initiation, language, heritage, oral traditions, values, beliefs, rewards and punishment, practical over theory, and local STEM. Local STEM is local ways of solving complex issues, counting and math, and applying scientific concepts both in and out of the classrooms by teachers and students to enhance learning. This multilayered analysis has contributed to the Akumbu Cultural Integration and Augmentation (CIA) framework and the Akumbu Transfer and Adoption of Universal Principles (TAUP) model.
Keywords: culture, mathematics, relevance, cultural relevance, decolonization, curriculum, misalignment, formal education, informal education, STEM, Kisii, Kenya, Africa
Reference:  Akumbu, R.V. (2022). Culturally relevant elements for K–12 education in Kisii. (Order No. 29323485) [Doctoral dissertation, Pepperdine University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
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Dr. Akumbu: https://ruthakumbu.wixsite.com/drakumbu or [email protected]

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