Abstract

In recent years, discourse on effective science education has increasingly highlighted the role of student agency in shaping learning outcomes. This shift from traditional, teacher-centred instruction to more learner-driven pedagogies emphasizes students as active participants in their educational journeys. In Kenya, educational reforms such as the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) underscore the urgency of understanding how student agency operates within science classrooms. Pedagogy in Kenyan science education is shaped by complex social, cultural, and institutional factors. Amid resource disparities and varied teacher preparedness, instruction often becomes a negotiation between curriculum mandates, teacher expectations, and student engagement. Within this dynamic context, student agency—defined as the capacity to make choices, express opinions, and take ownership of learning—holds transformative potential. This study investigated how pedagogical practices in selected Kenyan classrooms both shape and are shaped by student agency. It examined how science teachers responded to student curiosity, participation, and initiative, and how these interactions influenced their instructional choices. Drawing on a teacher change framework that attributes agency to student learning, an interpretive, descriptive study was conducted one year after teachers implemented a contextualized science curriculum unit which involved 80 students from two select national schools(1 boys, and 1 one girls). In-depth interviews were conducted with 6 form 3 (grade 11) teachers of science subjects (maths, biology, physics and chemistry. Findings revealed key pedagogical transformations: teachers increasingly related science to real-life contexts, critically evaluated instructional approaches, redefined their locus of control, integrated collaborative methods, and reconsidered their attitudes toward science subjects.