Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies

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Browsing Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies by Author "Mkimbili & Ødegaard"

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    Inquiry-based science teaching in community secondary schools in Tanzania: role played by the language of instruction.
    (springer, 2020-10-30) Mkimbili & Ødegaard
    Developing learners’ critical thinking skills through inquiry-based teaching has been an important aspect of science education. This is an exploratory study aimed at investigating the practice of inquiry-based teaching in schools that use a foreign language (English) in teaching science content. To address the issue, we conducted video observations of six teachers from four community secondary schools in Iringa municipality, Tanzania, for approximately 16 h. These six teachers and 18 students were interviewed after reviewing the clips. In our video study, we noted three major barriers to students’ development of critical thinking skills—teachers’ knowledge and beliefs regarding the nature of scientific knowledge, a classroom culture that does not support students’ development of critical thinking skills and the use of the language of instruction that is not well mastered by both teachers and students. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
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    Student Motivation in Science Subjects in Tanzania, Including Students’ Voices
    (springer, 2019) Mkimbili & Ødegaard
    Fostering and maintaining students’ interest in science is an important aspect of improving science learning. The focus of this paper is to listen to and reflect on students’ voices regarding the sources of motivation for science subjects among students in community secondary schools with contextual challenges in Tanzania. We conducted a group-interview study of 46 Form 3 and Form 4 Tanzanian secondary school students. The study findings reveal that the major contextual challenges to student motivation for science in the studied schools are limited resources and students’ insufficient competence in the language of instruction. Our results also reveal ways to enhance student motivation for science in schools with contextual challenges; these techniques include the use of questioning techniques and discourse, students’ investigations and practical work using locally available materials, study tours, more integration of classroom science into students’ daily lives and the use of real-life examples in science teaching. Also we noted that students’ contemporary life, culture and familiar language can be utilised as a useful resource in facilitating meaningful learning in science in the school. Students suggested that, to make science interesting to a majority of students in a Tanzanian context, science education needs to be inclusive of students’ experiences, culture and contemporary daily lives. Also, science teaching and learning in the classroom need to involve learners’ voices.