The status of and challenges facing secondary science teaching in Tanzania: a focus on inquiry-based science teaching and the nature of science

Kinyota, Mjege

doi:10.1080/09500693.2020.1813348

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(108 reference statements)

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“…The syllabi in EAC do not explicitly specify how these important NOS aspects should be taught and assessed. The results agree with that of Kinyota (2020), who urged that the NOS was not given much attention in Tanzania's science curriculum, where the term "nature of science" was not identified throughout the whole curriculum analyzed. The findings are also consistent with the results with Arumit and Akerson (2022) where NOS aspects were reported as a negligible content in Turkey middle schools' science curriculum.…”

Section: Discussion Of the Findingssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…However, a few efforts to promote science in the region were put in place but could not last long due to the political instabilities, wars, destruction of infrastructures, a big loss of human capacity in the EAC (UNESCO, 2009), and the severe impact of Covid-19 on the education system (Tugirinshuti et al 2021). In addition to this, efforts to promote NOS aspects in the science curricula in East African countries are very limited (Kinyota, 2020). This situation of very little literature and limited interventions on NOS in teaching aids materials is worrisome, particularly in East African Community countries (Kinyota & Rwimo, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Representation of Nature of Science Aspects in Secondary School Physics Curricula in East African Community Countries

Bosco

Yadav

Mashood

2022

IJLTER

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For several decades, nature of Science (NOS) has been advocated as the fourth dimension of science teaching and is a fundamental source of in-depth learning and teaching. In addition to improving learning and teaching of science, the explicit inclusion of NOS in science curricula helps the creation of a responsible citizenry. Here, we analyze the representation of NOS aspects in science curricula, particularly in the physics syllabi in four East African Community (EAC) countries: Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. These EAC countries have been purposively selected because of sharing similar culture and history as neighboring countries. To compare NOS representation in the physics content, five major topic areas (mechanics, heat and thermodynamics, oscillations and waves, electricity, and atomic physics) were randomly selected from the syllabi used in advanced level secondary schools. The paper critically analyzes the representation of NOS aspects throughout front matter (introductions and rationales) and back matter (appendices and references), content, teaching methods, and assessment procedures proposed in these physics’ syllabi. Based on the analysis of data, the findings reveal that NOS aspects are not explicitly represented in the four physics syllabi analyzed. This study also found that in four syllabi reviewed, competencies were given much attention without any overt connection to the work of scientists. Finally, we suggest possible ways to improve NOS representation in the science curriculum.

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Section: Discussion Of the Findingssupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representation of Nature of Science Aspects in Secondary School Physics Curricula in East African Community Countries

Bosco

Yadav

Mashood

2022

IJLTER

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“…Other associated problems include the congested classrooms where a teacher finds him/herself unable to help students with individual learning problems including in science-related subjects. Semali and Mehta (2012), Bryat (2014), and Kinyota (2020) indicate their findings from Tanzania that most of the surveyed schools had overcrowded classrooms and they lacked textbooks including that of science subjects. They also found in their studies that many teachers were unqualified and that it resulted in poor teaching and learning with ending effects on poor performance in the STEM-related subjects.…”

Section: Fire: Forum For International Research In Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why are Women Under-represented in STEM in Higher Education in Tanzania?

Matete

2022

FIRE

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Women’s underrepresentation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has been documented worldwide. This study investigated the factors underlying women’s underrepresentation in STEM in higher education in Tanzania. The study employed a qualitative research approach that was informed by historical design. Data were collected through a systematic literature review and analyzed using a content analysis. Drawing from the literature, the study findings indicate that a lack of women’s participation in STEM is due to both socio-cultural and psychological factors. Sociological factors indicate that a patriarchal system and male dominance perpetuate gender inequality in STEM. Findings also indicate that cultural myths and beliefs that the science field is hard and that women are incapable of handling masculine activities hinder women from participating in science-related fields. The findings indicate further that a lack of laboratories in Tanzanian secondary schools force teachers to teach science subjects by using theories as an alternative to practical instruction. From a psychological point of view, evidence suggests that a lack of confidence among female students themselves regarding performance in science subjects hinders them from participating in STEM fields. It is recommended in this paper that if Tanzanian female students are to participate in science-related subjects in Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs), the government needs to orient them towards science subjects at the primary school level for them to build up an interest in science-related subjects. In addition, the training of science teachers remains imperative.

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“…The study conducted by Mkimbili et al (2017) indicated that teachers often do not practice the IBL in teaching and learning. The reason behind this behaviour is the lack of teaching and learning resources as it has been explained by Kinyota (2020). Despite the curriculum documents recommending teachers to use learner-centred pedagogy (MoEVT, 2014a), the use of teacher-centred pedagogy is still persistent in practice (Kinyota, Kavenuke, & Mwakabenga, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practice in Teaching and Learning of Invertebrates: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Pedagogical Language Strategies in Tanzania Secondary Schools

David

Nsengimana

2021

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed

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Teaching and learning of invertebrate systematic require effective pedagogical language strategies since the terms used are most in English and Latin. The Tanzania education policy specifies that the medium language of instruction in primary must be Kiswahili, while English has to be used in post-primary education. Consequently, secondary school biology students find difficult to cope with learning in the context of foreign language. This paper aims at presenting the investigation on how pedagogical language strategies can effectively support teachers and learners during teaching and learning of systematic invertebrates in Tanzania secondary schools. Data were collected using the lesson observation checklist, lesson evaluation sheet, interview with teachers and focus group discussions with learners. A total of 60 sessions, each of 80 minutes were observed in 10 schools. A total of 40 teachers and 400 level four students of the ordinary level participated in the study. Quantitatively, paired sample t-test, means, standard deviations and percentages were used to evaluate and compare changes in learners' performance in preand post-tests. Further, thematic analysis was employed to analyse qualitative data. Key findings from the study indicated that the majority of teachers who participated in the training managed to set competencies and the activities to reinforce the achievements of developed competencies. Again, teachers and learners had a progressive significant improvement over introduced pedagogical language strategies. Overall, there was a statistically significant difference between pre-and post-intervention. Interviews with teachers and focus group discussions with students revealed that the strategies increased students' interactions and activeness in class, which in turn, improved the learning of biology content through the English language. This study therefore recommends the pedagogical language strategies to be adopted during teaching and learning of biology, specifically the content of invertebrate systematic.

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The status of and challenges facing secondary science teaching in Tanzania: a focus on inquiry-based science teaching and the nature of science

Cited by 16 publications

References 39 publications

Representation of Nature of Science Aspects in Secondary School Physics Curricula in East African Community Countries

Representation of Nature of Science Aspects in Secondary School Physics Curricula in East African Community Countries

Why are Women Under-represented in STEM in Higher Education in Tanzania?

Practice in Teaching and Learning of Invertebrates: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Pedagogical Language Strategies in Tanzania Secondary Schools

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