STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES IN TEACHING

MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE AT ANDARA COMBINED

SCHOOL.
Introduction:
In September 2008 I conducted a three week critical enquiry part of my School
Based Studies at the Andara Combined School which is situated within 180 km
east of Rundu town in the rural area of Andara village in the Kavango region of
Namibia. The school was officially opened in 1982 and has 24 teachers of
which 13 are male while 11 are female. The school has three HODs assigned
according to the levels or of educational phases they teach, namely, lower
primary, upper primary and junior secondary phases. The principal of the
school is Mr Samoka Ambrosius M, who has been the principal since 1999. The
school enrolled about 725 learners in the first term, but because of dropouts
the number has decreased to 691 of which 326 are boys and 365 are girls. Like
the 100 year-old Andara Catholic Mission next to it, Andara Combined is an old
looking school which is undergoing some renovation this year. There are five
blocks which have 22 classrooms. During my stay at this school I observed
many factors that facilitate and those that hamper the learning of mathematics
and science at this school.

Strengths to the teaching of Mathematics and Science.

a. Andara combined school has a library that helps the teachers to get more
information apart from what they recall from their own education. This
library has got a good number of mathematics and science books.

b. Resources are available which also support the successful continuation of

the Mathematics and Science curriculum at the junior level. These include
weighing scales, balances, mathematical charts, tubes, flasks, and
microscopes among many others. The school recognises the importance of
science education and aims to provide interesting, stimulating and
enjoyable science classes. Andara combined school is near the Roman
Catholic Church hospital, where teachers send learners to see some science
materials used in the hospital. This is seen as a strength because it helps
learners see what they are taught in the classrooms.

c. The school has prepared a comprehensive whole-school plan to guide both

teaching and learning in Mathematics. The whole-school plan is designed in
accordance with curriculum guidelines for mathematics. It includes sections
on the methodologies for teaching and learning including learner-centred
and active learning approaches, which are central to the successful
implementation of the curriculum. In addition, the plan includes a most
useful section on the use of the school environment to support teaching and
learning. In addition, a plan of the content to be taught in each class level is
detailed. This plan forms a firm planning basis which is adapted by
individual teachers in their classroom settings.

d. All teachers are committed to long-term and short-term planning and some
good-quality planning was observed during the course of my observation.
While almost all teachers used specific curriculum objectives in planning for
their lessons, it is recommended that all classroom planning be linked firmly
 to specific curriculum objectives, that the development of the skill areas of
the science curriculum be included in planning and that adequate provision
is made for individual pupil needs and for on-going assessment of the
children’s progress in Science.

e. In accordance with curriculum guidelines, all teachers use the school’s plan
for Mathematics as the basis when formulating their individual fortnightly
and termly plans. In the majority of cases the termly plans are of good
quality as they reflect the content of the various sections of the whole-
school plan as enunciated. The better quality termly plans detail a
differentiated scheme of work guided by the whole-school plan yet
specifically planned to suit the learning needs of that particular class for
that particular period of time. This practice should be adopted throughout
the school. Those fortnightly plans which go on to detail specific curriculum
objectives and methodologies, and those in which content is specifically
differentiated to meet the learning needs of all the pupils in the class, are
most effective. Overall, the level of classroom planning in Mathematics is
good and some excellent examples of classroom planning were noted. All
teachers complete monthly progress records which are used to determine
future classroom planning.

f. Overall, teachers use a good range of teaching approaches and their

classrooms provide a stimulating environment for learning. Some teachers
exploit the school’s natural resources very effectively to support work in the
Living Things strand. In some classes, good use is made of questioning to
extend the pupils’ knowledge. Additional work on consolidating the
concepts explored will reinforce and develop what has been learned. In
some classes teachers were very successful in eliciting children’s ideas at
the start of the lessons in Science. Creating formal structures to elicit the
children’s ideas in all classes will help in the progression towards the
development of more scientific ideas.

Weaknesses or challenges to the reaching of Mathematics and

Science.
1) The school is not well resourced to support learning and teaching in
Mathematics, the text books are not enough. Even if teachers are
competent and well trained, they often find it difficult to teach effectively
because of the lack of adequate teaching and learning support materials
that are relevant to the local situation.

2) Despite the motivation and encouragement from the teachers, some

children have developed bad attitudes and perceptions towards
mathematics and science instead of developing attributes such as
curiosity, logicality and evaluation; manipulation of devices such as tools
and equipments, and of data; display of data in various forms; and
application of related concepts, principles and ideas in varied situations.

3) According to some learners that I asked how they learn math and science
at this school, they said that, teachers favour teacher-centred, knowledge
 based teaching methods that leave little room for learners' participation.
However, although most teachers at Andara acknowledge how they
ought to be teaching, the reality is a compromise between the old and
new approaches, within general the old approaches still very dominant.

4) The text books are widely used by teachers in lessons. The use of an
annotated textbook as teacher materials seems quite widespread. There
is a lesson to be learnt here. Such books should contain teaching ideas
such as good quality activities and questions and the support of the
development of such books could be a very cost-effective form. In
general, little practical work is done, though there are many noteworthy
exceptions to the rule.

Solution approaches to the teaching of Mathematics and Science.

Motivation, to motivate is to instigate or incite. Learner's desire for knowledge,

need for achievement, ego-involvement, interest in a particular subject matter
are all explained by motivational attitudinal behaviours (Akibye, 1996). As he
stated further, such behaviours critically influence a learner's attentiveness,
degree of commitment and concentration on learning. Motivation is an
important factor in learning generally and school learning in particular. It may
be intrinsic, as in the case of personal satisfaction and self-fulfilment; or
extrinsic, as in the case of reward of an enchanting position or award of
material benefit or recognition in society. Motivation, according to Akiboye
(1996) affects learning in three ways: It triggers off behaviour sequences in the
learner when it is present; and since learning is said to be reaching, the learner
so activated attains learning readiness. It is said to lower the threshold of
reinforcement, so that reinforcement can more easily be contingent on
learning. It could serve as prompts or stimulus discrimination for learning.
Apart from these effects of motivation on learning, manifestations of
motivation can take many forms, some of which include the following:
Increased attentiveness in class and in learning situations; improved degree of
commitment by positive response to assignments; and increased degree of
concentration in learning which could result in better display of under-standing
of content and attainment of skills. Since motivation could be intrinsic, an
encounter with the goodness of a cause like a subject matter and a display of
an enabling environment could aid the generation and sustenance of
motivation. For the extrinsic factor, relevance of the subject matter to one's
concept of life and aspiration plays a major role in being motivated and
remaining in that state while learning is taking place. Since teacher’s interest
with learners and teaching/learning materials as well, guide the learners in
their learning encounter, their roles in motivating learner’s interest is
significant, and even more demanding when such interest needs to be
sustained.

Given the crucial role of teachers in a learning situation, they must affect
learners' interest in science and mathematics, like all other subjects. In
particular, focus can be placed on two areas where the teacher plays a major
role. These are curriculum provisions and instructional strategies. These are
capable of sustaining learners’ interest in science (including mathematics). For
curriculum content, some of the measures for sustaining learners’ interest
include:
provision for wide ability ranges; provision for various interest within the three
domains of education objectives; provision for various subjects in the
curriculum; provision for various applications of subject; provision for
stimulation through readers series and co-curricular activities.

Since teachers are key factors in the development and implementation of

science and mathematics curricular, their role here relates to the motivation of
learners interest in the subject matter. But the provision of curriculum materials
is not enough to ensure the sustenance of learners interest in science and
mathematics; the way the material are taught to learners matters a lot, not
only for learning to take place but for learners to make efforts for learning to
occur. Good teaching and use of relevant techniques are some roles which the
teacher needs to play to arouse and sustain interest in learners. Some factors
which determine good teaching are: the teaching technique employed; the
feedback mechanisms adopted; the reward system advocated; the influencing
variable taken cognisance of by teachers; and the range of pedagogic
strategies available to the teacher. Some of the techniques advised for use
during the period of interaction between the teacher and the learners must
include: Questioning and jokes so that learners attention is assured; Discussion
aimed at fully involving the learners in the process of teaching and learning
science and mathematics; and practices for the purpose of giving the learner
an opportunity to do science, to find out the truth and verify claims in order for
meaning to be attached to the science lessons.

The purpose of learning is for full under-standing to occur; and this happens if a
whole concept or principle is completely understood in terms of structure,
application and relevance. Therefore, teaching and learning take place, and
feedback is needed. This has its various forms. As stated by Gipps(1995), there
are influencing variables which teachers must take cognisance of in order to
sustain learners interest in science. These include: Different cognitive styles of
different groups of learners; Different motivations of different groups of learner;
Variation among groups of girls; and Variation among groups of boys; Given
these, a range of pedagogic strategies needed by the teacher include;
materials and contents, teaching styles and classroom arrangements, rules for
different learners and different subjects.

In addition, teachers need to be made aware and encouraged to link scientific

and mathematical content to society; Emphasise discussions and
collaborations as well as competition; giving feedback which criticise and gives
precise guidance (in a supportive manner) as well as praise, rather than the
bland praise for dutiful hard work) which girls currently tend to receive. There is
no doubt that enormous responsibilities abound for the teachers, which, as can
be seen, are both within and out side the classroom. To be able to shoulder
these, the teachers themselves need to be assisted.

In order for teachers to play their role of motivating learners interest in science
and mathematics, the following pre-requisites of our concern for teachers are
necessary: Teachers should be seen as motivators to learners in their
endeavours to learn science and mathematics inside and outside the
classrooms; Teachers need to be encouraged to perform their role in the
motivation of learners interest in science and mathematics by a number of
positive measures to enhance their prestige and professionalism; and Teachers
need to be empowered as aids to quality performance of learners in schools as
they keep standards and make learners to internalize affective attributes. But
while expecting the above, measure to assist the teachers in their role include
provision of adequate and suitable facilities to enable the teachers to perform
well; motivating through various welfare packages and professional
development; and ensuring regular and frequent monitoring of teachers
providing various incentives such as awards, recognitions for good work.

I wish to thank the teachers and students of Andara Combined School for
hosting me during my critical Inquiry studies.

Alexander Wana and Reuben Sirinji.

Department of Mathematics and Integrated Natural Science.
RUNDU COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, NAMIBIA.
November 2008.