66 research outputs found

    Enhancing content knowledge of in-service science teachers through model and modeling

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    The guiding question for this paper is; how does model and modeling enable student-teachers to develop a conceptual understanding of the cell as a structural and functional unit of living things? A teaching unit ‘The Cell’ was designed in view that models are a major teaching and learning tool for developing scientific thinking, whereas modeling means a process of forming representation. The teaching and learning strategies reported here encapsulated four modeling phases. Firstly, student-teachers modeled historical development of cell through a time line and role play and discussed the evolutionary and tentative nature of science. Secondly, the candy factory analogy provided a reference point to relate functional similarities between the units of a factory and cell organelles. Thirdly, students-teachers developed a 2D model to express their interpretation of the mental model. Fourthly, they critiqued their 2D model to develop a 3D model. Overall, a progression of conceptual understanding with distinct phases of enacting, building and rebuilding helped student teacher to conceptualize the structure and function of cell. Pre-post tests results show marked improvement in student-teachers’ content knowledge on various aspects of structure and function of cell. Furthermore, teachers appreciated the effectiveness of the modeling process in enhancing their content knowledge and helping them develop understanding of the nature of model and modeling. Teachers also acknowledged the model as an effective teaching tool, which they could use in their classroom

    Assessing impact of Aga Khan Academy Mombasa’s (AKA, M) outreach programme on Students’ Learning Outcomes – an example of English language classrooms

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    AKA, M has been offering professional development programmes to English teachers and headteachers as part of its outreach activities since 2009. The Academy invited AKU-IED to develop AKA, M capacity in the area of monitoring and evaluation with a specific focus on outreach programmes. In response to this invitation, a small scale study was carried out to pilot teachers’ and students’ assessment tools developed as part of the capacity building workshop held in Mombasa, Kenya. The evaluation study aimed to examine the impact of AKA, M outreach programmes on students’ (grades 4 to 6) learning outcomes in English language in intervention areas of Mombasa. Three tools were administered to assess students’ cognitive (English Achievement Tests) and non-cognitive (English Language Attitude Scale, Student-Teacher Relationship Questionnaire) outcomes. A quasi-experiment was employed for the small-scale study to compare outreach (n=3) and non-outreach (n=3) classes. A sample of 367 students was recruited from the target classes. This paper focuses on pilot results of students’ learning outcomes. In general, students’ assessment tools have demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties. However, a few extremely difficult items can be reviewed before launching the main study. Results of group comparison have revealed that outreach classes have scored higher in achievement tests than their non-outreach counterparts in grade 4 and 6 with a significant difference in the latter (p0.05). The study has begun the process of accumulating evidence that the outreach programme evaluated can serve as a model of teacher development within professional development activities of AKA, M. It also provides a modest foundation for a larger and more representative sample study to produce generalizable data

    Promoting curiosity through students’ questioning

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    Asking questions is central to intellectual effort; it is instrumental in bridging the gap between the known and the unknown. Questioning existed even before the time of Greek philosopher Socrates and still prevails in classrooms. Questioning is a major teaching and learning strategy for teachers in Pakistan. Unfortunately, teachers’ questioning overrules students’ questioning, leaving neither space nor time to create an interactive environment that promotes curiosity and meaningful learning. Using an innovative approach, we attempted to implement students’ questioning in an upper primary science classroom. The encouraging findings of our study and their implications are discussed in this article

    Students’ attitude towards science in lower secondary classes : Comparison across regions

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    Science education is an area of interest for long and has gained a lot of attention from science educators. Keeping this in view, the current study explored the attitude of grade VI-VIII students towards science in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. This research study was conducted as part of a 5-year project titled ‘USAID-LINKS to learning: Education Support to Pakistan’ (USAID-EDLINKS). A 5-point rating scale, Science Attitude Scale (SAS) was adapted from previous research. SAS has 32 items arranged under five constructs: learning science in school, self-concept in science, science outside of school, future participation in science and importance of science. SAS was administered to 1458 students, from twelve randomly selected schools from the two provinces. The result exhibited positive students’ attitude towards science, irrespective of province. However, comparison across regions favoured students from the province of Sindh as compared to their counterparts in Balochistan. A similar pattern was observed for all constructs except future participation in science, where both regions have exhibited a similar trend. The study concludes that students need to be engaged actively in science learning so that their positive attitude towards the discipline can be sustained and improved further as they grow older

    Pakistan’s first-ever participation in an international large-scale assessment (TIMSS): Critique and implications

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    The International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) is a rapidly growing field in education which has gained considerable attention of stakeholders across the globe. Historically, ILSA emerged from the developed context which has drifted to the developing contexts in a short span of time due to globalisation. Pakistan has participated in ILSA (i.e., TIMSS) for the first time in the 2019 cycle. In light of the global critique on ILSA, this paper presents a critical analysis on Pakistan’s participation in TIMSS by raising questions embedded in contextual realities. The discussion adds to the understanding of ILSA in terms of historical developments, theoretical underpinnings towards participation in ILSA, and the general as well as context-specific critique on ILSA. The paper ends with the argument in favour of strengthening national LSA instead of relying only on ILSA

    Sehat-5: Class 5: Teacher\u27s guide

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    https://ecommons.aku.edu/books/1014/thumbnail.jp

    Sehat-2: Class 2: Teacher\u27s guide

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    https://ecommons.aku.edu/books/1011/thumbnail.jp

    Sehat-4: Class 4: Teacher\u27s guide

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    https://ecommons.aku.edu/books/1013/thumbnail.jp
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