STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES IN

TEACHING SCIENCE AT TONDORO COMBINED SCHOOL

by
Alois H Kaporo and Reuben Sirinji

Rundu College of Education, Namibia

November 2008

Educational context of Tondoro Combined School

As part of my School Based Studies requirement at Rundu College Education I
spent three weeks in September 2008 at Tondoro Combined School. This
school is located in the rural area of Tondoro village in the Kavango Region of
Namibia. It is 130km west of Rundu town and 30km east of Nkurenkuru town.
Tondoro combined school was established in the year 1976 with grades 1-4
only. It started with 4 teachers only and the principal was Mr Adam Kabono. The
school initially enrolled 121 learners: 58 boys and 63 girls. It became a
combined school in 2000 starting from grade 1 to 10.

There are six buildings in the school ground which is divided in to two sections.
Two buildings are used by the lower primary grades and four by the upper
primary and secondary grades. They are two School Principals, one for the
lower primary grades 1-4 and the other for the upper primary and secondary
grades 5-10. The principal for the lower primary phase is Mrs Christine
Sipumbu, and for the upper primary and secondary grades 5-10 is Mr Munhwa.

The school lacks many resources. There is no library, laboratory, chairs, and
desks. They lack learning materials like books. Only a few text books are kept
by the teachers for use by different classes of the same grade. Coming to
chairs, learners sit on benches and some sit on the floor after they get tired of
sharing one chair. There is only one computer and one photocopy machine in
the whole school. They use teacher centred method during teaching, this
happens maybe because there are few learning materials in the school.

Though they got few learning materials, the school has an encouraging mission
statement. It says “Provide learners with good education through co-operation
with parents, community members, teachers and learners to assist the nation
as whole”. If they could really follow their mission statement and put it in to
practice, the school would succeed well in educational performance.

Strengths in the teaching of Maths and Science

For the three weeks of September 2008 I observed teachers teaching Maths
and Science at Tondoro Combined School. Teachers try their best to teach
Maths and Science well in a way that learners can understand better, so that
they can do things on their own. The following are some of the strengths in the
teaching of Mathematics and Science the school.

a. Working without a calculator

The teacher taught learners how to solve calculation without using a calculator.
Learners in the class do not have calculators, they therefore use their brains.
This is good because it gives a chance for learners to make their brains useful
rather than relying on a machine which is already programmed to give
answers. It helps those learners who cannot afford to buy calculators due to
financial problems or waste their time struggling to find a calculator.

b. Time management
Teachers keep time. They calculate time according to the work that they give to
learners and the work that they do with learners in the class. When they give
activities they set up a time on which the activity is going to be completed,
which means if it is time up, every learner should stop writing and hand in the
activity. This is good; it makes learners to get used to working with time and try
to solve problems by thinking intensely about things (brainstorming).

c. Giving summaries
Teachers give summary notes after the completion of each chapter. It is good
that learners have to be given summaries like for Natural Science, Life Science
and Physical Science to consolidate what they have done already.

d. Activities and tests

Teachers give class activities and tests in Math and Science subjects. Learners
perform well in class activities. This is good because the marks that they get in
tests and class activities contributes to their Cass marks and it also assess to
see if they understand to what you have been teaching them.

e. Compensatory teaching
Teachers set up afternoon classes for compensatory teaching. They repeat
Maths and Science topics that learners did not understand well in the class.
This is good because the slow learners will also understand better if they
repeat what they have been taught already so that they can reach to the level
of others, to be equal.

Weaknesses or challenges to the teaching

I noticed some negative factors that affect the teaching and learning at
Tondoro Combined School. They include the following:

1. Ignorance
Ignorance is one of the facts letting down the learning status at this school.
Learners ignore Mathematics as if it is not a subject they need to study.
Learners don't practise different methods to answer Mathematic questions. In
the end learners fail.

2. Shyness
Learners are afraid to ask questions about what they do not understand. When
teaching and you try to ask them if they understand, they just answer yes. But
if you start to ask them questions about what you taught them they won't
reply. This affects them more in the exam because they did not ask what they
did not know.

3. Laziness
Some teachers are lazy; they could not finish a topic but tend to rather leave it
for the next day. This puts learner behind with school work. Some learners are
lazy; they cannot do their class activities and even cannot write their
summaries. Later on when the exam approaches, no Cass marks and no
summaries for revision reading, learners fail.

4. Learning materials
The school does not have enough books for learners to read. No library or
laboratory in the school. Teaching aids are not used and experiments for
Science are not carried out for better understanding of learners to some topics.

5. Dodging
Learners dodge classes a lot and teachers can't control them. They use to miss
important information that others gain in the lessons and in the end they fail
because they know nothing due to the fact that they did not attend classes.

6. Absenteeism
Some learners stay absent for more than two days. It is already a risk when a
learner comes back because no one will repeat for him/her the topics that
others have covered in his/her absence. Such a learner already stands the risk
of failing.

7. Chairs and Desks

Not enough chairs and desks in classes. Some learners sit on the floor. Learners
cannot write well without a desk and a chair, it is uncomfortable. This takes
time for learners to complete writing their summaries and class activities.
Learners end up writing in bad handwriting and rough diagrams which may
affect their marks.

8. Jokes in the classroom

Learners spend most of the time in the class just joking with other learners
while the teacher is teaching them. This attracts other learners' attention not to
concentrate. Some learners like to make jokes with the teacher, this disturbs
the lesson not to be concluded then they stay behind.

9. Beliefs
Learners are shy to mention male and female reproductive organs in the class.
They do not answer when they are asked to mention the names of the parts of
the male and female reproductive systems. All these happen because they
believe that; if you mention it then you are insulting and it is even a sin.

10. Take study time for granted

Learners use study time to play around with others instead taking their books
to read. This slows down their performance in Math and Science subjects.

Possible solutions to observed challenges to

effective teaching
I believe that all aspects of observed weaknesses are not permanent but can
be dealt with certain ways.

For learners who believe that Mathematics cannot be studied, they need to be
given activities about the topics that they never covered. With that you can
prove them that Mathematics can be studied for you to know it better. Always
put shy learners in mixed gender groups and give them topics on which
everyone will be given a chance to present to the class. Other learners should
fire in questions. In that way learners will become more self-confident.

Teachers need to be creative to make teaching aids for themselves, such as

concrete materials to make the learners understand better. Some times send
learners to collect different objects to be used as teaching aids for Maths and
Science. Teachers should try to make use of the school fee money to buy
teaching materials like materials to be used in the laboratory for experiments.

Regarding books and chairs; the school must put in a request to the
government so that they can be helped. Make contributions in the school to
raise money to buy chairs and desks. Teachers should avoid making jokes with
learners. They should manage the class well to make sure that no learner is
making noise and that every learner is paying attention to the lesson. Coming
to study time, teachers should always be there to control the learners while
they study. Learners start to be serious with studying when they see a teacher.

To dodgers and absenteeism, always paste their names on the notice board so
that everyone could see their names. This make them feel ashamed then they
stop. If they still continue with the dodging and absenteeism then refer them to
the principal to talk to them. If they still continue then the principal will put it
into the hands of the disciplinary committee where by the disciplinary
committee is going to include the parents of the child if he/she continues. With
all that long process, the learners will stop being absent to school and dodging
classes.

The most important way to deal with the performance of the learners is to
encourage learners to keep up with their studies. Set up parental meetings with
role models who have studied better to address and advise them on how to
handle their studies and all the advantages of studying.

Long live Tondoro Combined School.