Practitioner Journal of Mathematics and Science Teachers

Expanding Instructional Spaces for Biology 'The Role of Talking Walls'

Thuo Karanja — 2022-06-30

Illustrations or diagrams form an integral part of learning biology. They help learners to relate biological concepts to structures and their functions. 'Talking walls' or Murals are a form of illustrations typical in many schools. However, research shows that most Talking walls remain "pretty pictures" and are forgotten or underutilised in teaching. It is against this background that whenever I see 'Talking walls', my concern has always been on how teachers and students use them to improve learning outcomes. In this article, I describe two of the pictures from 'Talking walls' depicting ideas in biology I obtained from two different schools. I discuss the importance of having 'Talking walls' that accurately communicate ideas to avoid introducing misconceptions. I conclude the article by emphasising the role of the teacher in ensuring that students reap maximum benefits from 'Talking walls' in their schools.

Learners’ Unique Responses Can they be used to Promote Learning

Agnes Mwangi — 2022-06-30

The use of learners’ responses in teaching is important because it promotes active learning. It also enables the teacher to know the learners’ thinking and reasoning. However, sometimes teachers do not know how to handle learners’ unique responses, especially those they do not expect. The purpose of this article is to share information that can help teachers engage learners in meaningful learning by use of their unique responses as opposed to ignoring them. Using a reflection based on a lesson on the area of a trapezium, we discuss how a learner’s unique response on the area of a parallelogram could be used to promote learning. In addition, we discuss how this idea could be extended to find the area of a trapezium. The article concludes with a call to teachers to draw on learners’ unique responses and use them to promote learning.

Modelling how to elicit learners' ideas

Grace Orado — 2022-06-30

As teachers participate in Teacher professional development (TPD) programs, one of the greatest concerns is whether they implement what they learn. Teachers are likely to practice what they learn when they find it not only practical but also if they can relate to it. As a teacher trainer during the 2016 secondary program INSET by CEMASTEA, I modelled to teachers how they can elicit learners’ ideas, I designed an activity where I prompted the teachers to think about and state what they thought was in a bubble in boiling water. Working with teachers as learners, they experienced what it means to elicit learners’ ideas as well as the varied responses they gave for what is contained in a bubble of boiling water. This article describes this activity and concludes with a call to teachers to seek to understand learners’ ideas, the thinking behind those ideas, and leverage learning based on those ideas.

Demonstrating the Critical Angle and Total Internal Reflection Using a Laser Beam

John Chumo — 2022-06-30

This article demonstrates my experience as a Physics teacher and the challenges I faced when guiding learners to experiment to understand what a critical angle is, and the conditions necessary for total internal reflection to occur. In the article, I have also shared how I overcame these challenges by designing an Optical Model. Further, I have also shared the benefits of the model against the existing and recommended apparatuses as listed curriculum materials that include the syllabus and textbooks. Given its advantages in aiding learning, I strongly recommend its use in teaching the content on a critical angle and total internal reflection in physics.

The Magic of “Prerequisite Knowledge” in Meaningful Learner Engagement

HILLIARD RIGHA — 2022-06-30

Topics learned in different science subjects are related. Some concepts
are built from one to another starting at a lower level to a more
advanced level in education. Many teachers experience frustration
when they take time to plan for a lesson only to go to class and struggle
engaging learners in the lesson activities. In my reflective practice from
my experiences, I have found that prerequisite knowledge is vital if
learners are to be fruitfully engaged in lesson activities. For example, I
realised that learners could not do activities on the preparation of molar
solutions taught in chemistry Form Three because they lacked
knowledge of chemical formulae, taught at Form Two. When I planned
the lesson on Molar solutions and integrated a revision of chemical
formulae, I noted that the students were engaged and participated
actively in the lesson.

It Can be Done: Innovative Biology Practical Activities that Learners Can Identify with

Kennedy Kivonya — 2022-06-30

I taught biology for a long time in the usual way – textbook in hand and textbook prescribed activities were the norm. The result? Your guess is as good as mine. The students were bored and remained disinterested in the subject. I tried to come up with innovative activities – those that did not exist in biology textbooks and modified existing ones to make them learner-friendly. The results were amazing. My teaching has become easy and fun and my learners always look forward to that next lesson. I have purposed to continue exploring and coming up with more such activities. In this article, I share one such activity. I conclude the article with a call to teachers to try this strategy with their students.

An Interpretation of Universal Design for Learning and its Application in the Competence Based Curriculum

Mungai Njoroge — 2022-06-30

The competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) mission of nurturing every
learner’s potential has a rights-based quality education dimension that
emphasizes the need for inclusion of all learners in the learning process. It
places more responsibility of adaptation on the education system rather
than the individual learner. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
framework provides significant others in the education system, such as
teachers and education administrators, with the necessary support to plan
for learner-centered instruction. This aims at reducing barriers learners
may face in the classroom and increasing access to opportunities to
succeed in their learning. Through this article, I share an interpretation of
UDL principles. The article gives examples of how to actualize the three
principles of UDL to support the inclusion of all learners in the learning
process.