Browsing by Author "Mugabo, Rugema Leon."

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A case study of science student teachers' experiences of teaching practices in the faculty of education of University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2005.
(2006) Mugabo, Rugema Leon.; Hobden, Paul Anthony.; Rosenberg, Thelma.
The study aimed at exploring science student teachers' experiences of teaching practice and in particular, it focussed on five areas related to: (a) the science student teachers' practices and views ofteaching practice; (b) the science student teachers' benefits and skills acquired from teaching practice; (c) the help and support they receive from both the supervisors and the mentor teachers and; (e) the science student teachers' views of how the teaching practice could be improved. A pragmatic, mixed method approach to research was adopted. In order to gather data to answer the research questions empirical research in the form of a descriptive case study was carried out. This case study was conducted on the science teachers' experience of teaching practice for the academic year of2005. Data were collected from participants in the teaching practice programme at Edgewood campus using a questionnaire supplemented by interviews, observations and documents analysis. Sixty science student teachers doing Bachelor of Education 2nd , 3rd and 4th year and the Postgraduate Certificate in Education, completed and returned the questionnaire and seven of them were interviewed. In addition, four mentor teachers and five university tutors were also interviewed and twelve students were visited in their host schools. Among others it was found that: student teachers reported that they felt adequately prepared for the range of activities they were involved in during teaching practice, their expectations of practice teaching were met, and they had a positive view about the general learning and administrative environment ofthe schools. They reported using a number of different teaching methods but the direct teaching method was still predominant with the textbook being used as the main teaching resource but a positive indication was that over half the students indicated that they attempted something different or new during teaching practice mostly on their own initiative. When asked for detail about the skills they gained from teaching practice they reported benefits in terms of improved teaching techniques and methods, dealing with learners and classroom management. There was no one single benefit that stood out but rather a number of different benefits for different students. Generally females were more positive than males, there were very few differences between the year groups and the mentor teachers were seen to be more supportive than the university tutors. However, there were a small but significant number of students who indicated having not been supported or having gained any benefit from their mentor teachers or university tutors. This study also revealed that the critical triangular working partnership involving student teacher, university supervisor, and mentor teacher was problematic and needed to be reviewed. When asked to make suggestions for change, a number of recommendations were made such as: the teaching practice was too short and needed to be increased; the organisation of teaching practice needed to be improved and; the schools need to give better status to students on teaching practice. However, when asked to rate their overall experience of teaching practice experience almost three quarters of the students indicated that they had at least a satisfactory experience.
Introduction of inquiry-based science teaching in Rwandan lower secondary schools : teachers' attitudes and perceptions.
(2012) Mugabo, Rugema Leon.; Hobden, Paul Anthony.
This study describes, discusses and analyses the Rwandan lower secondary school teachers’ responses to the introduction of inquiry as a teaching approach in the science curriculum as one of the changes that the curriculum in Rwanda has undergone through in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. The study investigates the science teachers’ understanding of inquiry-based science teaching, their attitudes towards the introduction of inquiry into the science curriculum, the activities they are engaged in with regard to inquiry-based science teaching and learning, the factors influencing their current teaching practices and their perceptions about what may be done for a better implementation of inquiry-based science teaching. Guided by a pragmatic research approach, I believed that collecting diverse types of data would provide a deeper understanding of the research problem and therefore adopted a two phases’ sequential explanatory mixed methods design. During the first phase, data were collected by means of a survey questionnaire administered to a purposeful sample of 200 science teachers at lower secondary school in Rwanda. Findings from the survey informed the second phase consisting of data collection by means of semi-structured one-to-one interviews with 15 purposefully selected teachers from the sample used in the first phase then supplemented by a contextual observation in their schools. The data from the questionnaire were subject to a descriptive statistical analysis while data from interviews were subject to analysis involving transcribing and reading interview transcripts, coding and categorizing information, identifying patterns, and interpreting. The data analysis produced five main assertions providing answers to the research questions. Participant teachers displayed varying understanding of what inquiry-based science teaching is, associating it with a number of its characteristics such as a learner centred teaching approach mostly based on experiments and practical work. There were a few teachers who did not have accepted understandings of inquiry-teaching. Furthermore, teachers had a positive attitude towards the introduction of inquiry and favoured the change even though they indicated a number of factors preventing them from adequately implementing the new teaching approach. As for their practices, traditional classroom activities were more frequently used than inquiry-based activities and when they made use of inquiry, they followed a specific order of activities that led to a more structured type of inquiry. The study further identified a number of factors influencing both positively and negatively the implementation of inquiry. The positive aspect was that they find teaching through inquiry more enjoyable while the shortage of time, the lack of teaching resources and the lack of confidence associated with inadequate training, influenced negatively the way they implemented inquiry-based teaching. Teachers highlighted a number of interventions they felt would make the implementation of inquiry based teaching more effective. The improvement of resources provision to schools and the implementation of adequate professional development programmes were the most highlighted. Despite the several impediments to the implementation of effective use of inquiry, teachers were optimistic towards the future of science teaching and learning in Rwanda. It is envisaged these findings will be valuable to a wide range of audiences including science teachers, curriculum developers, science teacher educators as they may inform them about the implementation of the new curricula that require teachers to focus on inquiry given the controversy surrounding this issue in science education.