The Role of Everyday Contexts in Learner-centred Teaching: The practice in Namibian secondary schools

This paper reports on the use of out-of-school everyday contexts in Namibian science classrooms. This use is portrayed against the backdrop of an explicit educational philosophy of learner-centred teaching. Data were collected through audio-taped teacher-learner interactions and non-participant fiel...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of science education 2005, Vol.27 (15), p.1805-1823
Main Authors: Kasanda, Choshi, Lubben, Fred, Gaoseb, Noah, Kandjeo-Marenga, Utji, Kapenda, Hileni, Campbell, Bob
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classroom Environment
Context Effect
Curriculum subjects: programmes and methods
Educational Philosophy
Educational sciences
Exact and natural sciences
Foreign Countries
Namibia
Relevance (Education)
Science Education
Secondary Education
Secondary School Science
Teaching Methods
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper reports on the use of out-of-school everyday contexts in Namibian science classrooms. This use is portrayed against the backdrop of an explicit educational philosophy of learner-centred teaching. Data were collected through audio-taped teacher-learner interactions and non-participant field notes in 29 junior and senior science classes taught by 12 teachers in six schools. An existing typology was applied to classify episodes of use of everyday contexts and identify teachers' pedagogic strategies for their use. The results show that more everyday contexts are used in junior secondary than in senior secondary classes, that only a limited range of types of everyday contexts are used at both levels, and that their use often follows theoretical exposition or teacher questioning. These findings are related to three interpretations of learner-centred teaching. Recommendations for a fuller implementation of learner-centred teaching are made.
ISSN:0950-0693
1464-5289
DOI:10.1080/09500690500277854