Browsing by Author "Rukondo, Nyanjiga Dishon"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Girl’s attitudes and performance in mathematics: a comparative Study between Rural and urban o-level secondary schools in Mara region, Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2006) Rukondo, Nyanjiga Dishon
    The study sought to investigate factors that were thought to contribute to girls` negative attitudes to and poor performance in mathematics. Specifically, the study sought to identify such attitudes among girls in rural and urban secondary school, to determine the kind of school inputs, process and climate variables that might contribute to this; and to compare both rural and urban O-level secondary schools on the matter of attitude and performance. The study involved four O-level secondary schools, which were randomly sampled from Musoma and Bunda Districts in Mara region. The school include Nansimo, Kasoma, Morembe and Mara, the first two from rural locations and the latter from urban locations. The sample consisted of 92 respondents who included 79 students, 9 mathematics teachers and 4 headmasters. Instruments for data collection included Documentary review, Classroom observation checklist, Questionnaires and Interviews. Quantitative and qualitative data were analsed using SPSS computer programme and content analysis respectively. The findings revealed that there is no difference in attitudes between rural and urban secondary schools. The majority of girls in the two locations had positive attitudes towards mathematics. There are differences between rural and urban schools in students` entry qualifications, parents` socio-economic status in terms of their careers, teachers` qualification and adequacy, instructional materials as well as in the impact of evaluation and feedback, school leadership and the use of variety of teaching strategies were more or less the same in the two locations. A Chi-square test shows that the difference in girls` performance in mathematics between rural and urban secondary schools in statically significant since performance in rural secondary schools was poorer than that of urban secondary schools. Based on the findings the overarching conclusion is that girls can perform well in mathematics regardless of school locations, provided that schools provide conducive climate, optimise pedagogical processes and select students on academic merit. Teachers should be adequate, well qualified and motivated to teach. Also instructional and financial resources should be adequate. Further, the school administration, teachers and students should cp-operate towards the common goal of high academic achievement.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Training of secondary school chemistry teachers in practical work at selected public Universities in Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2016) Rukondo, Nyanjiga Dishon
    This study investigated the teaching and learning of practical work in teaching methods course during the training of secondary school chemistry teachers in public universities in Tanzania. The underlying assumption was that, though there are several factors that may influence teachers’ competency, pre-service education and training provide fundamental knowledge and skills for effective teaching. The goal of the study was to understand whether or not university teaching methods courses help student teachers to develop competency for effective teaching of chemistry practical. Four objectives guided the study namely, to examine the content of teaching methods courses offered at universities to student teachers specialising in chemistry, to assess the knowledge and skills that student teachers develop during the university teaching methods courses for implementing the secondary education chemistry syllabus, to examine the appropriateness of the available resources for chemistry practical work and to explore participants’ perceptions of teaching and learning chemistry practicals at the University of Dodoma (UDOM) and University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM).The study employed a qualitative research approach with the use of single embedded case study design. The study involved a total of 86 participants, which included three lecturers, two laboratory technicians and eighty one student teachers from UDOM and UDSM. Data collection methods were questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, observations and documentary review. Data were reduced, organized and subjected to thematic analysis. The findings of this study revealed that teaching methods courses at UDOM and UDSM differed in terms of their focus. At UDOM there was a chemistry teaching methods course, which focused on chemistry subject while at UDSM the course combined four subjects and was called Science and Mathematics Teaching Methods. The findings further showed that the courses covered very little content of chemistry practical, which provided student teachers with inadequate knowledge and skills for effective teaching of chemistry practical. However, student teachers at UDOM were better than those at UDSM in teaching chemistry practicals during teaching practice due to variation in the structure and environment where practical part of the teaching methods courses were conducted. The study disclosed that, in some cases, there were inadequate and inappropriate resources for implementing the practical part of the courses. Participants perceived that the courses were important only that they were not comprehensive enough to equip student teachers with appropriate competency for handling the practical part of the secondary education chemistry syllabi. It is surmised that the teaching methods courses at the two universities have not effectively covered the chemistry practical part, due to the structure of the courses. It is, therefore, recommended that each science subject should have its own teaching methods course with clearly stipulated content for the chemistry practical part. Standards for PRESET programmes for science teachers should be set so as to minimise the existing disparities across universities in the country. Universities should devise ways where colleges and/or schools offering courses with similar characteristics can share available resources at a particular university.