A study of teachers' questioning techniques in advanceo level chemistry lessons''
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Date
2007
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Unversity of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
The study explored teachers questioning techniques during chemistry teaching at Advanced level secondary schools. The general aim of the study was to investigate the extent to which teachers questioning techniques and the way they handled students' responses facilitated students learning and also promoted their thinking skills. The study concentrated on three secondary schools in Dar es Salaam. It involved a tota] of 179 respondents out of whom 10 were teachers and 169 were students. Methods used for the study included mainly classroom observation. Other methods were; the use of questionnaires, reviewing written materials and unstnictured interview. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The findings showed that, above 80% of the observed teachers had at leal moderate ability of using questioning techniques to measure students understanding and communicate their questions to the students. The problem observed in all schools was that teachers interacted frequently with active students and bothered less with the least active ones. Above 80% of all teachers observed had problems of promoting students thinking by maintaining a balance between open ended and close ended questions or between convergent and divergent questions and also in guiding classroom discussion through effective questioning due to low ability to probe questions and to use various techniques in asking questions. However, teachers questioning approaches in school C assisted more students in mastering the lesson objectives whereas the least number of students were assisted in school A. Based on these findings, it is recommended that teachers should plan for both oral and written questions well in advance as a means of motivating both active and less active students in order to improve their learning behavior. It was further recommended that the Ministry of Education, the Tanzania Institute of Education, the Examination Council and the School Managers should organize in service training for teachers from time to time based on various aspects of classroom questioning
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF QD40.K5)
Keywords
Chemistry, Study and teaching, Advanced level, Teaching techniques
Citation
Kira, E. S. (2010) A study of teachers' questioning techniques in advanceo level chemistry lessons'', Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam