Local teaching materials (LTM) as an alternative strategy for improving chemistry teaching in community secondary schools (CSS) in Tanzania

Tbe study investigated the teachers' and students' awareness of the potential of Local Teaching Materials (LTM) for teaching and leming chemistry in resource constrained Community Secondary Schools (CSS) in Tanzania, the extent of the use local teaching materials, students' involvement in the preparation and use of local teaching materials, and challenges teachers experience in improvising local teaching materials. The study adopted survey design in data collection. Teachers were interviewed; students completed questionnaires and were involved in focused group discussions. Classroom observations were conducted to address the research questions. A total of 19 teachers (7 females and 12 males) and 127 Students (55 girls and 72 boys) participated in the study. The results revealed that teachers and students were a"are of the potential of local teaching materials.as an alternative strategy but were not using them in the process of teaching aDd learning. Rare use of local teaching materials was attributed to lack of teachers' motivation, lack of skills, financial problems, the absence of manuals to guide the process and the lack of a creative spirit to innovate. Students were able to identify some local teaching materials from their surrounding environment However; students were not involved in the process of improvising local teaching materials from the surrounding environment The study concludes that local teaching materials are equally effective as industrially made teaching materials to provide students with hands-on-activities in the classroom. The study recommends Government and teacher training institutions to promote improvisation of local teaching materials and as pan pre-service training, and lo work collaboratively to maximize the use local teaching materials in teaching and learning chemistry in Community Secondary Schools. Several possibilities for further research on the use local teaching materials as an alternative strategy are proposed in this study.