Ways of improving teaching

TONOTA: If test results are poor in Mathematics, then teachers will need to explain why this is so and come up with ways of improving their teaching, for example, by giving remedial lessons or changing their methods of teaching. In Agriculture, pupils may grow vegetables in the school garden. From time to time, their teachers may assess their plots. Now, during one assessment, the teacher may find that the Swiss chard plants in most students’ plots have been spaced too far apart, say, 40cm, whilst the recommended spacing might be just 25cm.

So, clearly, the teacher has to take action! Although he may award many of his students a low mark for spacing of the crop, he must also consider what course of action he should follow in future when the next batch of pupils grow the same crop in the garden.

For example, he may choose to observe more closely how the pupils sow the seeds in their plots. So far, so good!

School heads often argue that students should be assessed often to ensure that they learn and take their studies seriously. But I am of the opinion that perhaps there is too much assessment in our schools. The system emphasises the need for students to obtain good grades at the expense of effective learning and skills development. For example, a student may be able to write down the equation for photosynthesis (a process by which plants make their own food) in plants and get full marks. But he may still not really understand what photosynthesis is all about - for instance, where does the water and carbon dioxide come from?

So, this type of question focuses on role learning and really only tests the students’ ability to remember what the teacher has told them; it does not test his understanding of the concept.

And we may neglect those students who obtain lower grades even if such ‘down and out’ pupils may possess valuable skills that can be used in the workplace when they leave school. Another reason is that tests and examinations reduce the time that is actually available for teaching. And the syllabi for many subjects is often overloaded.

At present, there are examinations at the end of each of the three terms that make up the secondary school year. Assuming that each set of examinations take three weeks, that makes nine weeks in all. Plus the end of month tests. Assuming that these tests take three days, and a total of six monthly test sessions are held during the year, that makes a total of 18 days. So, in all, up to three months may be used up in testing.

Given that the three terms make up nine months of the year, then we can see that only six months are actually available for teaching. And other days may also be lost to teaching during the year - prize giving, sports day, Teachers Day, plus time needed for teachers to focus on their Personal Development Plans as part of Performance Management Systems (PMS), a programme designed to measure teachers’ progress and performance on the job.

And in primary schools, pupils begin to write exams in Standard 2!

In many countries, a major aim of end of year examinations is to find out whether pupils have mastered the knowledge and skills that they have been taught during the year. If they have, then they will be promoted to the next grade, for example, from Form 1 to Form 2. But if they fail the examinations then they may be required to repeat the year again.

But in Botswana, things are rather different. And it’s because of automatic promotion, which may have a role to play in poor educational standards in Botswana, despite all the assessment that is carried out in schools. Pupils in primary schools write their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) at the end of Standard 7. But to me the PSLE has lost much of its meaning since it does not really matter if a pupil fails or not; all proceed to Form 1. And they can also perform poorly in end of year examinations throughout secondary school and still proceed to the next level! This means that there is really very little incentive for pupils to study hard and take their studies seriously, especially those who are academically weak.

Reduced teaching time means that parts of the syllabus may be covered too quickly, or even left out completely. In other words, teachers have to cram many topics into the short time that is available to them.

That means that pupils have to absorb and hopefully understand large amounts of information in short amounts of time which may, in turn, result in poor long-term retention of material. And to make matters worse is the fact that, apart from Setswana, the medium of instruction in all secondary school subjects is English, which will not normally be the mother tongue of the great majority of pupils.

This means that pupils need more time for effective learning and such time is in short supply! So, for lack of time, pupils may still fail even if they are regularly assessed.

But too many school heads believe that the more we test pupils, then the better their grades will be! It’s like a farmer who may believe that the more he waters his crops, then the faster they will grow and the higher the yield! But too much watering may actually lead to waterlogging of the soil and the spread of diseases, which, in turn, will lead to reduced yields. So too much testing of pupils may actually lead to a decline in grades! Now when I was at secondary school, we only had exams at the end of each year. But that did not downgrade the education that I received!

Tests and exams consist of a series of questions that are to be answered by pupils. But are such questions relevant and meaningful? Do they actually effectively assess the content and skills that the pupil has acquired? Many exams and tests are divided into sections such as multiple choice, short answer questions and essays.

Multiple-choice questions consist of one question and usually four alternative answers, one of which is correct.

The pupil then has to indicate which one is correct. Although such questions are easy to mark, such questions do not test the ability of pupils to communicate or write; all that they have to do here is to circle the correct answer or write the letter that precedes the correct answer, for example, A, or B... Also, the correct answer may be guessed even if the pupil does not know the content that the question is trying to test. This means that, on average, a pupil who knows nothing can score at least 25%!

Short answer questions usually demand answers that might just consist of one word, or a sentence, or two. And essay questions involve an extended piece of writing. Although the marking of such questions is time-consuming, and are more difficult to mark for the teacher, they do test the creative thinking and writing and language ability of the pupil. Bloom’s Taxonomy classifies questions into six different levels. The lowest level, level 1, tests knowledge. Such questions begin with words such as Name, List, Define, State, When and Where...? For example, ‘State the capital of Botswana’, ‘When did Botswana receive her independence?’ ‘Define photosynthesis’, ‘Name two fertilisers that add nitrogen to the soil.’ Such questions simply recall information, or facts, that the pupils have learnt, but not understanding. In other words, this is rote learning. Now a pupil may get full marks by defining photosynthesis correctly, but that’s only because he has the ability to remember it. But does he really understand what takes place during photosynthesis? More likely not! True-False questions are also at this level. For example, ‘A pig is a ruminant. True or False?’ Here a pupil who knows nothing can get a mark of 50% by just guessing the answers!

Level 2, Comprehension, tests the pupil’s understanding of facts and ideas. Such questions may begin with words like Explain, Describe...? For example, ‘Explain the functions of nitrogen in plant growth.’

Level 3, Application, tests the pupil’s ability to solve problems using acquired knowledge. For example, such a question might be: ‘Explain how crop rotation can help maintain soil fertility in a field.’ Now the problem facing farmers here is that if they grow crops on the same land each year, then the soil may become less fertile. The pupils now have to use what they have learnt before to solve this problem by explaining crop rotation and giving examples of suitable crops that can be grown year after year to maintain soil fertility.

At Level 4, Analysis, questions might begin with words like Compare, Classify, Examine...? For example, ‘Compare and contrast the climate of Botswana with that of the DRC.’ At Level 5, Synthesis, questions might begin with words like Create, Plan, Formulate, Compose...? For example, ‘Formulate a suitable crop rotation for a Botswana farmer.’ Finally, the most challenging level 6 – Evaluation. This tests the pupil’s ability to make judgements about information and ideas. Here a question might begin with words such as Assess, Recommend, Criticise, Judge, Evaluate...? For example, ‘Assess the importance of the fertiliser, LAN, in vegetable farming.’

Teachers should also take time to explain instruction words used in questions. An instruction word occurs at the start of the question and will influence the marks allocated to that question.

For example, pupils should know the difference between the following two questions even if they deal with the same topic – photosynthesis: ‘Define photosynthesis’; ‘Explain how photosynthesis takes place in plants.’ The first question involves a single sentence and may carry one or two marks.

However, the word ‘explain’ in the second question means that the pupil has to write more and mention the different materials that are used in photosynthesis – water, sunlight and carbon dioxide and where they come from. The pupil will also have to mention that the reaction between carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight produces carbohydrate, which is food for the plant. And since the answer is longer, then more marks will be given, for example, five marks.

Now multiple choice and short answer questions consist, to a large extent, of Level 1 questions that require little from the pupil. And questions of this type feature most in the majority of tests and exams that our children write; I have even seen multiple choice questions in language papers! In the past, more essay-type questions were more common. For example, when I taught Geography to ‘O’ Level in the late 1980s, I remember in the final exams, questions such as: ‘Explain why the Canadian Prairies are a major wheat producing area.’ Such a question would demand the pupil to write a few paragraphs. Today, however, a question might appear like ‘State two problems associated with the migration of people from the rural to the urban areas of Botswana.’

This is a Level 1 question and a few lines of writing would suffice as an answer. So, it’s a pity that many questions today do little to test a pupil’s understanding of subject content or his writing and language ability. It is so important that pupils learn more on how to express themselves by writing; only then, can they hope to achieve a greater degree of fluency in English or Setswana.

Tests and exams may consist of questions of varying difficulty. However, when preparing a test or exam, teachers need to place Level 1 questions at the beginning. This will motivate the slow learners and they will be able to score some marks even if they cannot answer the later more difficult and challenging questions. However, if the first questions are more difficult, then this may discourage the slow learners and they may be tempted to simply give up.

Tests and examinations are more formal methods of assessment. These are administered by a teacher in a classroom where pupils work on their own writing their answers to a set of questions within a specified period of time. This is the most common form of assessment in Botswana and most developing countries.

Although teachers may consider that the writing of exams and tests makes pupils take their studies more seriously, this form of assessment, nevertheless, is not without its drawbacks. Some pupils may be nervous, or fear, examinations; also, a pupil may not feel well at the time.

Hence, such pupils may under-perform. And pupils from a poor family may have left home early in the dark and walked on an empty stomach several kilometres to school. So, when they reach school, they may be too tired to concentrate on the task at hand. In contrast, a pupil from a wealthy home may fuel up on a good breakfast and be taken to school in his dad’s Toyota Pajero! The end of year exams only come once a year and so there is no second chance for pupils to make amends and improve their grades. It’s now or never!

In developed countries, Continuous Assessment (CA) is now playing a greater role in the assessment of pupils. CA continuously assesses a pupil’s mastery of knowledge and skills throughout the year with a constant stream of differing assessment opportunities and hence pupils will be more likely to succeed.

For example, one assessment opportunity might be project work. When I was a teacher at Lobatse Secondary School, all our Form 2 students carried out group projects. For example, they would carry out a survey into the traffic in Lobatse.

They would stand along the road outside the school and count the number of vehicles passing in either direction. Also, they would record where each vehicle came from by looking at their number plates. Once they had collected their data, they would then write up a report and illustrate it with tables and graphs. Pupils on a field trip could be given worksheets to complete which would later be marked.

Social Studies and Geography pupils could be divided into groups with each group recording the daily weather over, say, a two-week period. They can then show their findings on manilla charts and graphs. In Science lessons, pupils could write up experiments showing the results obtained.