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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 13, Issue 1, Article 3 (Jun., 2012) |
The findings of this research revealed that participant teachers found it difficult to set challenging goals and to use hands-on teaching methods that involved collaborative activities with others. However, through using the POE and collaborating with colleagues they found themselves much more confident in developing and using hands on activities. The collaborative activities empowered them to share, which expanded their capacity to develop a personal vision for their own teaching practice.
Moreover, they had opportunities to seek understanding regarding the use of resources from multiple sources in order to implement the POE strategy. In most cases, they used local materials rather than any sophisticated teaching aids in order to develop a conscious awareness of the science concepts to be learnt for their students. The intervention process worked as a motivating agent to use more teaching aids in their practice. Moreover, they shared their teaching aids and suggested ways to find and use teaching aids through collaborative activities. This means that it could be helpful to think about using more teaching aids to develop a sense of purpose of their students and it would obviously be more worthwhile if they concentrated on collecting more from the local environment rather than rely on sophisticated aids as one way of counteracting the weak financial situation of their schools. Moreover, it could also be helpful to think about how to create a more collaborative culture in supporting the development of practice.
