Education

Science lessons learned at LEAP

For South Africa to get ahead, we need a lot of high school graduates with Science and Maths - this is precisely not what the current education system is providing. Many interventions have been made to change that. At the LEAP Science and Maths School, Bruce Kloot has come face to face with the reality of trying to empower the best of the best selected for schooling from the Langa Township. He passes on his experience of methods that have and have not worked and makes observations that only somebody who has been there and taught can - genuine front line experience.

LEAP Science and Maths School draws most of its learner body from Langa Township. A school of about 100 learners , it opened at the beginning of 2004. The School aims to give its students the opportunity to obtain a matric exemption with Maths and Science on the higher grade. To reach this goal, the learners have a full day comprising ten 45-minute lessons, with two lessons each of Science, Maths and English per day. Xhosa (first language) and two other subjects and a daily lesson of Life Orientation make up the rest of the quota. The day starts at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 5:15 p.m.

This intensive schedule is necessary if the school is to fulfil its purpose. If we consider the subject of Physical Science, two lessons a day are essential and it makes sense that emphasis is placed on English and Maths as well for two reasons:
1) Good language skills are necessary to understand the logic and reasoning inherent in Science. Since English is the medium of education at LEAP and none of the learners has English as his/her mother tongue, proficiency in this language is one of the pillars upon which a successful Science education rests.
2) The other pillar is good mathematical ability. Higher grade Science (Physics in particular) requires a range of mathematical tools, including manipulation of equations, trigonometry and the use of exponents. A learner needs to be able to do Maths well if he or she wishes to pass higher grade Science in the matric final exams.

The subject of this paper is the lessons learned in teaching Physical Science at LEAP. Science is not an easy subject to teach at the best of times and in the LEAP environment, the task becomes a unique challenge. Before getting into the nuts and bolts of classroom strategy, a reflection on the past is necessary to place the teacher-learner relationship in its proper context.

Different views of Education

To fully appreciate this, we must go back and consider the historical context of our nation. If I take myself as an example, I grew up with all the benefits of the apartheid education system. The schools I went to had all the equipment, my teachers had the all the training and I had access to all the resources and facilities which would allow me to succeed in matric. It was a foregone conclusion that I would study at a tertiary level.

While I was enjoying this opportunity, my equals in township schools were suffering from a shortage of resources and overcrowded classrooms, their teachers had generally not been trained as well (themselves having had limited access to tertiary study) and the prospect of a student obtaining a matric exemption, let alone studying further, did not look very hopeful. Only in my matric year, 1991, did things change when 'Model C' schools came into existence.

Even though it has been 11 years since democracy, and the new education department has been working hard to improve the lot of previously disadvantaged schools, its success has been limited. Access to resources and overcrowding remain a problem in the township schools and there has not been enough time or will to assess the level of teacher training (and to re-train if necessary). These factors all affect present learner performance in township schools. In 2003, for example, only seven matriculants from Langa schools obtained a matric exemption, and none of these had Science and Maths on the higher grade.

This is mentioned so that the reader can appreciate that there are different perceptions of the very process of education in the minds of a white and a black South African. This is the fruit of the tyranny of the Bantu Education System. Before we even discuss teaching practice, it must be understood that the very approach of teacher and learner towards education in general and Physical Science in particular are markedly different from the outset.

Understanding vs. Repetition

In primary school, learners are often encouraged to retain knowledge by repetition. Since the volume of work is small, the technique can bring a certain amount of success. However, at the secondary school level, especially in higher grade Science, such a technique cannot work. I have come to use the phrase 'Niyaqonda?' ('Do you understand') repeatedly in my classroom to gauge whether the learners have really understood what I have been explaining.

Poor Science pedagogy consists of teaching facts and hoping that the learners remember them. But good Science means connecting concepts so that they make a comprehensible whole and ensuring that the learner understands the complete thing. I found that learners know exactly what 'matter' is: "Something that occupies space and has mass", they chant in accord. But when challenged on what this actually means or on whether the whiteboard duster or their own bodies could be counted as matter, they were at a loss.

Hence an important part of the approach of Science at LEAP has been actively discouraging learning by repetition and a continued pressing for a sense of whether learners really do understand - the constant question 'Niyaqonda?'. However, the learners answering "Yes" to this question is not the end of the matter. For LEAP learners to come to a genuine and useful understanding of the subject we have to contend with other problems and pitfalls. The need for the goal of understanding rests on the axiom: 'If you understand you don't have to learn.' If our aim is for learners not only to enter but also to succeed in tertiary institutions, we need to give them the tools to access and assimilate large volumes of academic material. Some of the associated issues that we have encountered are…

Group mentality

I quickly learned that the answer "Yes, we do understand" could not be trusted. It is the appropriate response once an explanation has been given and makes the teacher feel he/she is teaching and the learners feel that they are learning. However, I find that many times it simply is not true, or certainly to the extent that I needed.

Even those that were confidently answering "Yes", when challenged, could not explain the concept to the class themselves . Indeed, many times those who professed to have understood a moment before could not so much as even begin to demonstrate what they had understood- they simply shrugged or laughed, slightly embarrassed. Occasionally a learner could give an explanation that showed real understanding, i.e. would be able to express the concept in his or her own words. If the learner was struggling to express himself, I would allow him to explain in Xhosa but this was done less as learners' English improved during the year.

Asking the class whether they understand is in fact a risky business. As we have seen, learners who do not really understand may say "Yes" without critically evaluating the extent of their understanding. But an even more dangerous type of behaviour is masked by the group response: the learner who keeps quiet without alerting the teacher to his/her lack of comprehension. A teacher standing before a group must always remember that there exists a range of ability in the group. Most of the class may understand, could give a booming "Yes, we understand", and a sharp learner could demonstrate to the teacher that she really does understand by a solid explanation. But while this is going on, learners are hiding in the group, enjoying the atmosphere but in fact not grasping anything and too shy or too embarrassed to stop the teacher and say, "I do not understand. Please explain it again".

These learners must be identified as soon as possible in order to assist them with the work but also, more importantly, to help them stop pretending that they understand. They must be empowered to see that not grasping something academic is not a disgrace but is part of the learning process. The classroom should be a place of safety and acceptance so that anyone can ask any question he/she wishes to, without being judged. This will be mentioned again in the section Logic and Reasoning, where I highlight the importance of early assessment. Here I will mention the ways in which we have tried to identify and help learners who are struggling to understand:

" Target individuals when asking questions: It is quite confrontational for children who are used to the safety of a group but I deliberately call on learners by name to answer a particular question. Here there is no hiding. Moreover (and it has become a joke among my students), when the answer is not correct, I pronounce a resounding, "Wrong". I insist on accuracy and correctness and tell my learners (who of course do not like to be told that they are wrong in front of everyone) that it is better to know that you are wrong so that you can change than to be assured that you are right when you are not. Not judging learners if they do not understand does not mean allowing them to answer incorrectly. Rather, it means that they must be comfortable with not knowing, but free to seek the solution.

" Use co-operative learning strategies: After an explanation I often get learners to break up into pairs or small groups and explain to each other . As I have already mentioned, there is a range of ability in a group and in order for co-operative learning to work properly, enough learners must have understood in order to explain to those learners who have not. It is not as clear cut as this in practice, of course. I teach until it feels as though the class has grasped the main idea and then let them flesh it out and confirm each other's understanding. One danger of this practice is that learners may not understand themselves and hence may try to teach others by repeating parrot-fashion and not really imparting an understanding or, even worse, may even pass on an incorrect understanding.

" Individual attention: The general pattern that we work to is teaching a section and then giving the class problems to solve, based on that section. It is good practice to walk around and check on each learner while he/she is attempting these problems. If the learner has not fully grasped the concepts taught, the teacher may be able to help him or her one-on-one during this time. It is also easier for someone who has not fully understood to call the teacher across and seek a deeper understanding, now away from the pressure of performing in front of her peers.

" Groupwork: We have found that learners at LEAP find it difficult to work on their own. More often than not, learners are in groups puzzling over a problem, debating, arguing and explaining to each other . This is healthy but it can create a dependence and hinder an individual's academic growth. Learners should not depend on someone too much and must keep in mind that they will be writing exams alone. I have found an open-book revision worksheet especially useful with the express instruction that learners do it on their own. They must then sit with the educator while it is marked. Although it is time consuming, this method quickly exposes any problems an individual may have, providing he or she has indeed done it on his/her own.

" Reflection: One way to guard against gaps in the development of understanding is to shorten the time between instruction and assessment. Our Principal has emphasised the importance of the process of reflection in teaching. He has learned to regularly ask the class to reflect what they heard him say, rather than assuming they understood, no matter how clear it feels to him when he teaches it. This is valuable advice. The sooner we assess, the sooner we can pick up how effective our explanation really was and identify those learners who are struggling. It also allows us to adapt our teaching methods as we go and helps us seek for better ways of communicating.

Logic and Reasoning

I have experimented with different logic puzzles such as matchstick problems, riddles and sudoku in an effort to stimulate reasoning skills. I had hoped that if learners practice simple logic problems and develop their ability to reason, it will be easier for them to make the progression to more advanced problems. I also hoped that it would instil a sense of "Eureka" in learners - to present them with a problem and let them enjoy the reward of finding the answer to that problem.

The success of my efforts is difficult to judge. It was not possible to spend too long on such experiments because of the looming pressure of the syllabi. However, I now feel that reasoning skills need to built up at an early stage, perhaps even in primary school, and that mathematics is the subject that should develop these skills.

It has recently hit home just how poor the learners are at arithmetic. The curious thing is that a learner may be doing well in higher grade Maths but may still not be able to divide three by two. This is not an exaggeration! There appears to be a huge gap in the learners' mathematical development which they are able to mask by relying heavily on calculators. Although I am in no way positioned to make such a suggestion, it feels like learners at a Grade Eight level need to have their calculators taken away from them for six months to gain an appreciation for numbers and basic arithmetic.

Building Knowledge

To understand an explanation why, for example, a bulb lights on when electricity passes through it, is not easy when the explanation is not in your mother tongue, no matter how carefully the teacher builds the argument . This is perhaps why many learners initially try to remember scientific facts by repetition. Not only does the learner have to try to understand in this new language but has to also insert complicated scientific terms such as voltage, current and resistance into this new language and immediately work with these words .

The problem is exaggerated when the body of knowledge is large. In Grade 10 chemistry for example, writing a balanced chemical equation from words can only be done once a proper understanding of the periodic table and bonding has been reached. This in turn is possible only when atoms have been dealt with in a certain amount of detail. This means that it is not only a single explanation that has to be understood but many explanations over a number of lessons or even weeks. All of these explanations need to be understood and then incorporated into the learner's body of knowledge to be used as building blocks for the next step.

A gap in the train of thought, caused by a misunderstanding, not doing a certain example that was given for homework or missing a lesson can have disastrous and long-reaching consequences. This has been learned through bitter experience and the following story illustrates the point:

LEAP accepted Grade 11 learners in 2004 when it opened and I made them do a short General Science test to assess their ability in the subject. I decided from the test results that I would have to revise Grade 10 Science if the Grade 11s were to properly understand the Grade 11 and 12 syllabi. So I spent the first month or so going through the basics of Grade 10 chemistry - the structure of the atom, the periodic table, chemical equations, etc. - sacrificing precious time that should have been spent on material that was going to be examined at the end of Grade 12.

However, my fatal flaw was not checking whether all of the learners were really grasping the concepts I was putting across. I was whizzing through the work, assuming that I was just brushing up what had already been taught previously. It was only when I started teaching the Grade 11 work and helping learners one-on-one that I realised that some had not understood from the very beginning. They had not stopped me to ask questions but had allowed me to go on, without actually grasping the very basics of the atom and the periodic table. This had meant that writing chemical formulae and chemical equations were impossible and hence the Grade 11 syllabus was effectively impenetrable for those learners.

I must admit that I lost heart when I saw the magnitude of the task that lay ahead for me and some of my Science students. It would mean hours and hours of going through what I had taught over the last month again, step by step, until the arguments had been understood and could be applied in the Grade 11 syllabus.

This problem of falling behind is a slippery slope: unless the learner makes a concerted effort to catch up the work and iron out any misunderstandings as soon as possible, he or she will fall further and further behind. But taking this initiative requires a certain amount of maturity and does not come easily to learners who are not only beginning to learn Science but are, many times, learning to learn . More often than not, learners sit in class while the situation gets more and more desperate and it is only when they write the test at the end of the section that the teacher reaslises their dearth of comprehension.

Visual learning

Perhaps because of the added difficulty of language, the Science department at LEAP has quite spontaneously resorted to more visual ways of explaining things. This is particularly true for classroom explanations but is also true in the laboratory:

In the Laboratory

LEAP is fortunate enough to be able to share laboratories with Diocesan College (Bishops) in Rondebosch which has excellent facilities. With this equipment at our disposal and enough time in the afternoon, we are able to do all the experiments we wish to. As long as the learners have been educated with regards to the safety of lab, they can learn a great deal in this space, in two broad ways:

1) Learners doing experiments: For these to be effective, the learners must be thoroughly briefed so that they understand what they are doing and are able to use all the equipment they need. Furthermore, the experiment must suit this format and the teacher should provide a worksheet with clear instructions, outcomes and an assessment rubric . It is not easy for a single teacher to manage a whole class (even though class size is not more than 22 at LEAP) and learner practicals can become chaotic. Perhaps it is because learners from township schools do not usually have access to properly equipped laboratories that we found that actually doing experiments gave them a sense of accomplishment and confidence in the subject.

2) Teacher demonstrations: These are especially useful from the point of view of de-mystifying Science. It is so satisfying to explain something and then to prove to the class what has been said through an experiment. After all, this is the bedrock of Physical Science - using the experimental method to prove any statement or theory regarding the natural world. It shows the learners that the ground that we are treading in school Science is solid ground and any Thabo, Dick or Harry can carry out the same experiment to prove for himself any theory the teacher cares to expound.

Science teachers are constantly plagued by the dreaded failed experiment so it is a good idea to carefully choose an experiment and try it before showing it to the whole class. An experiment that gives a different result from what it is meant to (how many times I have used the phrase "What's meant to happen is...!") can really confuse learners.

We have found it necessary to roughly double the time needed for every demonstration for it to be successful. It is really a waste of time to plunge headlong into a demonstration after a rushed explanation because the learners will, for example, see the colour of the solution that you are so proudly showing the class but will not have the faintest idea what it means. The class should be fully prepared and really understand what the experiment will demonstrate.

A good example that springs to mind was demonstrating how an electromagnet works. LEAP students were familiar with the effects of magnetism but when I told them that just winding a current-carrying conductor around a piece of iron would make it act like a magnet, the idea was unbelievable. "Show us", they said. A perfect opening for an easy experiment. Even so, I made sure that everyone knew what a current-carrying conductor was, got them to acknowledge that the piece of iron had no magnetic properties of its own and then proceeded to pick up paperclips with the simple electromagnet - case closed!

In the Classroom

Visual learning, as mentioned previously, is a vital part of teaching Science at LEAP. Children tend to enjoy classroom activities but learners at LEAP love to act out what they are learning or see it acted out or demonstrated with visual aids. We do not have any particular format for this but use what is available to us as the situation demands it. Sometimes there are not the words to try to explain something from another angle and so, almost in desperation, we resort to acting out or getting the class to act out what we are trying to explain. Some examples may help to illustrate the point:

1) To teach balancing chemical equations I used different coloured balls pinned to a polystyrene board to represent atoms of different elements. This is hardly a new technique but was proven to be vital in the LEAP context because of the learners difficulty with arithmetic. Having the different coloured balls in front of the whole class aided them because at each step in their calculations they could refer to the board and count the number of balls to see if their calculations were right.

2) Vector problems and questions on motion in the Grade 11 syllabus are particularly difficult because they come with a long explanation of what is happening which can be difficult to visualise. I have instructed my class to always draw a diagram to help them have a full picture of the problem in front of them.

3) Sometimes this is not enough. I remember doing a problem about a taxi crossing a train track so as to avoid the train which was coming along the track at a certain speed. We ended up acting out the problem: Nomfundo, the locomotive leading five other coaches bearing down on Asanda and Likhona, the taxi, who had to jump the space between a row of desks before being hit by the train. Acting out the problem gave everyone, participants and spectators, a clear idea of what variables needed to be solved in the problem...and was a lot of fun!

4) Electricity is notoriously difficult to teach so we ended up arranging the desks to form a closed electric circuit that learners (the electrons) could walk around in. We used pieces of paper as voltage, dished out to each electron as he/she passed the power source and then deposited at the resistor, a school bag that had been placed in the circuit. This mode of explanation has its limitations but can be useful to explain the concept of series and parallel circuits and electrical energy. It's also effective because the whole class is part of the action and everyone just absorbs what is going on.

Studying

Something that we are only beginning to explore is teaching the skill of studying. In the previous school that I taught in, I could take for granted that the students knew how to study for tests and exams. I would teach the material and then leave it up to the individual to study it when we set a test or an exam.

As mentioned previously, in the section Building Knowledge, LEAP students are often still 'learning how to learn'. This applies in the context of understanding explanations in the classroom but also in the context of studying for tests . We have noticed that most of our learners are not aware of what it means to study before a test or exam. Some hardly study at all while others may spend time simply reading through their notes.

I told my classes (in 2005) that this cannot work for Science. In a subject that requires both a knowledge of the theory and problem-solving, learning for a test or exam means understanding the theory and applying it by practising problems. This can mean practising old problems or finding new, unseen problems to work on. I also tried other methods such as allocating marks in a test if study notes were handed in with the answer paper.

My plan for the future is to try a more extensive foray into this area, by teaching a short, self-contained section early on in the year and then teaching learners to make their own study notes, do mind maps and use other techniques like the PQRST method so that they fully prepare themselves for the test. I am hoping that this will instil a sense of urgency in the learners when it comes to studying for tests, something which is lacking at the moment. Perhaps it is because many learners do not have the tools or are not shown how much effort should go into test preparation that they do not give of their best in this area.

Class behaviour

It must be said that learner behaviour at LEAP is excellent. This has to do with the small class sizes which makes discipline and class control much easier but it also has to do with the type of learner selected to come to LEAP. We are teaching children that are grateful for the opportunity and really want to learn. Furthermore, it is my opinion that black children are generally more respectful of adults than in other South African cultures. All these factors contribute to making the LEAP Science classroom a positive learning environment, one that is conducive to healthy teaching and learning.

Conclusion

International studies constantly show that South Africa is rated near the bottom when it comes to Maths and Science literacy. They also show that we have the greatest range of literacy in these subjects, which is obviously due to the history of inequality in the education sector in our country.

LEAP Science and Maths School is an intervention model which is striving to bring about change in the key areas of Maths and Science within the context of holistic education. Although we are in the early stages and most of our work is trial and error, we hope to add to the growing body of work that will light the way forward for education in South Africa. Lastly, a word of warning: whatever methods we find or whatever seems to be of help to teacher and learner, the obstacles facing us are huge and the task a massive challenge whichever way you look at it. The bottom line is that it is going to be hard work.

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