Strategies for teaching to a changing world: lessons from Arusha, Tanzania

Abstract

Environmental degradation, lack of educational resources and extreme poverty characterize many countries in Africa. These issues require teachers to prepare students to understand, address and solve these and other challenges facing societies in the twenty-first century. Using the environment as an authentic and integrating context, a team of scientists and educators developed a teacher professional development workshop model that actively engages teachers in the science process while learning science content and research techniques. Over 50 primary and secondary school teachers from three countries in Africa attended the workshop which was convened in Arusha, Tanzania. Although the workshop team included members from Africa, most were from the United States with varied experience working in Africa. The team viewed this workshop as an opportunity to assess the process of workshop model development and implementation in order to glean lessons that could then be applied to other professional development opportunities in Africa. To help assess the process, internal organizing discussions, participant surveys and teacher focus group discussions were used. Results from the surveys and discussions indicate that the workshop had a positive impact on the teachers and instructors suggesting that workshop materials and pedagogical approaches have a high probability of being implemented in African classrooms.