F UNDACIÓN C ARDENAL A NTONIO Q UARRACINO

This section explores the influences of lack of science resources on the ways Fono taught chemistry in CS3, which constituted a barrier to learning. Based on the information from the participants, science resources refer to the science kits, equipment, chemicals and textbooks for teachers and students. The lack of science resources was found to be one of the major challenges that Fono was facing while teaching senior chemistry in S3 (both in Years 12 and 13). Because of this, he tried several teaching approaches to deliver his lessons. Fono stated in the interview that:

I tried several ways to solve this problem ... photocopied diagrams from textbooks ... gave them [to students] ... I showed some of the movies ... brainstorm ideas on what would happen in an experiment – those [experiments] that we are required to do ... I showed them projects and displays from students last year to help them …because of lack of science equipment and chemicals …therefore we cannot do experiments (Fono-CS3TInt).

Despite his efforts in order to teach chemistry with limited science resources, Fono was aware that “... students did not seem to learn at all ... I felt that I wasted too much time on trying things out, yet they [students] never got to learn anything” (Fono-CS3TInt).

Although science resources were lacking, Fono realised that when it came to experiments that are required in the curriculum he had to find ways for students to experience and learn about the experiment. This was because he realised that “experiments allow student to apply knowledge and understanding to illustrate a concept ... ask questions and make predictions” (Fono-CS3TInt). Yet the way that he did this did not allow this to happen.

Because science resources to conduct experiments were lacking in CS3, Fono instead talked about the experiment. For example in the third classroom observation, he spent most of the 50-minute session describing the laboratory preparation of ethyne:

110

“Kakou experiment olo’o fia fai, ae leai gi kakou chemicals, o lea ia va’ai mai ma maikau lelei mai le faiga ole kakou lab [activity] lea ... aua ge’i kusia ā se mea, va’ai mai uma i ī ... Maua mai?” (Fono-CS3TCOFN3) [We have an experiment to do, yet we don’t have the

chemicals, so look up and learn how the experiment is to be carried out ... do not write anything, everyone look here ... Get it?]

While talking about the ‘aim, apparatus and procedures, equipment set up, observation and results’, of the experiments, he put up a colourful sketch of the experimental set up – drawn on newsprint which he used in his introduction of the experiment. The same diagram (Figure 6.1) was collected from the work samples, but it was drawn in black and white (pencil).

Figure 6. 1: A portion of work sample collected from student Malia (Malia- CS3S1WS1).

In an interview, Malia was able to tell me what the diagram illustrated. However, when asked for an explanation whether the collected gas in the diagram (Figure 6.1) is saturated or unsaturated, Malia paused and looked at the diagram. She then said, “saturated? [and smiled] ...oh wait no, it is unsaturated?” (Malia-CS3S1Int). Malia was not sure of the correct

answer although she was able to give explanation of the set up, the products and even the chemical equations for the reaction. Despite the confusion in the two concepts, the diagram was however clear and colourful when it was presented in one of the observed lessons. On the basis of the researcher’s experience as a chemistry teacher, the different colours used in the teacher’s diagram seemed to indicate the colour of the chemicals. For instance, the greyish-white colour used for the solid powder inside the test tube represents an impure calcium carbide. Unfortunately the students were not informed about the significance of the colours. The students only admired the colourful diagram and used only pencil to draw theirs in their notebooks and so it became black and white. During the third classroom observation student Dianne said:

111

“Seki a le aka” (Dianne-CS3S4COFN3) [Translation: Cool diagram.]

In the same classroom observation, Fono started the lesson by reviewing the properties and the chemical equation for making ethyne gas. He often said to the class that “science tells us how things work and ... with laboratory experiments that help us see how these things work” (Fono-CS3TCOFN3). In the interview he stated that:

I told them [and] ... gave examples and simple notes ... but they didn’t seem to get it. So ... doing an experiment ... they would see exactly what I told them ... but because we lacked resources and equipment ... I could only write out the experiment, diagrams and tell them what happens ... at least they get to experience the experiment in that way ... better than not doing it (Fono-CS3TInt).

In terms of notes and textbooks used in the teaching of chemistry, Fono stated that: ... I am very cautious when it comes to preparing the notes for them to copy into their notebooks ... brief and simple English and short ... I try to use the exact translations of the words that we use during the discussion ... the problem with textbooks ... language is too hard for them ... I invite them to use the textbooks on my table ... most of the times they don’t ... because there is no textbook made specifically for our curriculum ... we use many different ones ... and students are discouraged to look from one textbook to another ... and they can’t afford to buy all these too (Fono-CS3TInt).

When asked in the interviews about their learning experiences when an experiment was presented verbally, the responses from individual students indicated two distinct

viewpoints. The first reflected the amount of information while the second focused on the ways science and other subjects are taught as they experienced in their school. The former was identified by Malia and Tamatoa, while the latter was indicated by Tiana, Mary and Dianne. According to Malia:

In the beginning [of the year], our teacher told us that it was going to be fun and heaps of exciting experiments to learn and experience in chemistry … but we had not experience any, we listened to him telling us the experiment. It takes a lot longer for me to learn through this way, I mean, if I see and do the experiment I can learn it faster and understand it well, but listening to him and reading so much information that he gives us, takes a longer time for me to understand and to learn it ... but I want to know more, better understanding to help me reach my goal in the future ... becoming a doctor ... in my village (Malia-CS3S1Int).

112 Similarly, Tamatoa stated that:

I don’t learn anything, when he explains or tells things ... too much information ... and he expects us to learn all that ... some of the stuff is new ... cannot really relate to them ... hard to find the relationship between some of these ideas … so I can either just sit and pretend that I am listening or read my notes from other lessons (Tamatoa-CS3S5Int).

The information from these two students suggests that their attention and capacity to process the information about an experiment is selective and limited. Because there was too much information being told and they were unable to make connection between the ideas, these students seemed to take a longer time to process and come to some

understanding of what the teacher was talking about. Sweller, Ayres and Kalyuga (2011) referred to this as ‘cognitive overload’ where the learner is not able to retain content and having to reread material several times in order to retrieve it. Furthermore, the students find the information new or unrelated, which may lead to attentional shifts and distractions (Roda & Thomas, 2006). This may contribute to the reasons why some students do not learn what the teacher is trying to teach in class.

The three students Tiana, Mary and Dianne shared their opinions in the interviews about the way chemistry as well as other science subject lessons were taught.

I think it’s just the ways we do things here in our school, even other science classes [biology and physics]; we are simply given the correct information about science concepts ... honestly I struggle ... so hard to understand ... so I feel sad at time because I might not reach my goal ... a doctor (Tiana-CS3S2Int).

All teachers here [school] teach like that, the same ... everyday ... hard to understand anything ... therefore I am still not sure of what to do in the future (Mary-CS3S3Int).

It is the same way we do our lessons, experiment or no experiment, he gives us everything and then we have to copy … that is why I really want to become a teacher in the future, I want to help those students that are struggling … like me …but afraid of asking the teacher … or hard to

113

In summary, the lack of science resources in CS3 influenced the way Fono was teaching chemistry particularly in the case of laboratory experiments. Fono was simply telling the students about the experiment including what would happen and the outcome. Presenting the laboratory experiment in this way was the only option for Fono to ensure that the students came to know about an experiment and to gain an understanding of the concepts. Unfortunately, simply telling is not enough to gain understanding (Glasersfeld, 1989; Schwartz & Bransford, 2009), because understanding is not a matter of passively receiving but of actively engaging in making sense of the information. In this regard, when

conducting an experiment to explore chemistry concepts, students are involved in actively constructing rather than receiving ideas (Kang & Wallace, 2005; Kipnis & Hofstein, 2008; K. Tobin & Llena, 2010). Moreover, the students are given the opportunities to gain access to various learning skills (such as observation, handling apparatus, measuring) (Chinn & Malhotra, 2002; Hofstein, et al., 2004; Shulman & Tamir, 1973), which may become useful in tertiary education where there is a high requirement for laboratory and experiment familiarity (Soti & Mutch, 2011). However, these opportunities were not available in CS3 because of the lack of science resource. As a result, the students in this study experienced difficulty in processing the large amount of information and were unable to connect relevant ideas despite Fono’s claim that “experiments allow student to apply knowledge and understanding to illustrate a concept, ask questions and make predictions” (Fono- CS3TInt).