El llamado a la esperanza

Observations of three chemistry lessons and interviews with the participants revealed that students had various reasons for not ask the teacher questions and these became barriers to their classroom learning. Some of the reasons suggested by the student participants are consistent and/or an expansion of the ideas in the literature. For example, Samoan and other Pasifika students are generally too shy to ask questions (B. Osborne, 2001). Fanene’s (2006) study of New Zealand-born Samoan tertiary students found that they don’t ask questions because they have a lack of confidence. In this study, the students revealed more reasons for not asking questions than just being shy and lacking of confidence which is different to those held by the teacher.

From the interview with Fono, three significant factors emerged in relation to his perceptions of why students were not asking questions (see Table 6.1). These include school practices and experiences, home and cultural practices and religious experiences and biblical values.

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Table 6. 1: Teacher perceptions of why students did not ask questions

Often in the three lessons, after a long and intense presentation of details of chemistry concepts, the teacher would immediately ask students “e iai se fesili?” (Any question?). The students may not be able to come up with any questions as they are simply presented purely with facts about chemistry concepts with little time to think about the concepts and formulate questions. Chin and Osborne (2008) argued that questioning is one of the thinking processing skills which is structurally embedded in the thinking operation of critical thinking, creative thinking and problem solving. In contrast, Fono’s request for questions was always unproductive and students never formulated questions as the teacher intended. When talking to the students about the notion of asking questions in class, two very different reasons, compared to those held by the teacher, were revealed. The first is ‘fear of the teacher’ and the other is ‘fear of being stupid (see Table 6.2).

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Table 6. 2: Students’ perceptions of fear about asking questions

The data in Table 6.2 shows that students demonstrated reluctance to speak or ask

questions of the teacher because of fear, both of the teacher and of looking stupid in front of the class. Experiences that these students went through have contributed a lot to their present practice. For example, Malia talked about physical punishment that was not evident at the time of the investigation, yet the perception that it occurs has developed into a barrier to asking questions. Physical punishment has been outlawed in schools in Samoa (Pereira, 2010). Scolding and shouting was used by the teacher during the research

investigation and its use seemed to have become automatic. If a student was caught looking outside, the teacher would switch to the scolding or shouting approach including

contemptuous comments just as Dianne has reported.

The teacher’s own perceptions of the reasons why students do not ask questions (Table

6.1) were different to those held by the students (Table 6.2). For students, shyness reflects

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discourage them from speaking up or challenging the adults. The students’ lack of

confidence in the subject content as well as in the English language developed the feelings of fear of looking stupid in front of the class. Research shows that students would be well served if teachers acknowledged that learning in science is often based on a struggle to reconcile ideas and observations and is not just memorising facts (DiCarlo, 2009; Kraft, 2010; Songer & Linn, 1991). As such, knowledge and understandings, including scientific understandings, are constructed when individuals engage socially in talk and activity about shared problems or tasks. Making meaning is thus a dialogic process involving persons-in- conversation (T. Crawford, 2005), and learning is seen as the process by which individuals are introduced to a culture by more skilled members. “The teacher encourages students to put forward their ideas [and ask questions], explore and debate points of view, and students’ responses are often tentative suggestions based on open or genuine questions, spontaneous, and expressed in whole phrases or sentences” (Chin, 2007, p. 816). The findings of Case Study Three paint a different picture

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Chapter summary

This chapter describes the results according to the four key findings concern: (i) lack of science resources influence the way chemistry is taught, (ii) the impact of giving homework everyday, (iii) Samoan language and chemistry and, (iv) reasons for not asking questions. These are briefly discussed in light of the literature.

The lack of science resources affected Fono’s teaching of chemistry. Instead of doing the

experiment as it should be in any science classroom, the teacher presented the information

about the experiment. However, the students were presented with a good deal of

information to read and understand. Because of too much information and the inability to make connection to and between the ideas, students experienced cognitive overload and required a longer time to process in order to understand (Sweller, et al., 2011). Such time was typically not available.

Giving homework to do every day was considered important by the teacher. The purpose was for students to practise what they have discussed in class and according to the teacher if they practise more they become better at doing these kinds of tasks and understanding the material. The findings showed that, instead, the homework resulted in rote learning

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without understanding and often students were faced with questions they did not understand.

Another significant finding was the predominant use of the Samoan language to teach chemistry and give instructions in CS3. The use of Samoan language was perceived by the teacher and students in CS3 to be useful in promoting understanding of chemistry ideas. While it was used to teach and explain chemistry ideas the curriculum, books, notes and questions in the examination are written in English. The students find it difficult to understand the question and to identify the correct English words when answering. The finding showed that there is a tension between English being the sole medium of instruction and examination use in secondary schools (except Samoan as a subject) while the students (especially in the rural schools, i.e., CS3) are struggling not only with the language and concepts of chemistry but also English as the language of instruction.

Two different viewpoints about the reasons for not asking questions (or barriers) were also revealed. The first set of reasons was suggested by the teacher. The teacher thought that the students should be encouraged to talk and ask questions while in their primary school levels. So by the time they reach secondary level, they have gained some confidence in asking questions. However, the teacher reported that the students were not given any opportunities to ask question in primary school level. He also considered the influence of the Samoan culture upon students. For instance, they are told at home that asking

questions to adults is considered challenging and disrespectful. Therefore students tend to remain quiet, not asking questions when they are with adults at home as well as in the classroom. The teacher also identified religious and biblical values acting as barriers to asking questions.

The second set of reasons came from the students and concerned fear: fear of the teacher and fear of looking stupid. The fear of the teacher is an emotion induced by a perceived threat (involving the teacher) that causes the students not to ask. The finding showed that the students might have seen physical punishment being performed by the teacher and thus their response was to avoid asking in case the teacher got upset and punish them. The students also assumed that asking questions may be perceived by the teacher as arrogant. Students were afraid and worried about being wrong or seeming stupid by asking

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questions, despite having been presented with copious amount of information. As a result, students remained quiet and waited for the opportunity to seek help from their class-mates.

In the next chapter, common and distinctive ideas across the three cases are synthesised; their meanings in terms of the aim of the study and what can be learnt from it are discussed with reference to the literature.

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