Collaborative and Inquiry Based Learning in Arusha, TZ

July 18^th, 2012

 Workshops

 Teachers were divided into two groups for the four workshop days: science/math and English/humanities. Science/math were in workshops on Tuesday and Thursday while English/humanities attending on Wednesday and Friday. This allowed us to deliver the same workshops two days in a row and make improvements from feedback for the second session.

Our first set of workshops focused on collaborative learning techniques. Through activities, discussion and questions there was a lot of interaction. The teachers attending were extremely engaged and willing to share ideas. The afternoon was dedicated to lesson planning. Teachers were asked to plan a lesson for Wednesday at their school that would include a collaborative learning technique. Teachers had brought their syllabus, textbooks and some had lesson plan books to assist them in planning their lessons. Time was given for teachers to work together and plan lessons. The feedback on the lessons provided us with ideas for adding content to our workshops. Most of the teachers had positive experience but there were difficulties with their students following the English directions. Teachers were very willing to try new ideas and willing to continue to incorporate techniques in their lessons.

Inquiry Learning was the second focus of our workshops. The workshops focused on helping teachers develop their questioning techniques and incorporate them in a lesson plan. Our rationale for introducing inquiry was that it would encourage the teachers and pupils to develop a curious and questioning mind. The workshops used Bloom’s Taxonomy as a framework to describe then develop all levels of questions from low (gather knowledge), medium (process knowledge) to high (create knowledge). The activities highlighted the differences between the questions, the value of different types of questions and practical applications in the classroom. Teachers were very enthusiastic and receptive to making changes in their teaching. The afternoon was once again used for developing a lesson to be taught that would incorporate an inquiry question activity.

The feedback we received from teacher participants and co-facilitators throughout the week allowed us to make improvements to the workshops. We wanted to be responsive to the needs of the participants in a timely manner and meet their needs.

Throughout the week we modeled collaborative and inquiry learning techniques along with our rational for using the activities. We wanted to show the teachers how they could be role models for their students and create a student centered learning environment. It will be a pleasure to be able to visit the five secondary schools in the Leguruki Ward next week to visit teachers and spend time in their classrooms.