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Challenges faced by SMP4 (Banda Aceh, Indonesia) : science teachers to teach beyond chalk-and-talk
Author
Qamaruzzaman Amir
Supervisor
Lee, Yew-Jin
Abstract
My thesis examines the numerous teaching challenges faced by a group of science teachers in Sekolah Menengah Tingkat Pertama (SMP) 4 of Banda Aceh; a coeducational secondary school in the Aceh province of Indonesia. This school was one of the many that was devastated by the massive tsunami of 24 December 2004. Through aid donations, the school has now at its disposal modern science laboratory equipment as well as access to professional development courses that encourages its teachers to use student-centred teaching in their classes. The research question of this thesis asks what are the challenges faced by these science teachers as they attempt to move from the traditional teacher-centred to the student-centred pedagogies that they themselves wish to employ. Another research question asks what are the factors that have led to these challenges in changing their teaching methods.
Three qualitative methods in educational research -- auto-ethnography, case study and photo-essay -- have been chosen to describe the development lessons learnt from my fieldwork in Aceh spanning four years. This thesis thus leans towards the highly personal and descriptive (i.e. the emic) rather than offering explanations (i.e. the etic) for both the case study as well as auto-ethnographic chapters. The photo essay chapter is a critical representation of my field experiences captured through the visual media of photography. It tries to show the hope that glimmers, albeit dimly at times, amid the devastation to lives and property in post-tsunami Aceh. Data for this thesis was collected through interviews, participant observation, field notes, and document analyses while acting as a Singaporean teacher-researcher doing volunteer development aid work in Aceh.
I conclude by showing how the challenges faced by the SMP4 teachers are similar in nature to those faced by teachers in Singapore operating under “normal” conditions of teaching and pedagogy. I further conclude that there are factors unique to the Acehnese experience but I claim that schools involved with service-learning have to be more proactive as opposed to being reactive to a humanitarian crisis.
Three qualitative methods in educational research -- auto-ethnography, case study and photo-essay -- have been chosen to describe the development lessons learnt from my fieldwork in Aceh spanning four years. This thesis thus leans towards the highly personal and descriptive (i.e. the emic) rather than offering explanations (i.e. the etic) for both the case study as well as auto-ethnographic chapters. The photo essay chapter is a critical representation of my field experiences captured through the visual media of photography. It tries to show the hope that glimmers, albeit dimly at times, amid the devastation to lives and property in post-tsunami Aceh. Data for this thesis was collected through interviews, participant observation, field notes, and document analyses while acting as a Singaporean teacher-researcher doing volunteer development aid work in Aceh.
I conclude by showing how the challenges faced by the SMP4 teachers are similar in nature to those faced by teachers in Singapore operating under “normal” conditions of teaching and pedagogy. I further conclude that there are factors unique to the Acehnese experience but I claim that schools involved with service-learning have to be more proactive as opposed to being reactive to a humanitarian crisis.
Date Issued
2010
Call Number
Q183.4.I5 Qam
Date Submitted
2010