A Case study on feasibility of school projects of the G.C.E. advanced level (science stream) curriculum: views of teacher community
| dc.contributor.author | Vathanie, M. S. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-16T07:18:39Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-16T07:18:39Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2009 | |
| dc.description.abstract | In our former education system, less priority was given to the activity based learning and teaching and hence secondary school leavers faced difficulties in fitting into the world of work. To overcome the above problem, School Project was introduced to G.C.E. Advanced Level students under the National Education Reforms of 1997. This study investigated the views of teachers and the extent to which project work has helped the students to develop a well balanced and integrated personality. The study also aimed to find out the constraints faced by teachers when guiding the students in their project work. The research sample comprised of 500 Advanced Level Science Stream teachers from popular and less popular 1AB schools in urban, semi urban and tural areas in the Central Province. A questionnaire survey and the direct interviews were the techniques used for data collection. Most of the questionnaires were administrated personally and some were mailed. Twenty-five Educational Authorities, Parents, Past Pupils and Students were interviewed with their consent, for further clarifications and to assure the conformity of the data. Analysis of data collected through questionnaire and the direct interviews revealed that only about 37% of teachers have obtained training in the A/L project work, while 61% have not obtained any training. But 79% of the teachers have experience in guiding students and about 90% of the teachers like to guide students in their project work. 67% of teachers like to guide science related projects, but 55% of the students like to do general projects. 72% of teachers stated that students were keen to follow instructions given by them. 42% of the teachers were of the opinion that students have enough time to do the project work while 40% of them stated that students do not have enough time to do both the projects. In teachers view, there is no correlation between project work and final examination results but there is a correlation between project work and economical status of students. It is realized that there is no correlation among teachers whose media of instructions are in all three languages namely Sinhala, Tamil and English and willingness for project work. According to the students view they face difficulties when selecting a project title, writing project proposal and project report due to lack of guidance by teachers. They expect more help from teachers. Most of the science stream past pupils were in favour of the project work as it had developed their skills and had been useful in their higher studies and career. Many parents disagreed with the project work, while educational authorities accepted that there was not enough monitoring for project work in schools. Further more, they were of the opinion that much weight should be given for project work through policy changes. On the basis of the above results, following conclusions and recommendations were made. Most of the teachers did not obtain any training relevant to the A/L research projects of students and the teachers lacked knowledge on guiding the project work. It is suggested that quite regularly or every year teachers should be trained on the project work and should eventually update their knowledge with time. Most of the students neglect the project work and it was a problem for teachers. It is suggested that a considerable weight should be given to project work through policy level changes. There seem to be less monitoring by the officials regarding project work. Therefore it is suggested that project monitoring in school should be done by the zonal officials in a scheduled and a planned manner. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://ir.lib.pdn.ac.lk/handle/20.500.14444/551 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | University of Peradeniya | |
| dc.subject | Science education | |
| dc.title | A Case study on feasibility of school projects of the G.C.E. advanced level (science stream) curriculum: views of teacher community | |
| dc.type | Thesis |