Testing a leaf for starch

In a pre-observation interview with Mr. Sameline he said in the next Biology lesson he would be teaching the students about the procedure to be followed when preparing a leaf for a starch test. This lesson was dominated by teacher talk, as opposed to the first lesson on food tests. Teacher talk accounts for more than 90 per cent of lesson time and was done in most cases while writing notes on the chalkboard for the students to copy into their notebooks. During note taking the only talk one hears from the group is the teacher’s. The laboratory becomes so quiet that when passing by with the door closed one may think there is no lesson in progress. The teacher talk dominating the lesson is in accordance with what all the three student interviewees said during the pre-observation interviews, that it is their teacher who talks a lot during lesson time.

When interviewed about talk during lesson time the Biology teacher, Mr. Sameline, also said the students do not talk much and it is only those he gives permission to talk that do so. According to him, during a formal lesson everyone who says something should let the whole class know what they are talking about.

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Another reason the teacher gave for students being reserved during lesson time was being afraid of giving a wrong answer in the presence of their colleagues. So, in general he described his Swazi students as shy. That the students are reluctant to talk is evident in the present lesson since not even one question was asked by the students of Mr. Sameline (something to be taken care of by objective 2). The only time they talked was when answering questions from Mr. Sameline; and even then they were brief. When interviewed just before the Biology lesson Vincent said it is important for students to talk during lesson time and he talks during lesson time when allowed by the teacher to do so. But the lesson observation session came out with a different story – the boy did not talk at all during class time. When interviewed about it after the lesson his reason for being quiet during the lesson was that he found the concept difficult and was left behind. So, while quiet during the lesson he said he was trying to think about the concept so that he would catch up with the teacher. Then, if it is the case that students remain quiet mostly because they are left behind, then it is no wonder that they tend to find the sciences difficult as a subject. Instead of stopping the teacher for clarification where they have difficulty they prefer to keep it to themselves to sort it out on their own after class. Getting help from other students during lesson time becomes difficult in Mr. Sameline’s lessons as he does not allow for private talk (something defeating the fourth objective). Vincent claimed he secretly tried to get help from colleagues during the lesson. The questions he would ask them now and again during a lesson, “Are we together?” and, “Angitsi?” had just become habitual interjections to the students. These interjections no longer held meaning or significance for them. Their usual answer to the questions, “Yes”, which they sing out as a class is also taken by the students as a habitual response. Even when they have been left behind they just follow everyone and say, “Yes”. When interviewed, also before the lesson, Sharon understood the requirement for silence by the teacher when she argued that students should not be allowed to talk during a lesson as that disturbs the teacher and the other students as well. This means that Sharon is against the

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idea of quietly seeking concept clarification from friends while the teacher is busy teaching.

The main concern here is, if a student fails to understand in class and hopes to understand later, how does that student perform the practical successfully in the next biology lesson without having had time to seek help after the formal lesson? Then what happened during the previous Biology practical lesson where Sarah, Sharon and Vincent messed up the test for fats is highly likely to happen even when they have to test a leaf for starch. Should the students keep piling up the concepts they do not understand? If so then how will they pass a test on those concepts or even an examination (internal or external)?

The Biology teacher’s questions are such that the students answer by giving a word or a short sentence, which is not good for encouraging substantive student discourse in the classroom. When a test or examination question requires them to describe, explain or even apply their knowledge of the concept the students are often faced with serious difficulties. The Biology teacher ends up not asking such questions in class since when the students are asked such questions they just ignore them and never answer, so that the teacher ends up answering the questions. But at times the teacher does not give the students enough thinking time either. Should the students be lazy to read on their own, and just rely only on what the teacher gives them in class, then they are more likely to get some things wrong just because the teacher made a mistake in class. This is with reference to the third stage of the procedure where the teacher just said the leaf needs to be rinsed in water. He did not make it clear that it should be rinsed in

hot water. The hot water softens the leaf so that it can easily be spread on a

white tile for application of iodine solution and observation of any colour change. The point here is if the students were indeed following the lesson and had verbal input, they would seek clarification from Mr. Sameline right away.

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Another thing Mr. Sameline does in this lesson is to restate and even extend a student’s answer. This is done as a way of showing appreciation and approval of the student’s answer and is also a way of motivating students to talk during lesson time. Extending a student’s answer enriches their semiotic resources and formations and also improves their conceptual understanding, thus moving them from the proximal end of the continuum of conceptual locality towards the distal end. When the students use the classroom science resources and formations during classroom discourse they then gain confidence in the topic investigated and do even better in tests and examinations.

The issue of language comes in again in this lesson as it did in the previous lesson on food tests (reducing sugars and fats). But this time it is not with regard to interference, instead it is a little use of SiSwati when explaining the danger of using a naked flame from a Bunsen burner when boiling the leaf in water. From my observation of the students during the lesson the students tend to pay more attention to what the teacher says once he starts putting it in SiSwati. The code- switching interests and alerts them that something good or important is now being said by the teacher, so they should listen attentively. Some authors support the idea of code-switching to the mother tongue of the students as they say it improves their understanding of the concept taught. The same argument applies to allowing students to even use their mother language when talking in class, it improves their confidence and even the reserved ones begin to talk. At times students do not answer in class because they find that they do not have or cannot immediately recall the appropriate English or science vocabulary to use and thus keep quiet.

Sarah was the only student of the three (in fact of all) to answer Mr. Sameline’s questions during the lesson. She answered the first question posed by the teacher. Her answer (“… to see if there is any starch in the leaves”) was not exact and the teacher reinforced it. When Mr. Sameline reinforced her answer it was his kind way of correcting her (“You can add by saying that to find out if

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photosynthesis takes place.”) and at the same time move her towards the distal end of the conceptual locality by using classroom science formations. She was using life/world or everyday science resources and formations when saying “… to see if there is any starch” and the teacher improved that everyday science discourse to the more domain specific classroom discourse “… to find out if photosynthesis occurs”. So, when a student talks during a lesson the teacher gets the chance of telling where they are along the continuum and then knows how much to move them towards the distal end. The teacher may even be able to decide whether to repeat the lesson using different teaching strategies and aids or give the students more work for practice sake. When a student talks the teacher gets the chance to know if the student just has a narrow understanding of the concept or holds misconceptions about the concept. With Sarah’s answer it was clear to the teacher that she just had a narrow understanding and needed her answer to be extended. The second answer she gave to another question was satisfactory and the teacher only restated it as a way of conforming it to the other students that they could take it like that (permeable means “to allow some molecules to pass through it”). Gestures were used during the lesson by both the teacher and his students. The students raised their hands as a way of indicating their willingness to answer a question from their teacher (as they never asked him any question nor asked each other through the teacher). At times some students would nod their heads when saying “Yes” to the teacher. The teacher at times pointed at the student he chose to answer a question and even demonstrated some aspects of pertinent concepts by using gestures.