FACTORS INFLUENCING TEACHERS’ INCLINATION TO USE IMPROVISED RESOURCES IN LIFE SCIENCES CLASSROOMS

Abstract

A substantial number of schools in South Africa are still under-resourced and this predicament poses fundamental challenges to the provision of quality education for all. The use of improvised low-cost resources as an integral part of pedagogic innovation can be adopted as a viable and sustainable alternative to harness affordable resources to foster meaningful science teaching and learning. In view of this crucial imperative, this study primarily focused on the use of improvised low-cost resources in Life Sciences classrooms at selected South African township schools. The study adopted a case study design located within the interpretive research paradigm. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and lesson observations involving ten purposively selected Life Sciences teachers. The study revealed that key factors influencing teachers’ inclination to use improvised resources include general lack of essential laboratory resources, the need to demystify complex scientific concepts to ensure meaningful conceptual understanding by using available affordable alternative resources as well as harnessing the affordances of improvisation as an innovative means to stimulate meaningful teaching and learning. While the affordances associated with the use of improvised resources have been duly acknowledged by the participants in this study, fundamental challenges and limitations afflicting the deployment of improvised resources remain. In particular, Life Sciences teachers involved in the study postulated that the use of improvised resources may serve to perpetuate misconceptions and that lack of requisite creativity can adversely affect the crafting of improvised resources necessary for teaching difficult topics. Implications for pedagogic innovation are discussed.