- August 11, 2022
- Posted by: Mariam Kasemiire
- Category: news
A Brief on the Students’ Perception About the Delivery Mode of Teaching at the School of Agricultural Sciences, Makerere University
By
Patrick Musinguzi, Twaha A. Basamba, Emmanuel Opolot, Racheal Mutiibwa, Jackline Bonabana
School of Agricultural Sciences, Makerere University
Corresponding author: musipato7@gmail.com
Background:
The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) and Michigan State University’s Borlaug Higher Education for Agriculture Research and Development (BHEARD) with the support of the MSU’s Global Center for Food Systems Innovation (GCFSI) are partnering to implement the Innovation Scholars Program (ISP). The program is implementing one of the projects titled ‘Deployment of a problem-solving-centered teaching and learning approach using the Teach-Think-Pair-Share model for increased skilling among Agricultural students. The two-year project seeks to improve the current style of teaching that has left graduate students lacking the critical skills that are fundamental for creating self-employment and impacting community development. It is believed that several students are disinterested in the current learning processes and this is mainly attributed to the teaching approach and the lack of sufficient exposure to the actual world challenges. Over the years, there has not been any attempts to review the teaching approach to respond to a changing world, to students’ mindsets and to market forces.
This project aims at introducing a problem-solving-centered learning approach that applies a model – emphasizing teaching, thinking, pairing (grouping) and sharing. The project introduced this concept to three cohorts of undergraduate students in two programs in the School of Agricultural Sciences. These included: 2nd and 3rd year students of Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Land Use and Management, and also 3rd year students of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. After exposing students to the TTPS model, there was need to understand the current view that students had about the intervention in addressing weaknesses in teaching and learning. This prompted a survey among selected students to ascertain their perceptions on the teaching and learning-related aspects at the School of Agricultural Sciences.
Methodology:
A survey was conducted among the students of the School of Agricultural Sciences (SAS) who had been exposed to the novel Teach-Think-Pair-Share model and those who had not been started on this model. The total number of 35 students responded to the survey questions. Data were entered into an excel sheet and then translated into a format for analysis using Stata 17. Frequencies and percentages were generated. For the multiple-response questions, weights were attached to each response using a scale ranging from 1 to 5 (1- most important, 2- important, 3 –average, 4- not important and 5- not important at all). Graphs were generated in excel.
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