TPSS research project prepared two days network seminar at Kotebe Metropolitan University

    Transforming the Pedagogy of STEM Subjects project Organized two days Network Seminar on 22 and 23 of June 2017 at Kotebe Metropolitan University.

The seminar was supported by the fund Durham University granted for this purpose. The seminar aimed at how to make teaching STEM subjects better in Ethiopia’s schools context through creating the network between members of the project, stakeholders and other government and non-government bodies who are related with the issue. In the seminar 36 participants from 20 organizations, government education office representatives, CTE deans, and other stakeholders were present.

There were also people from the mass media who were so much surprised by what has been said about Ethiopian students achievement and run to put in the air. To clarify the expected outcomes of the serious of three seminars, Dr Mekbib Alemu presented the overview of the current TPSS project accomplishments with the existing collaborations, Dr Mesfin Tadesse presented preliminary results from the CTE data (first phase of TPSS study), and five of the PhD students presented their future research agenda. The presentations illustrated that TPSS is a project in looking for ways of physics teachers (science teachers) introduction and support to use dialogical teaching in their classrooms. Further, it was noted that the project is currently running in collaboration of the two universities (AAU and Durham University) and 9CTEs from three regions of Ethiopia.

The project is presented as not only a research project but also a development endeavour as it is training teachers and CTE lecturers side by side to the research activity.  With this participants of the seminar could observe that this is really a new approach that will contribute to the betterment of the quality of science education in Ethiopia as a bottom up movement. While the preliminary results of TPSS research demonstrated how alarmingly low achievements are in Ethiopia it also demonstrated that changing the existing situation is possible with such collaborative effort and working with teachers in schools. The five PhD students, who are working in the project as research assistants, presented their synopsis  which are about dialogical argumentation in Ethiopia class room culture, Teaching physics in primary schools, comparisons of dialogical Teaching and 1-5 networking intervention in physics learning, Epistemic knowledge changes during introduction of argumentation teaching, Teachers  pedagogical content knowledge and Implementation of Dialogical Teaching and Assessment of Scientific Reasoning and Argumentation in an Ethiopian context, Development and validation of an assessment Instrument.  With such questions students illustrated how mutually beneficial is the existing collaborative work to CTEs in enhancing research capacities, individuals in pursuing their higher level education, and the project in securing army of researchers to cover different dimensions of the research. Acknowledging the above mentioned fruits of the collaborative work that was based on three parties’ memorandum of understanding among AAU, Durham University and the nine CTEs, participants forwarded many general and specific comments.

Many of the specific comments were by ways of enhancing the research agenda of the future PhD researches and what some of the CTEs and regional education bureaus will do to facilitate enrolment in the PhD program of the department of Science and Mathematics Education.  The more general comments and suggestions were aimed at establishing and expanding the intended research network.  In general it was acknowledged that many of the organizations, such as MoE, SEMASE, REBs, CTEs, and the Ethiopian Physical Society (EPS) are engaged in various ways to enhance science education and research effort in the network will significantly improve the effort. Many suggestions were forwarded in how to go about the establishment of the research network. After the TPSS team members iterated the agenda for the two future network meeting, participants suggested work plan for the time between the present and next network meetings.  Agreement was reached to set up a facilitation committee to the establishment of the research network that communicate with the different concerned bodies in different parts of the country and develop a working document to be signed by the present and future members of the network.  For this purpose five individuals representing the four regional education Bureaus and SEMASE were nominated and the committee to be coordinated by two representatives from TPSS.  The names of the individuals were:

Further, participants promised to take the matter into their respective institutions and discuss at a higher administration level the different possibilities of engagement in the network and the roles they would play in the network. Some of them even hinted that there will be a possibility of sponsoring other CTE lecturers from biology, chemistry, and mathematics fields and nearby school teachers to participate in the upcoming Hossaena and Dessie network meetings to spread the sprite of the research network.  Later after the end of the meeting, the EPS representative expressed that there is a possibility for the society to discuss the matter in their Executive Committee meeting to identify the role the society can play.

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