Popularizing Student-Centered Learning in Kenya: Looking Without to Improve Within

While student-centered learning has variously been defined, the emphasis on active student learning rather than the focus on teacher teaching is common to many of the definitions. However, questions about how student-centered learning is interpreted and translated into practice are still difficult to answer. The Activity, Student, Experiment and Improvisation (ASEI) approach to learning mathematics and science introduced through the Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) Project in Kenya is an attempt to respond to these challenges. This study was conducted to investigate the extent of student-centered learning of biology in Japanese high schools and to explore the adaptability of the classroom practices to the Kenyan situation. Three high schools in Hiroshima Prefecture were purposively selected on the basis of accessibility to the research subjects. A total of 31 lessons taught by four veteran teachers and twelve student-teachers were observed and video-recorded. The video-taped lessons were then coded for the presence of predetermined categories of teaching strategy using the Teaching Strategy Observation Differential (TSOD) schedule (Anderson, Struthers, & James, 1974). The findings of the study show that the lessons are closer to being teacher-centered than to being student-centered. Two clear groups of lessons emerged; those rich in student hands-on activities and those which were dominated by lecture method, with student-teachers likely to use the former while the veteran teachers the latter. Although a clear model of student-centered learning did not emerge from the study, the adaptability of the results of this research nevertheless, will involve piecing together good strategies from the different lessons to form “a pool of student-centered practices”. These include the use of hands-on activities, occasional utilization of group synergies on practical tasks, stating objectives and hypothesis before practical activities, and providing scaffolds during demonstrations and experiments