Tanzanian Teachers’ Understanding of the Science Embedded in Traditional Technologies: a study to inform teacher education

Abstract

In Tanzania, as in many developing countries, school science is divorced from the science and technology that children experience in their daily lives outside of school. This is also the case in teacher education where methods courses are all to frequently based on textbooks alone. This study is an attempt to raise awareness among science educators in Tanzania, and elsewhere, of the potential of local science and technology as a teaching and learning resource. Focusing on the traditional production of alcohol, the study explores the degree to which a sample of Tanzania teachers was able to interpret the local production of alcohol in light of their conceptual knowledge of the science involved; to design experiments for investigating factors relating to the processes of fermentation and distillation; and to consider alternatives for improving this technology. Implications for curriculum development and teacher education are considered.