Primary science in Fiji: Some reflections on activity-based lessons

Abstract

Despite a tradition of rote learning in primary science, many teachers in Fiji attempt to provide activity-based lessons for their pupils. However, the way in which teachers direct these activities offers their pupils little opportunity to develop their intellectual skills and develops a dependency on the teacher which is difficult to break. The authors suggest that this problem is much broader than in just science teaching, and is much deeper than simply a teacher-training issue. They discuss the problem by first drawing on some classroom observations, then by theorizing that the problem is the result of a dominant cultural trait, and finally by proposing the main features of any program that aims at resolving the problem