Voices in the Classroom: Classroom Interaction Patterns of Biology Teachers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46328/ijres.5640Keywords:
Classroom interaction, Teachers, BiologyAbstract
The study identified the various interaction patterns employed by biology teachers during classroom lessons. It identified the factors that influence interaction patterns in science classes while investigating if school type (private or public) influences interaction patterns in biology classes. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The targeted population for this study comprises senior secondary school students. The sample for this study comprises 150 biology students selected randomly from ten secondary schools. An adapted observation checklist was used for data collection based on Flanders’ interaction analysis framework. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency counts and percentages. The frequency of teacher-student and student-student interactions among Biology Teachers in the study area shows that teacher talk predominates at 62.9%. Within the teacher talk, direct talk was more prominent than indirect talk, with an average percentage of 40.7%. The study showed that 90% of the respondents indicated that teachers’ personality traits, the time of the day, availability of teaching resources, and the teacher’s level of experience affect the classroom interaction pattern. The study showed that school type has a significant influence on direct teacher talk and student talk, but no significant effect was found for indirect teacher talk, teacher talk overall, or silence.
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