Chapter Eleven - Additional Resources

CASE STUDY TWO: CATHERINE’S CHEMISTRY  

Catherine was a Form 5 student. At the start of the school year she was keen to learn about Chemistry and to understand the subject. She would come to the lessons enthusiastic and motivated; her mother worked in the pathology laboratory of a local hospital, and so Catherine’s interest was encouraged by her family. In the beginning of the year the Chemistry lessons were interesting and the students were engaged by the work; they conducted ‘real’ experiments and the teacher devised work that she knew would engage the students, devising interesting and sometimes ‘spectacular’ work with chemical reactions, and examining the properties of chemicals and their applications in everyday life. After practical work the students would study various formulae and write up the experiments, learning how to operate as ‘real scientists’ in laboratories.

Catherine enjoyed the work and gained a good understanding of key concepts in chemistry; she willingly followed up the school sessions with homework, and the homework was stimulating, as it built on, applied and extended the school experiences. Chemistry became her favourite subject, and she said that she wanted to become a chemist when she left school, working in the petro-chemical industry.

The teacher prepared imaginative and varied teaching and some imaginative homework. She discussed with the students how they liked to learn, and she listened carefully to what they had to say, and she acted on this. The teacher liked the students and clearly enjoyed the teaching. Catherine’s rate of learning new knowledge was rapid, and her motivation was high. Though there were only three Chemistry lessons each week, Catherine would look forward to them and would spend some of her time investigating the topics on her own, reading avidly and searching for materials connected to the Chemistry work at school; her close friend at school was also interested in Chemistry, and indeed, they prepared some small projects on Chemistry entirely on their own, using the computer to prepare the materials.

The teacher was highly successful and, indeed, six months into the school year she was promoted to another school to become head of the Science department. Catherine’s new teacher was young, with a degree in chemistry but no formal teacher education. This was her first job. To be supportive, for the new teacher, the school provided close details of the syllabus, together with useful textbooks, details of practical work to be undertaken, assessment arrangements, and copies of supporting materials, e.g. worksheets and charts, ideas for teaching chemistry concepts, and computer programs to support teaching and learning.

Shortly after the arrival of the new teacher Catherine’s interest in chemistry started to wane. At first her parents thought it was just a reaction to the change of teacher, and that Catherine was mature enough to be able to handle this, given a little time. However, Catherine’s marks for, and interest in, Chemistry dropped steadily. She complained that all they ever did in Chemistry in school was to look at chemical formulae and to learn facts from the textbook, and to copy notes from the whiteboard.

Catherine told her mother that her teacher complained a lot about the class, about how lazy they were and how, because there were only three lessons a week, the students would have to work faster and harder. She said that the teacher had told them that, because they could not be bothered to learn the materials from the book and from the whiteboard, she would have to test them more frequently. The effect of this was that Catherine stopped her own private work on chemistry at home, and, instead, concentrated on the tests. However, her marks continued to fall.

Catherine’s mother asked her what was the matter, and Catherine just started to cry and didn’t say anything. So her mother contacted the school and asked to see the Chemistry teacher. At first the school was very defensive, and would not arrange a meeting; however Catherine’s mother persisted and eventually met the teacher, who simply told the mother that she should be much firmer with Catherine and force her to study harder because she was lazy.

Her mother pointed out that Catherine had enjoyed Chemistry with the previous teacher, and that she had been very keen on the subject. The teacher simply shrugged this off, saying that at this stage of the year Catherine had to grow up and face the fact that there was some difficult Chemistry to be learned, and that there was no short cut to this, and it would mean that Catherine would have to study the books and notes much more carefully and learn them. Further, the teacher said that she was shocked at how little Catherine’s class of students knew about Chemistry, and that it was very important for Catherine to complete the set syllabus or else she would not be able to graduate from Form 5.

Her mother asked why the teacher had stopped doing practical work with the students, to which the reply was that there was no time for this, and that it was a luxury that they had no time to indulge in, because they were behind with the syllabus because they students had not learned enough. The mother asked the teacher why she thought Catherine’s interest had diminished, and pointed out the change in Catherine’s attitude, indeed that she no longer took any active interest in the subject on her own, and that she was bored with learning so many facts, and could not see the point of this. Her teacher simply said that she was not responsible for the students’ attitudes, and that the students had to ‘get their own heads straight’ about learning, and that there were things in life which had to be done, whether we like it or not, and that this was an important lesson for Catherine to learn.

She said that she, the teacher, was doing all she could to help the students, telling them exactly what to learn, when to learn, how to learn, and what would be tested, so much that the students almost didn’t have to think for themselves. The mother, she said, should be grateful to her for this, not seeking to defend her daughter’s poor attitude and results.

Catherine’s mother said that she had noticed that the quality of Catherine’s work in Chemistry had become poor, and that the level of demand seemed to have dropped over time – that her teacher seemed to be accepting poor results. Her teacher said that this was exactly the problem that she – the teacher – was facing, as the students could not be bothered to apply themselves now that the work was becoming more demanding, and that, if she had not lowered her demand, then all of the class would fail. They were not at school simply for fun, and they were not a good class of students. Further, the teacher scolded Catherine’s mother for even trying to defend Catherine: could she not see, she asked the mother, that Catherine was manipulating her and that the problem lay with Catherine herself?

Catherine’s mother told Catherine what had happened. Catherine promised to try harder and to do what the teacher required. Her test scores went up, and she graduated. The students results at the end of the school year were solid, though not excellent; the principal congratulated the teacher and her contract was renewed. Catherine never followed up her Chemistry in Form 6 or afterwards.