Dissertation (MA Education)
The purpose of this study was to identify, develop, test and observe learners’
learning through the related exemplary materials to improve teaching and learning of
Water Management Education (WMED) in Geography in Tanzania secondary
schools. The design and development of the materials was influenced by the fact that
the current syllabus is competence based while the available materials do not
enhance competence and lack learner’s relevant examples. Thus, there was a need to
prepare the reliable materials with the skills related to learners’ environment to
improve the quality of learning Geography secondary schools. `The developed
WMED materials follow from the behaviorist and constructivist approach. Learners
were required to construct their own understandings through motivating activities
while the role of the teacher was a facilitator. The developmental research approach
was employed to develop the materials using a quasi-experimental design where four
Geography lessons were developed. Three schools, i.e. namely school A where the
materials were tried, and thereafter the materials were subjected to the experiential
school, namely school C, while school B was used as a control school which was
taught using the conventional materials. The respondents were the Form two
Geography teachers and learners from sampled secondary schools in Dodoma
Municipality where qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The findings
indicated that teachers and learners enjoyed teaching and learning with the new
Geography materials. An independent-sample t-test and paired t-test indicated the
change in performance in school C where the materials were implemented compared
with learners from school B who were subjected to conventional teaching. These
findings suggest that other materials for teaching and learning in secondary schools
need to be developed following similar designing and development procedures to
enhance learners’ competence.