Efficacy of teaching methods: an Evaluation by the Sifundzani High Learners

The study was undertaken to elicit the perception of the High School students of Sifundzani, Swaziland, regarding the prevailing system of teaching methods, to evaluate the extent to which they are benefited by these and to obtain the views and suggestions of students about various aspects of the current Science Education. 115 students were selected from grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12 in the second term of the year 2018 for this study. A set of questionnaires were administered and directed to choose the appropriate option as per the likert scale. The response were collected and analyzed. 43.96% of the total respondents agreed that the presentation of the topics during normal lectures were interesting. Surprisingly 76 % students stated that lecture method is the most effective method of teaching followed by tutorials, 59 % and group discussion, 56%. Reasons given for lecture being one of the best methods was that the teacher provides all knowledge related to topic, time saving, students attentively listen lecture and take notes. The group discussion was rated as the second best method of teaching because of; more participation of students, the learning is more effective, the students don’t have to rely on rote learning, and this method develops creativity among students. Sifundzani students stated that 67.07% of the teachers have good communication skill and 62.96% of them found that the teachers are easily approachable, 82.83% of the participants agreed that white board teaching as the better mode of teaching, and in the opinion of 55.87% students, audio visual aids is the useful mode of teaching presentation for auditory and visual learners, 56.10% of the participants agreed that the number of practical classes should be more than the theory classes. Students’ perception and ratings about the interesting and effective teaching methods is a way to suggest improvements in teaching/ learning process. One interesting finding was that none of the Method can be 100% effective because sometimes they just don’t want to learn. Few interesting results regarding misbehaviour during class learning time was also revealed.