IMPROVINGCOMMUNICATION SKILLS IN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION FOR QUALITY STUDENT OUTCOMES
Charles Opolot-Okurut
Makerere University – Uganda
e-mail: , skype: opolot.ok
Abstract.
Effective communication skills are essential for teachers, students, administrators and educators. Improving communication skills in science and mathematics education could provide promise to improve student performance and achievement. The communication process involves transmitting encoded message from a sender through an appropriate medium to a receiver who decodes it and provides feedback within a suitable context but possibly interfered with by ‘noise’. The interaction between the teacher (sender) and the students (receivers) and how that interaction is shared determines what is learned and what is not learned in the classroom. The aim of science and mathematics education is to encourage and sustain learning with understanding through effective communication by verbal, written and non-verbal forms. I discuss the key communication skills in science and mathematics learning: listening, speaking, reading and writing including their barriers to inform readers of available possibilities. Effective communication in teaching is much more than being able to talk; it is also the ability to listen and understand others, to “read” and interpret body language and to know the best ways to get our points across and to write. There is evidence that if communication skills are not well developed among students they lead to poor performance. Some factors that affect student attainment in science and mathematics classrooms in Uganda are reported.Avenues for improving communication skills in science and mathematics education; research to inform policy and practice formulation and continuous teachers professional development are proposed. Teachers must continue with lifelong learning to update their knowledge and skills.
Keywords: science and mathematics education, listening skills, reading skills, speaking skills, writing skills.
INTRODUCTION
The learning process is extremely complex. It first and foremost involves relationships between teachers and students following a given curriculum and teaching practices, but it also takes place in a broader social context. These relationships are further conditioned by the resources available to schools, the incentive structure teachers face as employees of schools or education authorities…(EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2005, p.77).
The interaction between the teacher and the students and how that interaction is shared determines what is learned and what is not learned in the classroom. “The quality of education that teachers provide to student is highly dependent upon what teachers do in the classroom” (Zakaria & Iksan, 2007, p.35) and the interaction between them. Thus, being able to communicate with others is one of the best life skills a person can develop. Someone who can effectively communicate thoughts, ideas, and feelings is better equipped for success in learning, on the job and in personal relationships. The aim of science and mathematics education is to encourage and sustain learning with understanding through effective communication. Effective communication in teaching is much more than being able to talk; it is also the ability to listen and understand others, to “read” and interpret body language and to know the best ways to get our points across. As you teach it is necessary to align your words, facial expressions and tone and to be aware of what your body is saying.
In educational institutions as organisations, teachers have the responsibility of communicating with their students in the classrooms; with parents and the community; and with colleagues and administrators among others. McPheat (2012) has argued “if you communicate well, you can get your message across to others in an effective way and they then have accurate instructions to complete their assigned tasks (p.8). But if you don’t communicate well then the message may be misinterpreted or misunderstood. We use language to communicate, to express ourselves, to get our ideas across, and to connect with the person to whom we are speaking. The quality of learning that students receive in the classroom is highly dependent on teachers’ actions. In this paper I discuss examples and provide explanations of how different aspects of communication are applied in science and mathematics education context to support learning. It has been argued that 21st century schools need to foster creativity, judgement, the ability to think and the power of expression among learners, administrators, teachers, and parents (Ogawa, Kuehn-Ebert & Devitos, 1991). Similarly, “changes in the workplace increasingly demand teamwork, collaboration, and communication” (NCTM, 2000, p. 348 & NCTM, 1991) among individuals. On daily basis administrators, teaching and non-teaching staff and students communicate in the school environment. But, in the classroom environment there is constant communication between the teacher and students and between students themselves as peers. Both teachers and learners use language to communicate, for self expression, and to transmit their ideas. The process of communication involve the components: verbal (that entails the use of words), nonverbal (that entails messages sent through body language), and paralinguistics (that entails how we say what we say, and not what we say).
As we shall later see, to communicate effectively requires the sender (teacher) to transmit clear, concise messages and the receiver (student) to hear accurately and to understand the message being sent. Listening carefully provides a basis for receiving accurate messages and involves both hearing what the communicator says and engaging psychologically with the communicator. Merely hearing words is NOT listening. Hearing is just taking the information in, while listening is actively understanding and retaining the information. Listening is a difficult task that requires concentration and energy. It requires understanding the communicator and having an attitude of respect, acceptance and the willingness to open one’s mind to try to see things from the communicator’s perspective. Furthermore, listening entails being aware of the speaker’s nonverbal messages and paying attention to the words and feelings of the speaker (teacher). If we have to reach all students in our schools we have to know the kind of schools and systems of education that Africa needs to transform science and mathematics education and deliver it equitably with excellence to them.
WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?
Communication is an act of conveying information between two individuals (sender and a receiver) for the purpose of creating a shared understanding (Dixon & O’Hara, n.d.). It is vital to be able to communicate effectively in education, in relationships and at place of work. There is plethora of models and definitions of communication that provides evidence that communication is a huge topic that is difficult to reduce to simple single explanation. For example, communication occurs whenever one person, in some way or another, transmits a message of some sort orally or in written form that someone else picks up and interprets. In the classroom, the teacher communicates some content and the students are expected to comprehend and understand it. Both oral and written communications are key skills for any student and teacher. The elements of face-to-face communication include words, body language and tone of the voice. Communication in mathematics requires the use and interpretation of numbers, symbols, pictures, graphs, and dense text. It is therefore the process of expressing ideas and mathematical understanding using numbers, pictures, and words, within a variety of audiences including the teacher, a peer, a group, or the class.Communication is the art of transmitting information, ideas and attitudes from one personto another; communication is also the process of meaningful interaction among human beings.
THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
In the classroom environment communication is a two-way process that is not only vital in science and mathematics classrooms but it is also important in classrooms of all other subjects of the curriculum. There are six components of the communication process that entail: (1) sending the message, (2) the channel of communication, (3) receiving the message, (4) feedback, (5) the context and (6) noise as illustrated in Figure 1. Similarly, Management Training and Development [MTD] Academy (2012) describes the communication process that involves: a source, message, encoding, channel, decoding, receiver, feedback and context. First, the source of the message is the sender (teacher) who must know why the communication is necessary and what result is intended. Second, the message is the information to be communicated supported by the reason for the communication. Third, the Encoding is the process of taking the message and transferring it into the proper format for sharing it with your audience (students), which requires knowing the audience and ensuring that the message provides all the required information. Fourth, the channel is the method of communication that is chosen such as by face-to-face, writing (notes, e-mail), oral or speaking (presentation, telephone etc.).
According to the MTD Academy (2012) the brain uses five main channels or receiving information for processing including: visual – through what we see; auditory – through what we hear; kinaesthetic – through what we feel, touch, sense and experience; gustatory –through what we taste; and olfactory – through what we smell. It is observed that the Visual-Auditory-Kinaesthetic (VAK) pattern is the order in which the brain processes information from a communication, which is, first you visualise something before you can put words to it and then describe how it feels).
Channel
Noise
Encode Decode
Decode Encode
Noise
C O N T E X T
Figure 1: The Communication Process Model (Dixon & O’Hara, n.d., p.4 cited from Clampitt, P.G.).
Fifth, Decoding is the process of receiving the message accurately that requires the receiver having the means to understand the information shared. Sixth, there are expectations for a response from the receiver when a message is sent. The message must address the receiver’s needs and specific benefits in the communication. Seventh, the feedback gives opportunity to gauge how successful the communication was and whether the message sent has been understood, allowing the sender to adjust for improvement in future communication. Eighth, the context involves relationships with the recipient of the message, the culture of the organization and the general environment. Context also involves considering cultural difference between people; expectation differences; external distractions; and attention differences. Finally, Noise in communication is anything that can interfere with or distort the meaning of the intended message.
What are skills?
Adeyemo (2010, p.3) defines a skill as “a quality of performance which does not depend solely upon a person’s fundamental, innate capabilities but must be developed through training, practice and experience” over time. The skills that we learn, practice and require in order to effectively communicate required messages constitute the communication skills.
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
Technical communication falls into numerous forms such as verbal and non-verbal, Oral and written form. Table 1 gives some examples of the sources and types of different forms of technical communication that teachers and students may find, use and encounter in the teaching and learning process. Which of these communication forms have you experienced, used and encountered?
Table 1: Exemplars of Sources of Forms of Technical Communication
Written form / Non-verbal form / Para Verbal form / Oral formMemos / Facial expression / Volume/Loudness / Face-to-face
Letters / Sitting position / Tone of voice / Telephone
e-mails / Standing position / Pitch / Meetings
Faxes / Body movement / Intonation / Seminars
Notices / Gestures / Pacing / Conferences
Circulars / Eye-contact/gaze / Timbre / Dictation
Newsletters / Breathing rate / Inflection / Instructions
Reports / Coughing / Rhythm / Presentations
Proposals / Swallowing / nuance / Group discussion
Research papers / Blushing / modulation / Interviews
Bulletins / Fidgeting / quality / Video conferencing
Brochures / Self appearance / accent / Voice conferencing
Manuals / Culture / pronunciation / Skype
In house journals / Personal space / articulation / Face book
Notes / Paralinguistic / expression / Twitter
Books / Posture/sitting/standing / speed / YouTube
WHAT ARE COMMUNICATION SKILLS?
In the context of the classroom most teachers will agree that, for both teachers and students, active reading and writing skills are essential for teaching and learning science and mathematics concepts. Communication skills are the ability to transmit information effectively and efficiently to another person. Unfortunately, some science and mathematics teachers lack the expertise and interest in teaching reading and writing skills per se. For the classroom teacher and the students the most widely applied and used communication skills include: listening, speaking, reading and writing, which involve oral, non-verbal and written communication as illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Communication Skills
WHY ARE COMMUNICATION SKILLS IMPORTANT FOR SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION?
In general, students construct science and mathematics knowledge through active participation and cooperation. Zakaria and Iksan, (2007) have argued that “cooperative learning is grounded in the belief that learning is most effective when students are actively involved in sharing ideas and work cooperatively to complete academic tasks” (p. 36). For cooperative learning to flourish enhanced positive interdependence, positive interaction and development of interpersonal small group communication skills must be encouraged (Johnson, D.W., & Johnson, R.T., 1994). Cockcroft (1982) advocated for availing opportunity for students to discuss ideas in mathematics arguing “Discussion [must be] between teacher and pupils and between pupils themselves” (Cockcroft, 1982, p. 71). But, discussion must be beyond the mere short question-and-answer session led by the teacher and must be given far more precise use. The unambiguous use of ordinary language for students to express themselves so as to say what they mean and mean what they say requires regular practice of the speaking communication skill. At the same time, to effectively communicate in the 21st century, where we live in a digital universe, we need information literacy and scientific literacy that is currently a key focus of science curricula worldwide. According to the National Research Council, [NRC], 1996), “Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity” (p. 22).The term ‘information literacy’ means “the set of skills required to identify information sources, access information, evaluate it, and use it effectively, efficiently, and ethically” (Barker & Julien, 2012, p.20) as additional communication skill.
WHAT HAPPENS IN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS CLASSROOMS?
There are several reflective questions and activities that teachers can use to provide answers to what happens in their classrooms that include: How do you explain something that you are teaching in terms that the learner understands? How do you ensure that the learner can understand the language you use? What tone of voice do you use when you are explaining something? How do you summarise what you’ve said? How do you emphasise particular points in your explanation? How do you incorporate, as appropriate, examples from the learner’s everyday life into your explanation? How do you use visual aids to reinforce what you have said? Do you use any humour to make your explanation more memorable to the learner? If so, how? How do you use the learner’s body language to judge whether he or she has engaged with what you have said? (Department for Education and Skills, 2007, p.23).
Research has shown that we learn 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what we discuss with others, 80% of what we experience personally, and 90% of what we teach others. At the same time people generally remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they hear and see, 70% of what they say and write, and 90% of what they say as they do something. But, how do we spend our communication time? Research indicates that we spend nine percent of our time writing, 16% reading, 30% speaking or talking, and 45% listening.
Listening: Listening skills complement speaking and it involves being attentive when the teacher or some other persons are speaking, and responding effectively to their comments during a conversation, discussion or teaching. Evidence of good student listening is their ability to interpret and restate accurately or in summarised form spoken messages by following instructions, asking appropriate questions to clarify meaning, controlling internal and external elements that may cause interference, and recognising and responding to nonverbal cues used. About 80% of what you know is acquired through listening.How attentive are our students when we are teaching?
Reading:There is a reading deficit among students in school at all levels. Yet, “the ability to read opens up new worlds and opportunities” (Pang, Muaka, Bernhardt & Kamil, 2003, p.6).In science and mathematics classrooms teachers and students read instructions for experiments and read instruments in addition to reading problems, questions and tasks they are assigned or engaged in. Students also read notes, mainly as revision in preparation for examinations or tests, while teachers read their notes in preparation and planning for teaching and some teachers read researched work. They also read the textbook chapters or books they are assigned and teacher made pamphlets, while teachers read reference books to help them make notes. In addition, they read notices that are posted on the notice boards, the school timetables, and the examination timetables. Finally, students probably read school circulars that are addressed to parents and guardians. Each of these documents needs to be read with understanding to facilitate taking appropriate action on the contents. However, teachers’ and students’ reading skills are often not well developed.