Impact has KnowZone had on the Quality of Teaching and on Teachers in General

(Source:  Institute of Education, London and Synovate, Nairobi:  2009)

Introduction

KnowZone targets children between ages 9 and 12; younger ones have been noted as ardent viewers too.  In addition, teachers and parents have become important secondary audiences. This can be seen from the interest shown by teachers and parents seeking clarification or sending in comments on some of the issues they saw on the programme.  Clearly, they are interested when research has been undertaken, and parents state unambiguously that they watch the series with their children.

 

Throughout the research we have had interesting and constructive comments from many teachers on what they liked, did not approve of and where they felt we could improve on the series.  This is itemized in the report below. From the very beginning of this project the many teachers we have met have stated that KnowZone is a useful tool to support them in their work and that it helps the children to learn more effectively.

 

Knowzone Background

The KnowZone was broadcast on Kenyan National TV in the early evenings in 2009.  As well as a primary audience of Standard 4 pupils, the programme is also intended to reach and inform varied additional audiences including:

 

• Children, both older and younger than Standard 4, watching with siblings
• parents and care-givers watching with children -  especially those in need of adult literacy training and support
• school drop-outs and children in informal schooling
• teachers who are impatient for in-service training

 

 

1.  Initial research as a proof of concept

In the first instance, Mediae designed, developed and produced 60 pilot minutes of Know Zone programming. Led by the University of London Institute for Education in collaboration with Kenyatta University’s English Literacy Norms project, this pilot material has recently been tested among diverse children, teachers and parents in five Kenyan provinces.

 

Top-line findings from this research include:

• Viewing children are excited to see – often for the first time - African children they can identify with, acting in drama and in the Know Zone studio and are extremely eager to watch more
• Teachers have emerged strongly as a significant target audience for the series and agreed they would gain teaching methods, practices and ideas from viewing the creative activities used in the programme
• Parents are supportive of the concept and medium as long as it is linked to school learning, and will assist their children to view the series and to participate via SMS text messaging to gain additional information and support materials
• The series has the clear additional capacity to convey and explore complex social content including peace-building, tolerance, diversity and reconciliation ideas, and can help reaffirm social and moral norms in response to Kenya’s recent political and social crises
• Besides national TV broadcasts, schools themselves are very eager to acquire and screen DVD copies of the programme

 

If the series were to be sustained consistently throughout a school year it would be possible to determine the magnitude of its contribution to children’s educational attainment as well as to life skills goals on a national scale.

 

2.Follow up research mid Production Stage 2 Part 1

Following the pilot stage, a full 33 episodes of Knowzone were produced, incorporating the findings arising from the pilot research.  As programmes were being broadcast, two stages of further research were undertaken; one in April, 2009 and the second phase in November 2009.  This was again done by the University of London Institute for Education in collaboration with Kenyatta University’s English Literacy Norms project.

 

There was again the general consensus that KnowZone was a useful programme.  The researchers were keen to elicit constructive criticism from teachers, in order that future programmes would be sure to support them in their teaching efforts.  Teachers’ comments were of particular interest to the director and producers, seeking to improve the style and content of the programme.  Specific comments included:

 

• The adults, both parents and teachers, were engaged and stated strongly that each issue was important and addressed problems in their neighbourhoods.

 

• The topics covered in Hot Numbers and Cool Words, the basic education components, were familiar and all the children said they had done them in class. So they acted as re-enforcement rather than introduction, which is the aim.

 

• Teachers tend to prefer the sections addressing basic literacy and numeracy skills i.e. Cool Words, Hot Numbers, Spell It. For instance, teachers in Murang’a District loved the idea of Teacher Pendo using pieces of oranges to teach children about fractions, and they said they would apply the same method to teach fraction using their locally available materials like potatoes.

 

• As one of the teachers said, it is important to move from the known to the unknown. The programme needs to be conscious of building on what was taught in previous programmes. Viewers need to be reminded of what was covered previously relating to the new learning. At present this is not happening sufficiently.

 

• New vocabulary and concepts need more contextualising into phrases (as they are in the Junction Juniors drama) and this would further assist comprehension, especially in the language development components.

 

• Most teachers like the way Teacher Pendo laid out her lessons especially using diagrams to illustrate. They felt that this helped the children understand the lesson better.

 

• The lesson on telling time (Ep 27) emerged as one of their favourites especially due to the fact that the clocks were cut-outs from cardboard showing different times- this is a method most said they would apply when teaching the same lesson.

 

• In some schools teachers who had requested for the KnowZone leaflets would use it as a quick revision kit with their students before embarking on their lesson.

 

• Some teachers still felt that speech sometimes moved too fast for children who would still be learning English. This was more prevalent in the more rural areas.

 

• The teachers tended to prefer the sections addressing basic literacy and numeracy skills.

 

• Some teachers were quite outspoken about the need to include more participation from the children in Hot Numbers and Cool Words.

 

• Some teachers criticised too much chorusing of answers from the teachers. They felt that children should be included who gave wrong answers and were then corrected by other children, Marara or Teacher Pendo. This would encourage more interaction and participation.

 

• Teachers tended to exhibit a rather limit idea of what was educational. For example if something was not on the national curriculum it was deemed irrelevant and in other cases the link between learning and entertainment or enjoyment was undervalued.

 

The above comments were deemed to be highly constructive and were absorbed by the production team and incorporated into future programmes, yet to be produced.

 

3.  November 2009 Study – Part 2, Main Study - Institute of Education

The researchers conducted three interviews in Teacher Training Colleges as part of this phase of the research. These groups were mixed in terms of gender, region of origin and what subjects and primary ages they had and would teach in the future. They were also asked to complete a short basic information questionnaire.  Below is a summary of their feedback:

• Teacher trainees saw KnowZone as a support to their teaching.

 

• Teacher trainees expressed a desire for materials to accompany KnowZone or to receive DVDs especially for children who did not have good Citizen reception (the channel on which KnowZone is broadcast).

• The trainee teachers were seeing KnowZone as an aide for their work as teachers in the classroom – as teaching support.

 

• The topics covered in these sections are built on the national curriculum and so they had been taught in school. Both adults and children agreed that they acted as very good re-enforcement.

 

• Teacher trainees felt that much of the teaching was teacher centred and that there could be more child participation and the children could make some mistakes that are then corrected.

 

• As implied in the point above and elaborated under Art Zone below, the teacher trainees found it hard to separate teaching styles on television from their own classroom practice. They referred to how they were being trained to teach in classrooms andcriticised Teacher Pendo for doing it differently (chorus answers, teacher lead, no wrong answers etc).

 

• However as a teacher and in her manner Teacher Pendo was universally very popular.

• Teacher trainees and the non-viewers groups in particular felt that sometimes Teacher Pendo went too fast for the language level of the children they teach. On the other hand parents felt is was fine. This might reflect a better language level of the children in the families interviewed or low teacher expectations.

 

• In terms of English language teacher trainees talked about vocabulary and comprehension extension and the value of hearing the words used in context.

• ArtZone: This section provoked a surprising amount of debate. Some of this centred around the fact that art was not an examined activity in the schools and therefore the question was whether it was worth including in on KnowZone. There were both parents and trainee teachers who countered this view saying that this was why it was important – the only opportunity for children to do these activities.

Comments written on the questionnaire both praised the programme (the majority) and also made some specific criticisms. The word most often used was ‘educative’. Below is a sample of comments:

Know Zone is one of the best programmes a pupil should be encouraged to watch. Apart from instilling knowledge and skills in the learners, it also motivates the learner in achieving valuable attitudes such as co-operation and sharing from watching Junction Juniors.

Teacher Pendo is a wonderful teacher. She motivates and guides children in answering the question

 

 It’s a revision tool

 

 Teachers also are challenged to get down to research work thus when asked by their pupils who might have watched they will be updated.

 Kids should be involved in the making of materials and one kid may demonstrate (Art Zone)

 Try to incorporate the weak learners

 Some sections are not given enough time

 I wish to argue the organisers to have some sort of CDs and even printed articles.

 It is of much importance

 It is educative to the whole nation

 

We also asked as many teachers as possible in each school visited to complete a short questionnaire. A total of 109 completed them.  87 % of teachers interviewed had heard of Know Zone and 67% watched the programme. The teachers were very positive about KnowZone helping children learn, supporting teachers and helping parents.

 

4.  Research MJ Children TV use and parents

As part of a national quantitative survey commissioned by Mediae, it was revealed that a huge proportion of parents watch KnowZone with their children: And an even greater proportion of grown-ups think that KnowZone will help their children perform better at school:

 

In another study carried out nationally in 2009 parents were asked if they thought their children’s learning had been improved and – if so – in what areas.  This response suggests a fairly strong indication that KnowZone is supporting teachers’ efforts in the classroom to improve children’s reading, writing and life skills.

 

5.  Tests run in schools by Synovate

Mediae commissioned a quantitative, in-school study in November, 2009.  A total of 824 Standard 4 children were interviewed from 22 schools across the country.  The results were quite startling and extremely encouraging:

 

• Overall 1 in every 2 children have ever watched KZ, these children also correctly know that KZ is a TVCitizen programme.

 

• Spontaneously  over 90% feel that KZ helps them do better in school and when asked specifically what they have learnt, areas with 10% or more mentions are  listed below

 

 

 

What have you learnt from KZ (spontaneous) Base ever watched  KZ	Total  (N=445)
Maths	33%
How to spell	32%
Wild animals preservation	23%
Art	20%
English	15%
Learnt about African tales	13%
Environmental conservation	12%
How to share	11%

 

 

The research shows clearly that KnowZone is having a positive impact on students’ learning.  Comparison focuses on those that have a TV at home and are KZ viewers and those that are non-viewers, but have a TV at home. The former perform better across alltopics in the test;  this is a significant finding and really encouraging:

 

 

Scores		Know Zone Viewers	Non Viewers
	N	445	379
Overall	Mean	50.9	36.6
English	Mean	51.3	37.9
Reading Time	Mean	53.5	36.4
Algebra/Maths	Mean	71.2	46.3
Environmental Issues	Mean	52.0	41.5
Knowledge on Tourism	Mean	31.9	20.0
Knowledge on Communication	Mean	39.5	24.9
Knowledge on Christmas	Mean	77.1	44.2

 

 

An additional, interesting finding relates to how students have found out about KnowZone:

 

How did you learn about KZ  n=445 (ever watched KZ)
TV	42%
Friends	33%
Teacher	15%
Parents	7%
Others	3%

 

The majority of those who have watched KnowZone heard about it from tv promos and friends;  only 15% heard about it from teachers.  This is surprising as 240 copies of KnowZone have been distributed to District Education Officers at a large conference in Mombasa at the end of 2008 just before programmes started to go on air and an announcement was made by the PS.  Teachers could do more to promote the programme to students.

 

 

 

6.  SMS responses

Below are a handful of SMSs Mediae has received from teachers, as programmes have been on air:

 

“ Lesson wonderfully presented watched with two classes keep it up. Mwalimu koima  EP 7, which was about health.

“I am parent and I can see what you are doing on TV, these children have so much fun, as a parent I commend you”.

“ Hi Know zone team, your programme is very educative our kids like it. I am the head teacher of Victorious Education Center Mathare North, how can your pupils participate in the show”. Ep 24, which was about  Accidents and Road safety.

“Am a teacher of eng class 1 and 4 and also head of counseling, your programs are educative, leaflets are good for my kids both know zone and Makutano junction, please send for me both (combination know zone and Makutano)”

“ Hello, my name is Ann Kamande, I am a Teacher at Lions Primary School in Nakuru and I am so interested in the Know zone programme, I would like to see it being shot and also to narrate a story at least once”

7.  Two Case Studies

The impact of Know Zone continues to be seen even after the research when recently the Head teacher of  Kiangunyi Primary School in Murang’a District Mrs Kanyi called  to say that her granddaughter had explained to her correctly what adverbs were, yet she had not been taught in school.  When asked where she had learnt it from she said she watched it on the Know Zone with Teacher Pendo. Mrs Kanyi was very impressed and said keep up the good work.

The impact is also seen in the research case study of Miss Margaret Mbaji, 36 years old, is a single parent with one daughter [Brenda] aged 10 years, in standard four living in Mtwapa, Mombasa. Miss Margaret Mbaji is also a teacher in a public school; Mteteni Primary School, which is 4km from her home.

 

Sometime early last year [in February 2009], Miss  Mbaji realized that Brenda was dragging and pulling her on particular evenings on their journey back to get home earlier than usual to watch TV.  Miss Mbaji,“On some days she was not in a hurry to get home and on particular days of the week things were different. She had this unexplained hurry to get home.”

After sometime, Brenda invited her friends over to watch the programme with her because they had noted that on particular days and time, she preferred watching TV to playing with them. Miss Mbaji got curious about this programme as the number of children coming to her house was increasing everytime  this programme would be on air. She made a point of joining Brenda and her friends and watched her first episode of the KnowZone, which she says was about measurements.

 

Miss Mbaji found the programme very educative and entertaining, she told her fellow teachers about it and they were very keen and eager to watch an Episode of Know Zone, especially when they heard about the research that was being done.

 

Apart from just involving specific teachers in consulting capacity for the show, as the show progressed the on-air responses from other teachers indicated that we had created a practical partnership with teachers and parents countrywide.

8.  Research of KZ club members

A recent research study carried out by the Mediae Company where children were posted a questionnaire that they were required to fill in and return to us showed the parts of the show they most enjoy.  This information gives the Mediae production team a good idea of which areas are engaging children and which subject areas the programmes can best support teachers in.

 

Among the leaflets the Wild zone, Art Zone and Buzzwords sections were among the favourites among children.

During the program Junction Junior, African tales, Spell It and Out There were seen to be the favourite bits.

 

Conclusion

The above evidence is taken from a variety of different sources;  teachers, trainee teachers, parents and children.  And it has been collected in a variety of different ways;  through focus group discussions, one to one interviews, SMS responses and questionnaires.

 

Combined, they show clearly that KnowZone is appreciated by the teaching profession as being a strong support to teachers in the classroom for Standard 4 (and other years).  In addition, actual and would-be teachers have made some highly constructive comments on how the programmes can help them and where they can be improved.