Exploring Tanzanian Secondary School Biology Curriculum on Climate Change for Biological Literacy

Dr. Juma, Zawadi Richard
St John’s University of Tanzania
Email: zappia2014@gmail.com

Abstract: School curriculum plays a crucial role in equipping citizens with knowledge and skills needed to make day to day decisions. In Tanzania, secondary school biology curriculum considered biology literacy as one of the important components on students’ learning. In this regard, this study explored the biology curriculum, specifically the component related to climate change and its role in equipping young people with knowledge and skills useful for making day to day decisions. This paper mainly employed qualitative data collection tools and also quantitative data collection tool was used. A total of 322 students responded to the questionnaire, 162 respondents were located in urban area and 160 respondents were based in rural area. Then, the total of eight student focus group discussions were involved. In addition, thirteen teachers from secondary schools were interviewed, eight were biology subject teachers and five school club teachers. Purposive sample included eight schools in total, four of these schools were located in urban area and other four in rural area. The findings indicate that most of participants need to be more aware of the effects of climate change on human health, however, little consideration was taken into biology curriculum to teach the concept for socio-economic development. Therefore, this paper recommends the biology curriculum developers in Tanzania to put much consideration to incorporate the aspect of climate change for facilitating development of skills and knowledge of sustainable development among Tanzanians.