Teaching to create critical thinkers

Prof Koi Tirima, 42, is an educator, senior consultant, researcher, a social change catalyst and a trainer. She is currently the director of the Centre for Research, Teaching and Learning (CRTL) at Inoorero University in Nairobi. She spoke to NJOKI CHEGE

Looking at Koi Tirima, she would hardly pass for a professor. The jovial yet soft-spoken don is elegant in her dressing, at ease with her surrounding and playful with her two children. But that’s only a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the academician’s life. The moment she opens her mouth you realise that her beauty matches her brains. She is eloquent, thinks on her feet and lives life to the fullest. In fact, Prof Koi wears many hats. She is a teacher, an educator and a mother.

Away from the academic world she takes her motherly duty with gusto, playing with her two children yet remaining firm on decisions regarding their growth.

“I am a teacher, a woman of faith, a mother. I love life and live close to the edge as possible,” she enthuses.

Prof Koi explains that when growing up she keenly watched her father, a dedicated church worker teach at the Christian Industrial Training Centre.

 “He would teach street children and completely transform their lives,” she recalls. “That’s when it dawned on me that what our family had could be shared,” she adds.

Schooling

After sitting her fourth form exams, Koi wanted to study Fine Arts. But her dream was cut short when she was admitted at Egerton University to study Agronomy.

Undeterred, she later transferred her credits to Baraton University where she met her husband. The two lovebirds got engaged and moved to the USA, where she pursued her other love, English Literature.

 Koi enrolled for her Bachelor’s degree at Washington State University. She later joined University of Idaho for her Masters and Doctorate in Teaching English.

 Koi then got a job and worked in USA for close to 16 years. Things worked well until 2009 when she decided to come back home.

“I yearned for home after getting necessary skills. I also wanted to get involved in the educational reforms in Kenya,” she explains.

Prof Koi is passionate about education. “I want to be a good teacher who touches people’s lives. A teacher beyond the classroom,” she adds.

Prof Koi enthuses that local education is not only about imparting knowledge but also a need for relevant and useful information to solve problems.

Wholesome learning

Unfortunately, she says that we have lost the true purpose of education, which is learning and not passing exams.

“It breaks my heart when a student gets 88 per cent (an A) in Physics but cannot even balance a scale in real life. We have not allowed our children to become critical thinkers,” she explains.“If you critically look at the current 8-4-4 system, you will realise it is a great system. The challenge is in the implementation. This system prepared me for life,” she adds.

Prof Koi advocates for problem-based learning.

“Problem-based learning allows students to be in control of their learning, which is the best motivation. In most cases with problem-based learning, students end up unearthing more information than they would get in the syllabus,” she explains. 

Problem-based education, she says, allows students to acquire critical skills such as asking the right questions, finding the appropriate information and applying that information to solve a problem for the best possible answer.

“Now that’s education right there. Teaching children to be critical thinkers,” she enthuses.

Position

And Prof Koi is lucky enough to be in a position where she can directly effect change. As director of the Centre for Research, Teaching and Learning (CRTL) at Inoorero University in Nairobi, she is tasked with looking for gaps in teaching and learning, such as the lack of critical thinking and coordinating curriculum review and pedagogy.

Besides introducing the problem-based system of learning, she is also in-charge of quality assurance and enhancement because she believes in ensuring quality.

She is also charged with helping her students adapt to the paradigm shift that comes with adopting a new method of learning.

Besides this, she is a senior consultant on education policy, a trainer and is heavily involved in the monitoring and evaluation of educational programmes in the country.

In the future, Prof Koi aspires to play an active role in policy regulation and accreditation.

 “My wish is to have a meaningful impact on the higher education system of this country,” she says.

Super mom

When Koi is not critiquing education policies, she is wearing the ‘supermom’ hat for her two children, Gitari (13) and Makena (nine). The chemistry between them is enviable. No wonder they speak of her highly.

Gitari regards his mother the ‘coolest mom ever’.

And as a rule of  thumb, Prof Koi would not take a job where she wouldn’t take her children along with her.

“It is important that we expose our children to our jobs so that they will understand when you have to work odd hours,” she says.

 She also emphasises the value of playing with your children, which she notes, is not just taking them to the pool and watching them swim, but joining them in the pool and swimming with them.

“Playing with your children changes the dynamics of your relationship. Personally, I treasure those moments that I play with my children because it is during those moments that they will say the most profound things to me,” she says.