Insights from training a blind student in biological sciences

Higher education institutions have a constitutional obligation to provide reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities. Although the teaching and learning of students with blindness and low vision in STEM disciplines are well documented abroad, to date, there are no published studies in South Africa on successful teaching and learning strategies for students with blindness and low vision in STEM fields, specifically in science disciplines. Therefore, in this paper, we report on how teaching, learning, and assessment were adapted to make science disciplines accessible to John, a blind student enrolled in a biological sciences degree at a research-intensive university in South Africa. Several factors contributed towards the successful completion of John’s bachelor’s degree. These factors include the availability of tutors who committed a large amount of time to help John understand content presented in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; a well-resourced and effective Disability Unit; lecturers who ensured that John was well accommodated in lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions; and, finally, John’s commitment and dedication towards learning.Significance: This is the first study to report on successful teaching and learning strategies for a blind student in the natural sciences in the South African context. The study provides a guide that scholars, educators, university managers and policymakers can use to ensure that mathematics and science subjects are accessible to blind students and that teaching strategies allow them to perform to their potential

Improving the quality of learning in a blended learning environment for first-year biology

[EN] Improving the quality of learning in a blended learning environment for first-year biology   Abstract Increased class sizes and rapid advancement of information technology has prompted institutions to move toward blended learning. The effectiveness of the instructional design of the blended learning courses has not been studied extensively in large classes. This study aims to interrogate the effectiveness of the instructional design of a large first year biology class with the aim of providing the most effective blend for all students but focusing on the at-risk and murky middle students. This was done by firstly investigating which of the different learning opportunities contributed most to the success of the students and secondly by investigating student engagement with the learning opportunities provided to them. The results show that small, face-to-face tutorial classes and online formative assessments contributed the most to student success. The results also show that at-risk and murky middle students tend to make use of learning opportunities less after the first summative assessment, possibly putting them at risk of failing.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Kritzinger, A.; Lemmens, J.; Potgieter, M. (2018). Improving the quality of learning in a blended learning environment for first-year biology. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 159-166. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.7917OCS15916

#FEESMUSTFALL: Science Teaching during Student Unrest

Student protests are a regular feature of the tertiary landscape. However, there are claims that disruptions and potential threats to the academic project at traditional universities can be partially mitigated by online teaching and learning. This paper reports on insights gained when the mode of instruction was changed at short notice from contact to online teaching during student unrests at a South African university in 2016. A phenomenographic approach was used to generate a meta-reflection on experiences as reported by lecturers from 13 science departments during a pecha kucha1 event (very short PowerPoint presentations) at the beginning of 2017. Video data was analysed inductively to generate six themes/categories, encapsulating aspects of the challenges experienced by the participants, the insights they had and the actions they took to address these challenges. This paper attempts to demonstrate the approaches taken by lecturers and how they incorporated the blended learning environment to support their students to complete the academic year, despite difficult circumstances. It offers useful pointers to affordances and weaknesses of the virtual learning environment when implemented at short notice to replace contact teaching

The usefulness of the Rasch model for the refinement of Likert scale questionnaires

In this paper the use of the Rasch model is explored as a transparent, systematic and theoretically underpinned response to quality issues that are widely recognised as problematic in the refinement of Likert scale questionnaires. Key issues are the choice of length of scale, the pursuit of a favourable estimate of Cronbach’s alpha at the possible expense of construct validity, and the fact that total raw scores arise from ordinal data but are used and interpreted as if measurement had occurred. We use a questionnaire under development for the measurement of perceptions of first-year chemistry students on demonstrator effectiveness to illustrate the process of Rasch analysis and instrument refinement. This process involves investigation of fit of the data to the model, possible violations of the assumption of local independence, and several aspects of item functioning. We identified disordered response categories as the probable reason for misfit in this data set and propose strategies for modification of items so that they can be retained rather than rejected.The National Research Foundation and the Centre for Teaching and Learning (Stellenbosch University).http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_saarmste.htmlam2013ai201

Preparedness for tertiary chemistry: multiple applications of the chemistry competence test for diagnostic and prediction purposes

This is a post-print of an article published by the Royal Society of Chemistry available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C1RP90024B.The development of the Chemistry Competence Test was prompted by the extensive curriculum changes in the South African school system after democracy was established in 1994. As chemists, we were concerned that there might be a lack of articulation between secondary and tertiary levels, since we anticipated that curriculum changes would have an impact on the knowledge base and skills development of prospective students. A diagnostic test developed initially to document proficiencies of first-time entering students to South African universities has proved to be a versatile instrument for multiple uses. Apart from monitoring levels of preparedness for tertiary chemistry during a period of systemic change, it has also been used to evaluate institutional placement policies, to identify specific conceptual problems and procedural deficiencies, and to measure conceptual gains over the course of the first year at university. In addition, its application for the prediction of risk of failure in first-year chemistry based on cognitive and non-cognitive variables was demonstrated. All these findings are valuable resources to inform lecturers who are concerned about minimizing the conceptual gap between secondary and tertiary chemistry

Refining process-oriented guided inquiry learning for Chemistry students in an academic development programme

In this study, action research was used over two years to refine the implementation of process-oriented guided inquiry learning for chemistry students in an academic development programme at a research-intensive South African university. Students’ responses to guided inquiry were collected based on a three-pillar framework underpinned by cognitive load theory and the information processing model. A mixed methods approach was used to gather data including observations, questionnaire responses, focus group interviews and student assessment results. The findings were exhibited year by year using the analysis tool, ‘joint displays’. Findings from the first year of study highlighted student difficulty with factors contributing to extraneous load such as social dynamics, worksheet layout and time required. Revisions addressed these areas of difficulty in the second year with positive results in terms of student behaviour and achievement. Analysis of Year 2 findings led to several recommendations for further guided inquiry revisions to serve novice students in the context of an academic development programme: prior knowledge should be activated to mitigate cognitive overload, relevant language should replace foreign terms to sensitise the perception filter and more explicit scaffolding could be embedded to enrich the student’s germane cognitive load during processing.The National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Number 111816).https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmse202020-07-10hj2019Chemistr

The development, psychometric properties and refinement of a food literacy scale for specific and general application

DATA AVAILABILITY: Data will be made available on request.Please read abstract in the article.https://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijgfshj2024ChemistryConsumer ScienceFood ScienceSDG-02:Zero HungerSDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein

Manifestations of metacognitive activity during the collaborative planning of chemistry practical investigations

This paper elaborates a process followed to characterise manifestations of cognitive regulation during the collaborative planning of chemistry practical investigations. Metacognitive activity was defined as the demonstration of planning, monitoring, control and evaluation of cognitive activities by students while carrying out the chemistry task. Inherent in collaborative learning is the social aspect of metacognition, which in this study was evidenced in social cognitive regulation (notably of intra- and interpersonal metacognitive regulations) as groups of students went about planning their practical investigations. Discussions of two of the learning groups (n =4; n = 3) as they planned the extended practical investigation were recorded, transcribed and analysed for indicators of any inherent metacognitive activity. The process of characterising the manifestations of metacognition resulted in the development of a coding system which specifies not only the regulatory strategies at play but the type of regulation (self or other), the area of regulation (cognition, task performance or behaviour) as well as the depth of regulatory contributions (high or low). The fine-grained coding system allowed for a finer theoretical elucidation of the social nature of metacognition. The implications of this study for metacognition and chemistry education research are highlighted.The National Research Foundation (South Africa), Canon Collins Trust and Legal administered Ros Moger Terry Furlong Scholarship, Association for Commonwealth Universities and University of Pretoria postgraduate research support.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tsed202018-12-21hj2017ChemistryScience, Mathematics and Technology Educatio

Metacognitive monitoring and learning gain in foundation chemistry

The ability to make realistic judgements of one’s performance is a demonstration of the possession of strong metacognitive skills. In this study we investigate the relationship between accuracy of selfevaluation as an expression of metacognitive skill, and learning gain in stoichiometry. The context is an academic development programme at a South African University offered for under-prepared students enrolled for science and engineering. These students generally exhibit unrealistically high levels of confidence in performance and this could potentially place them at risk by negatively affecting decisions regarding time management and self-regulation. We investigated whether overconfidence before instruction is corrected upon exposure to teaching. A three-tier stoichiometry test was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data before and after instruction. Findings indicate that the majority of the students were overconfident in the evaluation of their performance in both the pre- and posttests. Overconfidence was not a debilitating disposition when demonstrated in the pretest provided that it was corrected during teaching and learning. The most vulnerable students were those that judged their performance or lack thereof realistically in the pretest but became overconfident during the teaching and learning of stoichiometry. Our results suggest that under-prepared students are slow in developing accurate metacognitive monitoring skills within a classroom environment that did not include instruction focused on the development of such skills. We recommend a proactive and constructive response by educators which may reduce the incidence of failure and preserve the positive contribution of confidence, albeit excessively positive.NRF funding, Graça Machel Scholarship for women.http://www.rsc.org/cerphb2014ai201

#FEESMUSTFALL : science teaching during student unrest

Student protests are a regular feature of the tertiary landscape. However, the disruptions and potential threat to the academic project at traditional universities can be partially mitigated by online teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is to report on insights gained when the mode of instruction was changed at short notice from contact to online during student unrest at a South African university in 2016. A phenomenographic approach was used to generate a meta-reflection on experiences as reported by lecturers from 13 science departments during a pecha kucha event (very short PowerPoint presentations) at the beginning of 2017. Video data was analysed inductively to generate six themes/categories. The six themes/categories that emerged from the data encapsulated aspects of the challenges experienced by the participants, the insights they had and the actions they took to address these challenges. This paper exemplifies the resilience of lecturers and how they embraced the blended learning environment to support their students to complete the academic year, despite difficult circumstances. It offers useful pointers to affordances and weaknesses of the virtual learning environment when implemented at short notice to replace contact teaching.http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Homepage.aspxam2019Education Innovatio