The meaning of relevant science in townships in Cape Town.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.This study explores the meaning of relevant science in two townships in Cape Town. Reform in science education, both nationally and internationally has placed much emphasis on the fact that science education should be relevant. The research conducted in this study attempts to interpret different dimensions of relevance. This study explores not only how learners make meaning of their everyday lives, but what 'science' they deem to be relevant and worth learning within this context. It acknowledges the important role of teachers in establishing what learners perceive to be relevant. The theory of social constructivism is suited to this investigation, in its recognition of the roles of children's knowledge, purposes, social groups and interactions in learning. The children in this study often have personal lives steeped in poverty, abuse and violence. The curriculum design is also guided by social constructivist theories. However, a second version of constructivism, critical constructivism, is used to frame the second phase of the study. A critical constructivist approach raises questions about the type of knowledge learners interact with. In critical constructivism, science and its methods, the curriculum and the classroom are opened up to critical inquiry. Teachers' knowledge of their learners is used to design science lessons that are more meaningful, relevant and personalised. The individual lessons, as well as the lesson series that are used in this study are designed as examples of relevant science, while the lesson series also serves as a tool to elicit deeper understandings of what learners in this particular context experience as relevant to their lives. Although the main focus of this research is the relevance of using everyday knowledge in the classroom, bringing everyday knowledge into the classroom allows for the inclusion of a number of dimensions of relevance. The different ways in which learners respond to the science lessons in both phases are discussed as five outcomes. The findings of the research show that the essence of a relevant science curriculum lies in a particular design. This design accommodates many dimensions of relevance, such as relevant content, context and purposes. Such as design helps learners to negotiate the difficult border between the formal school environment and the informal home environment. A relevant curriculum acknowledges that science education is more than only science, but also recognises the implications for science curriculum development. This study is part of a larger project which is a comprehensive evaluation of the Primary Science Programme (PSP). The PSP gave the research its full support as the investigation of relevance may have an influence on curriculum design

Exploring alternative assessment strategies in science classrooms.

The knowledge children bring to the classroom or construct in the classroom may find expression in a variety of activities and is often not measurable with the traditional assessment instruments used in science classrooms. Different approaches to assessment are required to accommodate the various ways in which learners construct knowledge in social settings. In our research we attempted to determine the types of outcomes achieved in a Grade 6 classroom where alternative strategies such as interactive assessments were implemented. Analyses of these outcomes show that the learners learned much more than the tests indicate, although what they learnt was not necessarily science. The implications for assessment are clear: strategies that assess knowledge of science concepts, as well as assessment of outcomes other than science outcomes, are required if we wish to gain a holistic understanding of the learning that occurs in science classrooms

An alternative approach to assessing science competencies

It is widely established that South African learners score poorly on written tests—whether standardized or locally devised tests as part of research and evaluation. Similar results were obtained in the project of which this research is a part. In spite of findings from classroom observations and interviews that teachers were competent, lessons well prepared and learners deeply engaged, learners continued to score poorly on written tests. The research reported in this paper is a response to these results where an alternative strategy to evaluate what learners had learnt during their science lessons was implemented. The SOLO Taxonomy was used as a means of categorising different levels of learners responses in an attempt to find out what learners had in fact learnt. Data were collected from classes in 10 schools. Analyses of the data show that the learners learned much more than the tests indicate, and could talk insightfully about science ideas and relationships between them. They also gave some indications of what learners find ‘important’ in their science learning and how they like to present their learning. The implications for assessment are clear: strategies that assess more than learners' written responses to questions assessing knowledge of science concepts are required if we wish to gain a better understanding of the learning that occurs in science classrooms

Foundation phase teachers’ interpretation of the life skills programme with regard to the teaching of natural science

Scientific literacy should be promoted through the teaching of science from Grade R and for this to happen, teachers need to understand what science should be taught and how it should be taught. This interpretive, qualitative study explores the degree to which four foundation phase teachers interpret the life skills programme with regard to the teaching of natural science by using an adapted version of a theory of implementation. Analyses of a questionnaire, documents (Revised National Curriculum Statement and lesson plans) and interviews enabled us to build a picture of how each teacher interpreted the curriculum with regard to a number of constructs. The findings show that foundation phase teachers have great difficulty interpreting the curriculum because the foundation phase curriculum does not give clear guidance with regard to the teaching of science. Their poor content knowledge, the poor understanding of what integration of science in numeracy and literacy entails, as well as their poor understanding of the instructional methods used to teach science exacerbate the problem

Teachers as learners: A case study of teachers’ understanding of Astronomy concepts and processes in an ACE course

The research reported here investigates the efficacy of a module in an Advanced Certificate in Education course in promoting conceptual understanding in Astronomy. The research attempted to find out how teachers’ understanding of astronomy concepts and processes change after completing this module as well as the reasons for such changes, if any. The conceptual framework applied in the study is based on three constructs which influence learning. A pre- and post-module questionnaire, as well as interviews were the instruments used to collect data from a cohort of students registered for this module. The data revealed that very little conceptual change occurred. Possible reasons for the lack of conceptual change are: Classroom environments and instructional strategies that are not conducive to conceptual change; an emphasis on declarative knowledge with little attention paid to procedural knowledge and lastly, students own epistemological beliefs of what constitutes science knowledge and learning