Research portfolio

A survey carried out during 1998 in rural schools of the South East Region (Butterworth) in the Eastern Cape Province revealed that science teachers do not seem to know their problems in teaching science. Teachers related their problems to lack of apparatus and laboratories. However, it appeared that lack of conceptual understanding of science and of practical skills prevented teachers from preparing practical approaches in the classrooms. Lack of conceptual understanding could have also been the cause of the teacher's inability to innovate and manipulate apparatus. The call for laboratories also seemed to be caused by lack of knowledge of what is done in a laboratory. Practical approaches to science seemed to be further undermined by the irrelevance of apparatus and science in a rural setting, where few community members and teachers might have never used apparatus or done practical exercises anywhere. It is recommended that an integrated approach towards improving science education is required. That is, by means of workshops, all role-players in science education such as teacher training institutions such as Rhodes University, NGOs, the Department of Education and pre-service as well as in-service teachers, should discuss the problems in science education. There is a need to supply basic apparatus and to make sure that in-service and pre-service courses emphasise skills in the use of apparatus, innovating apparatus and practical experiences, along with improving the teacher's conceptual understanding of science. A science college of education is highly recommended to enable a special focus on the plight of science education in the Eastern Cape Province. It also felt that rural areas require special attention in terms of designing outcomes and learning experiences that bear relevance to that environment. The assumption that science education as perceived in industrialised areas can be beneficial everywhere is dangerous and gives science a bad name in rural areas. The survey also showed that triangulation of research instruments is necessary to increase validity and reliability of any research programme. The most useful method appeared to be video recording the interviews

Evaluation of educational computer programmes as a change agent in science classrooms.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.This evaluation started with preliminary research into the situations and problems in science classrooms and computer laboratories. The preliminary research identified teacher-centred lessons, learner and teacher conceptualisations, large numbers of learners per classroom, assessment, and a lack of interest in biology as some of the major problems in South African classrooms. The current research (because it is continuing) uses two Educational Computer Programmes (ECPs); a Computer-Aided Assessment (CAA) programme which is designed to alleviate problems in assessment, and Zadarh (a constructivist adventure game) designed to solve problems in biology classrooms, to further investigate some of the identified problems and find out the learners' and teachers' views on the utility of these two ECPs. The use of these two ECPs had not previously been investigated appropriately, especially in disadvantaged communities where teachers had little knowledge of the use and of evaluating ECPs. Therefore, a major concern for this study is that previous ECP evaluations excluded teachers and were not comprehensive enough especially for deploying ECPs in disadvantaged communities. A review of the methods that had hitherto been used, indicated that quantitative, mostly, behavioural and cognitive, pre-test post-test methods were prominently used, despite the shift in instructional design to constructional design, which embrace qualitative aspects of learning. Also, instructional design has evolved from behavioural models to include constructivist microworlds, which were unfairly evaluated by excluding qualitative benefits. Thus, this study seeks a more comprehensive evaluation strategy, in which teachers play the role of co-evaluators and which captures the qualitative and quantitative changes that software programs impart upon teachers' classroom practices, with sensitivity to the multiple disciplines in a program, as well as to the value systems of teachers. Comprehensive evaluation processes were facilitated during which 26 teachers in 23 schools in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga Provinces embarked upon the evaluation of the two ECPs. Evaluations were based upon a developmental, constructivist and interpretative approaches, by which teachers took ownership of these evaluations. Comprehensive evaluations revealed benefits from CAA and Zadarh, as well as benefits from direct teacher participations in the evaluations. CAA (Question Mark in this case) instantly provided diagnostic data. However, it was evident that the quality of diagnosis and remediation depended upon the quality of the test items, and the learning as well as the teaching strategies. Factors that could militate against the use and full utilisation of CAA in the schools where the study was done included the cost of software for CAA, teachers' capacity to set diagnostic test items particularly in a multiple-choice format, teachers' ability to interpret data produced by CAA, and teachers' skills in remedying their classroom problems as well as learners' problems. This study found that by playing Zadarh learners were able to construct knowledge through discovery and were attracted to the enjoyable aspects of this educational tool. Learners remembered most of those moments in the game during which they were both stuck and trying to solve problems on their way through Zadarh. Therefore, Zadarh can provide useful learning experiences with fun, and can improve motivation towards learning. Debilitating factors against the use of Zadarh and CAA include school curricula, which do not accommodate innovations, inflexible timetables, and classroom approaches that are teacher-centred. It was clear that the success of using computers in education would depend upon the ability of teachers to evaluate the ECPs, and to integrate ECPs into school curricula. drive these interactions played an important role in the successful integration of ECPs into classroom. One way of achieving such success is to include teachers as evaluators and co-designers of ECPs. Evaluations of ECPs therefore should: i) allow the teachers and learners, through social dialog, to identify how software could solve problems; ii) establish the compatibility of the software with the school curriculum; iii) ascertain the capacity of school computers to execute the software; and iv) provide support to the teachers in the use the software. Evaluations should benefit teachers and learners. The study concluded that a post-modern, developmental, and constructivist evaluation process might be one of the ways of enhancing training teachers in the use of the ECPs, in the concepts that the software deal with, and in evaluation. In that way, a socially contracted evaluation is comprehensive and can serve as a change agent through which teachers reflect and act upon improving their classroom practices

Land degradation as an issue in Agro-ecosystems: A review of underlying causes

Land degradation is a big issue in agro ecosystems in developing, transition economy and developed countries. This problem affects negatively agriculture productivity and production in rural areas of all countries where most people depend on the agriculture activities to survive and satisfy their needs. Therefore it impacts food security, poverty, livelihood and wellbeing of rural populations. Factors such as poverty, population growth or pressure, climate change, human activities (intensification of agriculture, industrialization and urbanization), poor awareness and lack of institutions and poor governance (poor policies and management) are causing and increasing land degradation and its negatives consequences on agro ecosystems functions and services. Some of these causes are also initiated and increased by land degradation (vicious circle). This emphasis the needs to identifying and understand the real causes of land degradation and explain how some are interlinked to the latter in order to develop better and proper solutions to eradicate or mitigate the its unwanted effects

Insect herbivores associated with Senecio pterophorus and Senecio inaequidens at Butterworth, South Africa

This study lists and compares insect herbivores of Senecio inaequidens and of Senecio pterophorus around Butterworth by 18 Tables and 38 Figures. The two plant species are widely distributed around Southern Africa. Samples were taken during a month of each of the four main seasons of the year, which in Butterworth did not show much difference in temperature. The two plant species shared generalist insect herbivores most of which were also on other surrounding plant species. The population of most of the herbivores was affected by the seasons while the two plant species were not seasonal, thus the correlation between insect herbivores and the two plant species was not significant. The heavier, and apparently chemically protected species, Senecio pterophorus, accommodated borers and supported a wider variety of but fewer individual insects. Senecio pterophorus could be having more defences but had more serious herbivores. There were no serious insect herbivores that could control the abundance of the two plant species around Butterworth. Anatomical differences between S. pterophorus and S. inaequidens could be highlighted by the kind and number of insect herbivores found upon them. Similarities were more difficult to identify through studying their insect herbivores. The biology of one serious weed, Lixus sp., on Senecio pterophorus was studied in more detail. The life cycle of the weevil was found to be synchronised with that of the host. This weevil shared the stems with other species of weevils with no indication of competition

Introducing educational computer programmes through evaluation: A case in South African disadvantaged schools

I report on evaluation strategies that could be used to introduce an educational computer programme (ECP) in disadvantaged schools. The strategies include social dialogue, using the teachers' value systems such as Ubuntu together with participant evaluation methodologies, by which teachers learn about evaluation, computer skills, and the concepts the ECP presents, as well consider the curriculum issues around ECP use in teaching. The study involved 26 teachers from 23 South African disadvantaged schools

What kind of science do educators present to learners in South African classes?

Designing school curricula in SA took on an insightful phase since 1976 when learners rejected Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. The South African Department of Education (DoE) has tried to align curricula with the new constitution with consternation about the kind of product that curricula will graduate from school. I narrate personal, observations about, and understanding of the science curricula, as a science education student, a science educator, and a manager of projects on science educator development. My comments were supported by class visits, during which I used a Science Teaching Observation Schedule (STOS) and recorded events in 31 science classrooms, as well as by interactions with educators during workshops. My observations revealed that few educators remember common names in psychology such as Piaget, were skeptical about Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), and none would say anything about the Nature of Science. Neither could they articulate the reasons behind new National Curriculum Statements. Educators blend philosophies and psychologies in science classrooms inadvertently, but neither do the DoE, nor many educator training institutions mention the traditional epistemologies. This could be one of the reasons for poor science teaching

Framing Professional Development in Information and Communications Technologies: University Perspectives

The proliferations of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and an increase in the number of external students and of the digital youth have put considerable pressure upon university staff to adopt ICT in their pedagogy. However, these challenges that include ICT technical skills and pedagogy require staff to continuously engage in Professional Development (PD), which might require revisions of work agreements. Staff have to change their pedagogical paradigms. This paper proposes PD models and suggests that IT specialists and Administrative Assistants should be involved

Evaluation of an Educational Computer Programme as a Change Agent in Science Classrooms

I report on benefits from 26 teacher-participant evaluators of a computer game designed to motivate learning and to ease conceptual understanding of biology in South Africa. Using a developmental, social constructivist and interpretative model, the recommendation is to include the value systems and needs of end-users (through social dialogue); curriculum issues (learning theories in the ECP and those the education authorities recommend, as well as ECP-curriculum integration); the nature of the subject the ECP presents (e.g., Nature of Science); and the compatibility of the ECP with school computers

Applications of computer-aided assessment in the diagnosis of science learning and teaching

This paper reports on a qualitative evaluation using questionnaires and interviews in South African Grade 10 classes on the diagnostic value of Computer Aided Assessment (CAA). A two stage evaluation was necessary: the first stage involved validation of diagnostic test items; and the second stage evaluated the diagnostic value of data that CAA produces. While results confirmed earlier findings about the advantages of CAA, the diagnostic and remediation potential of CAA data depended upon teachers' capacity to set diagnostic test items particularly in a multiple choice format, teachers' ability to interpret data produced by CAA, teachers' skills in remedying their classroom as well as learners' problems, the quality of the test items, and the learning as well as the teaching strategies

Narrative research across cultures: epistemological concerns in Africa

Narratives among Bantu in Africa are complicated by introductions of Western knowledge such as Information and Communications Technology. Narrative research suffers from and is challenged by the inferiorities due to colonialism and by African academia that rejects African Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Narrative research about Information and Communications Technology among Bantu requires a combination of Western methodology in the context of Afrocentric approaches, such as Ubuntu, to yield authentic and valid data. The challenge in introducing Western knowledge such as Information and Communications Technology into Bantu communities is to develop research hybrids that recognise Bantu Indigenous Knowledge Systems and use Western knowledge, with sensitivity to cultural biases. The other challenge is for Indigenous Africans to get involved in serious research to develop their own Information and Communications Technology