Preservice teachers’ reflections on teaching science with practical work in multiple-deprived classrooms

Practical work is central to science education because it has several affordances for teaching and learning. Preservice science teachers may learn to facilitate practical work in schools during teaching practice. However, it is important for teacher training programmes to establish what the preservice science teachers learn about teaching science with practical work in the schools. Most of the science classrooms in the schools are characterised by challenges that result in conditions of multiple-deprivation for teaching and learning. Using a pedagogical content knowledge conceptual framework for science teaching, this study explored the teaching of science with practical work in schools through the reflections of five final year preservice physical sciences teachers at one South African university. In a qualitative case study of teaching science with practical work in multiple-deprived classrooms, purposive sampling was used to select the preservice science teachers. The data collection tools were the preservice teachers’ reflection journals completed during practicum. The preservice teachers reflected on how science was taught with practical work in the multiple-deprived classrooms and on how they could improve the practices. Findings point to reflection as a potentially powerful tool for preservice science teachers to develop positive attitudes and perceptions on key aspects of the pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching with practical work. In addition, the study identifies knowledge and beliefs of science classroom contextual settings as aspects of the pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching with practical work. Recommendations for practice are made.Institute for Science and Technology Education (ISTE

STEM Education Practical Work in Remote Classrooms: Prospects and Future Directions in the Post-Pandemic Era

Practical work is pivotal for the development of important skills inherent to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Through practical work, learners engage in skills that include critical thinking, problem-solving, and inquiry-based learning, which are important outcomes of STEM education. Given the rise in significance of remote learning as reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to reimagine the facilitation of practical work for learners. This paper uses the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) qualitative research design, an interpretive paradigm, and a mix of connectivism and community of inquiry (CoI) frameworks to explore the facilitation of STEM education practical work in remote classrooms. A systematic meta‑analysis of purposively selected papers using the preferred items, techniques of identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion, and published between 2017 and 2021, was conducted. The following key words were used to conduct a search using Google Scholar: STEM practical work + STEM education in remote classrooms + Practical work in remote classrooms + STEM education in online classrooms + STEM education in virtual classrooms + Virtual practical work + Teaching STEM and COVID-19 + Practical work and COVID-19. Fifty papers were identified, of which fifteen were included in the study. Thematic content analysis techniques were used to analyze the papers. Five strategies to facilitate STEM practical work in remote classrooms were identified and the findings point to the prospects and future directions of practices in facilitating practical work for learners remotely

Transition to online learning by a teacher education program with limited 4IR affordances

This study used the community of inquiry (CoI) framework and the affordances of Internet of things (IoT) to explore how the faculty of education of a rural campus of a university transitioned from face-to-face to online modes of instruction. In this qualitative interpretive study, data were collected through open-ended questionnaires from four purposely selected teacher educators and five final-year bachelor of education preservice teachers. Thematic content analysis techniques were used to analyze the data collected. The findings indicated the tensions experienced by the teacher educators as they negotiated the limited IoT affordances to ensure effective teaching, cognitive, and social presence in the newly formed online classrooms. Some of the tensions included the choices that were made on whether to use synchronous or asynchronous modes of instruction and the selection of effective communication modes. The teacher educators used a combination of the official learning management system (LMS) tools of the university and a social media platform as way of navigating the limited 4IR environments experienced by the preservice teachers

Primary Preservice Science Teachers’ Perceptions of Practical Work in Remote Learning Environments

Science practical work is renowned for providing authentic environments for science learning in ways that reduce the abstractness of concepts. Significant resources are used to provide facilities such as laboratories to ensure that practical work is implemented in science learning. Practical work is important for primary preservice science teachers, who in turn will implement the instructional strategy in their future classrooms. The rise in remote learning has prompted researchers and instructors to reimagine ways of facilitating practical work in ways that involve human-machine interactions in significant ways. This study used an interpretive paradigm and an explorative single-case-study design to explore primary preservice science teachers’ perceptions of conducting practical work in remote learning environments. A framework based on the Internet of Things- (IoT) enabled tools was used to mediate the understanding of the study findings. Data were collected from 25 preservice teachers by means of experiment reports and observation of practical work activities. The findings of the study showed that in the absence of proper systems for conducting practical work remotely and limited internet connectivity, the participating preservice teachers used internet searches to inform them of how to conduct experiments using household materials. The experiment reports comprised experiment demonstrations developed through the use of filmmaking applications, cloud computing tools, and social media collaborations. The paper makes recommendations to expand preservice teachers’ technological competencies to include the use of virtual laboratories to conduct practical work in remote learning environments

The promotion of sustainable environmental education by the Zimbabwe Ordinary level science syllabi

Chemical education provides methods and theories that enable learners to understand some environmental issues in their communities better. Following the impetus on education for sustainable development (ESD), green chemistry and the need for learners to use the local place as a springboard to learn and understand global environmental issues, this paper describes the integration of environmental chemistry in an Ordinary level physical science 5009 syllabus. Using a mixed methods approach in the form of a case study of a rural school in the Murewa district of Zimbabwe, data were collected by means of an open-ended questionnaire applied to two science teachers, lesson observations and a post-test only control group design. The findings of the study indicate that the teachers believed that place-based pedagogy involves outdoor and classroom activities such as laboratory experiments, projects, investigations and debates. The place-based activities relevant to the rural school settings were environmental issues around soil and water degradation, toxic chemicals in the environment and fuels for domestic use. The post-test demonstrated the place-based pedagogy was effective for learner achievement, problem-solving and environmental awareness. A recommendation is made for the Ordinary science syllabi to emphasise that place-based approaches to reflect in environmental education for ESD implementation as well as assessment practices

School leadership practices for science and mathematics in high-stakes testing environments: An integrated school leadership approach

High school science and mathematics achievements in high-stakes testing environments are often characterised by poor performance and reduced participation by learners. The poor performance and reduced participation by learners in science and mathematics is often on the school improvement agendas. Making sense of how to improve learner achievements in science and mathematics is a school leadership function in addition to being a function of classroom practice. This study used an integrated model of school leadership to explore how a Pretoria high school made sense of how to achieve and maintain high learner performance in science and mathematics under the pressures of high-stakes testing. The single case study was purposely selected for consistently achieving high learner performance in science and mathematics. Narratives were elicited from conveniently selected positional leaders, a science teacher and a mathematics teacher. The study highlights integrated school leadership practices for resource and material mobilisation, fit-for-purpose teacher professional development and cultivation of a school culture defined by attitudes, values and work ethics to achieve and maintain high performance is science and mathematics. A recommendation for a further study is made

Followership and sustainability of school leadership for Science and Mathematics: A distributive perspective

In leadership-followership relationships, roles are exchangeable, portraying followers as co-constructors of school leadership processes. Leadership literature largely focuses on the effectiveness of leaders and neglects the role of followership. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of followership in the construction of leadership processes for secondary school Science and Mathematics. We used a narrative inquiry in the form of a single school case study purposefully selected for being a top performing school in Physical Sciences and Mathematics. Narratives were elicited from seven participants who included positional leaders and teachers. Follower role identities and the leader-follower trade (LFT) were used as conceptual frameworks. An active follower role identity enabled teachers to co-construct and sustain leadership processes for Science and Mathematics. Significant teaching experience, subject expertise and proven records of good results in learner attainments activated the identity. The teachers co-constructed and sustained leadership processes for Science and Mathematics through participative leadership, continuous teacher learning and classroom practice

Inquiry opportunities presented by practical work in school physical sciences. A South African case study

Inquiry underlies most science curriculums. There is a widespread belief that inquiry is a both 21st century skill and a vehicle to develop other 21st century skills in learners. Engaging learners in science process skills helps them to engage in inquiry through practical work. The result of integrating inquiry and practical work is a strategy called inquiry-based practical work. While this strategy is embodied in current science curriculums, it is often not easy to implement in science classrooms. This study explored inquiry opportunities presented to learners through practical work in the context of the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) syllabus in South Africa. We regarded inquiry as a continuum with the levels of complexity defined according to learner autonomy over the science process skills, question formulation, experiment procedure design and solution finding. The variation in learner autonomy over the process skills results in four types of inquiry through practical work, which are confirmation, structured, guided and open-ended. A qualitative research approach in the form of phenomenon-based case study was used. Four research sites representing different school contexts were purposely selected. On each research site, one physical science teacher and one physical science class participated in the study. Data were generated by means of semi-structured interviews with teachers, focus-group interviews with learners and direct practical work activity observations. The study identified structured inquiry as the highest level of inquiry practised in the classrooms. However the structured inquiry was practised in four different ways depending on how learners were given autonomy over, the science process skills question posing, experiment procedure design and solution finding. The teachers ensured that the learners had autonomy over one or two but not all three of the process skills. The study recommends further studies to explore how the teachers can reduce the scaffolding for learners in order for them to engage in higher levels of inquiry such as the guided and open inquiry as part of the 21st century skills.http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_genbeh.htmlam2021Humanities Educatio

The 4IR and teacher education in South Africa:

The 4IR has become an overarching framework within which education systems, including teacher education, are operating. Contingent upon the ideology of neo-liberalism, the 4IR seeks to transform societies in ways which respond to the relentless developments in technology, the Internet and digital capacities which, by design and intent, are purposed at increasing both productivity and the associated quality while at the same time reducing human intervention in the same processes. In teacher education, how we teach and train student teachers will be substantially influenced by the imperatives of the 4IR. There are multiple unresolved questions as the 4IR takes centre stage. For example, what will it mean for teaching and learning in schools that have severe technological and digital deficits; for teachers and students who have minimal technological literacies; for delivering high-quality teaching and learning; for transforming both the content and pedagogies of teacher education and, above all, for delivering socially just educational experiences for all our learners, regardless of class, race, and privilege. The discourse of the 4IR is contemporary and requires multiple perspectives to explore what it means in different contexts and settings, the understandings it engenders in people, what it implies across a wide range of educational decision-making levels, and that its fundamental assumptions cohere with national and societal assumptions about equality, equity and social justice. Multiple methodological approaches were utilised in the interrogation of the idea of the 4IR in teacher education in South Africa, including theoretical, empirical, and small-scale case studies, amongst others. The data these approaches provide are equally valued based on the purposes for which they have been derived

The 4IR and teacher education in South Africa:

The 4IR has become an overarching framework within which education systems, including teacher education, are operating. Contingent upon the ideology of neo-liberalism, the 4IR seeks to transform societies in ways which respond to the relentless developments in technology, the Internet and digital capacities which, by design and intent, are purposed at increasing both productivity and the associated quality while at the same time reducing human intervention in the same processes. In teacher education, how we teach and train student teachers will be substantially influenced by the imperatives of the 4IR. There are multiple unresolved questions as the 4IR takes centre stage. For example, what will it mean for teaching and learning in schools that have severe technological and digital deficits; for teachers and students who have minimal technological literacies; for delivering high-quality teaching and learning; for transforming both the content and pedagogies of teacher education and, above all, for delivering socially just educational experiences for all our learners, regardless of class, race, and privilege. The discourse of the 4IR is contemporary and requires multiple perspectives to explore what it means in different contexts and settings, the understandings it engenders in people, what it implies across a wide range of educational decision-making levels, and that its fundamental assumptions cohere with national and societal assumptions about equality, equity and social justice. Multiple methodological approaches were utilised in the interrogation of the idea of the 4IR in teacher education in South Africa, including theoretical, empirical, and small-scale case studies, amongst others. The data these approaches provide are equally valued based on the purposes for which they have been derived