Magister Educationis - MEd (Mathematics and Science Education)
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Browsing by Author "Hartley, Shaheed"
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Item Examining the challenges experienced by teachers with the implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in Grade 10 Physical Sciences in an education district in the Eastern Cape Province(University of the Western Cape, 2019) DLOVA, NOMBULELO; Hartley, ShaheedRecently Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) were introduced in South Africa in response to confusion precipitated by previous curriculum documents. The purpose of this study is to uncover the challenges faced by teachers concerning the implementation of Grade 10 Physical science in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement and consider the nature of the transformation from the previous curriculum by examining curriculum documents and CAPS. This study is underpinned by curriculum changes and critical theory. I conducted my research study in the district of Butterworth in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa .I used qualitative and quantitative methods. The research instruments used are questionnaire and interview schedule. The research design involved fifty teachers and four school teachers for interview. The significance of this study is to ensure that all South African teachers have the necessary knowledge, values, skills and attitudes in order to understand the implementation of CAPS. The study provides a general overview on the benefit of CAPS, in Physical Science, the nature of the CAPS scheme in line with the attainment of educational assessment domains, tools and techniques used to assess educational domains, validity and reliability issues in physical science assessment, and challenges faced in the implementation process of CAPS. More specifically, an effort is made to shed some light on the challenges faced at the end of the study. Resource inputs to improve educational quality may first require some other conditions for quality education to be met, such as curriculum alignmentItem Examining the use of multiple representations to teach vectors in Grade 10 physical sciences(University of the Western Cape, 2019) Ngwane, Maxhoba; Hartley, ShaheedThe purpose of this paper was to examine the use of the multiple representation approach as a teaching strategy to improve learners understanding of vectors in Grade 10 Physical Sciences. The study also wanted to consider the MR approach through the lens of the learners. A sample consisting of 45 Grade 10 learners from a total of 160 Grade 10 Physical Sciences learners participated in the study. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed. Learners were first given a pre-test to establish their initial understanding of vectors. This pre-test was followed by an intervention in the form of a lesson. The lesson was conducted in order to expose learners to learning through Multiple Representations. A post-test was then administered to determine the impact of the intervention. To gather and quantify the learners’ perceptions on the use of Multiple Representations in teaching and learning of vectors in Grade 10 Physical Sciences learners were given questionnaires to complete. The last step was interviewing of learners to triangulate the results from the three instruments. The study found that learners were struggling with understanding of vectors in their traditional chalk-and-talk lessons and their perceptions towards vectors were negative. The study also found that Multiple Representations can improve understanding and develop positive perception of learners towards the teaching and learning of vectors. This improvement occurs only if Multiple Representations is used correctly. The study further found out that when Multiple Representations is used improperly it limits deeper understanding by learners. A number of recommendations were made out of the findings of the study. Some of them were that multiple representations should be used when teaching vectors and that subject advisers and teachers should be developed on the proper use of multiple representations. The Physical Sciences textbooks must be designed to accommodate Multiple Representations.Item A reflective study of the factors that influence learner performance in physical sciences in an education district of the Eastern Cape Province(University of the Western Cape, 2019) Ndzala, Ntsikelelo; Hartley, ShaheedThis study was conducted in three rural high schools in the province of the Eastern Cape, South Africa whose physical sciences results were not consistent. The main issue in the research was that when schools’ results improve it becomes a challenge to keep it consistent. It is therefore important to reflect and assess what were the good practices that resulted in the results improving. Practices by both teachers and learners need reflection in order to keep what works and get rid of all the bad influences that affect the achievement of physical sciences results. The physical sciences performance for the past three years (2011-2013) for the whole country (excluding 2014) had shown steady improvement, but this could not readily mean that all was well in our schools. There is more to be done because the physical sciences results are not highly rated against those of other countries. The research itself was an attempt to highlight the importance of always looking back at what has been influencing the teaching and learning in the classroom, whether good or bad results were achieved, to see what practices could still be improved, while also looking at or reflecting on the strategies used by educators in delivering the subject matter. The study used reflective practice theory which was related by several authors. The physical sciences learners and physical sciences teachers were the participants where interviews were conducted to obtain reflections by the participants. The data was collected at three different schools whose learners had passed grade 12 in physical sciences to reflect on their own experiences in the teaching and learning of physical sciences. The study identified a number of factors affecting the performance in physical sciences, particularly in the three schools sampled in the district of the Eastern Cape. The factors include the lack of resources, lack of time to complete the syllabus, exclusion of practical work, learner participation, inability of learners to explain or present what was taught in the physical science classes and teacher confidence. The study contributes to identifying the factors that contributed to the poor performance in physical sciences and demonstrates that reflection is a key strategy that teachers could employ to ensure that the teaching and learning environment receive the value-addition it deserves.