School of Science & Mathematics Education

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Browsing by Author "Fakudze, Cynthia"

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    Effects of Dialogical Argumentation – Assessment for Learning Instructional Model on Grade 10 Learners’ Conceptions and Performance on Static Electricity
    (University of the Western Cape, 2021) Hlazo, Noluthando; Fakudze, Cynthia
    This study examined the effects of using Dialogical Argumentation and Assessment for Learning as an Instructional Method (DAAFLIM) in teaching static electricity focussing on lightning as an example of static electricity to Grade 10 learners. Three groups of learners from two township schools were used as a sample for the study. The Solomon three-group design was employed in collecting data. One class was used as the experimental group and the other two were the control groups: control 1 group and control 2 group. The study drew on theoretical frameworks associated with prior knowledge of learners such as the constructivist viewpoint. The frameworks that were applied in the analysis of the data were Toulmin’s Argumentation Pattern (TAP) and Ogunniyi’s Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT). The experimental group and control group 2 were exposed to DAAFLIM as a teaching method and AFL as the assessment strategy. The control 1 group was taught in the traditional chalk- talk method and assessment was mostly summative. The experimental and control 1 groups received pre-tests and also wrote a post-test whereas the control 2 group only wrote the post test.
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    An Evaluation of a Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project at a Western Cape University
    (University of the Western Cape, 2021) A. Anga’ama, Daniel; Fakudze, Cynthia
    This study was an evaluative case study of a Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project on the Project (SIKSP) at a Western Cape University, South Africa. It was an internal evaluation from the perspectives of the project participants, with the aim of assessing (1) the opportunities and challenges faced by the participants (in-service teachers), (2) the effectiveness of an argumentationbased strategy (DAIM) used by some of the in-service teachers to integrate science and IKS, (3) the manner in which the trained teachers actually taught using the DAIM, and (4) the impact of SIKSP on the participants’ professional development and research capacities. I used a hybridised version of Stufflebeam’s (2003) context, input, process, product (CIPP) as well as Guba and Lincoln’s (1989) Constructivist evaluation models to guide the study, within a constructivist-pragmatist paradigm. I used a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, reflective diaries, and document analyses to collate the data from 22 in-service participants, as well as from the project director. The analyses were done using mixed methods, though largely dominated by qualitative approaches. The results suggest that: through the use of multiple sources of engagement in conceptual, practical, and discursive activities, SIKSP enabled the participants to change their views about science and IKS – from a largely positivist to a more dualistic worldview that considered IKS as a source of valid knowledge in science classrooms. SIKSP activities also enabled the participants to acquire the largely student-centred, discursive, interactive DAIM approach of teaching and learning to effect an inclusive science-IK curriculum. The teachers used DAIM to teach science, mathematics as well as socio-scientific topics, each teacher applying it differently. SIKSP had many positive impacts on the participants – psychological, social, intellectual, pedagogical and professional. Through SIKSP, many participants obtained higher degrees, advanced professionally, and some have become researchers in science and IKS; with two of the postdoctoral fellows now carrying on similar research at other universities in South Africa and beyond. An unanticipated outcome of SIKSP was the creation of the African Association for the Study of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AASIKS) which is now pursuing an inclusive science-IKS vision at a much larger scale. Overall, in the view of the participants, SIKSP was very successful project, and its DAIM approach, though difficult to master, has many advantages that could be explored in-and-out of science classrooms.
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    Using Dialogical Argumentation instruction model on grade 6 learners' understanding of the cause of the phases of the moon
    (University of the Western Cape, 2017) Magaseti, Andrew Onyambu; Fakudze, Cynthia
    The aim of this study was to explore ways in which a dialogical argumentation instruction model (DAIM) could be used to assist and enhance grade 6 learners' understanding of the causes of the phases of the moon. The study was underpinned by Toulmin's 1958 Argumentation Pattern (TAP) and Ogunniyi's 2007 a & b Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT) It was a case study that was carried out in a primary school in Cape Town, South Africa and a sample of thirty - five grade six learners participated. Data were collected using multiple data collection instruments including the pre- and post-achievement tests for grade 6 on the causes of the phases of the moon, an audio-taped interview schedule, focus group interview schedule, field observation schedule and classroom observation notes, all based on grade 6 learners' conceptions of the causes of the phases of the moon. Data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings of the study were as follows: Firstly, before DAIM, grade 6 learners held conceptions that; rain, clouds, seasons, day and night, and shadows from the planets, the stars and the sun were the causes of the phases of the moon.. Some of these conceptions arose from the learners' own science viewpoints and others from their indigenous perspectives. These conceptions were all not consistent with laws and principles of science because they were not the causes of the phases of the moon. However, after DAIM, grade 6 learners held the view that the light from the sun and the revolution of the moon round the earth were the causes of the phases of the moon. This indicates that there was a shift from the learners' pre DAIM to post DAIM thinking.