The majority of learners perform badly at the end of the formal schooling in South Africa. This point is verified by the poor results after almost every Grade 12 Final examination. The statistics of candidates who wrote the Senior Certificate examination at the end of 1996 reflect a 53,9% pass rate and that of 1997, 47,4% (Department of Education, 1999:12). It was also mentioned that the depicted scenario prompted a national outcry from several sectors of the South African community. This study shows that the grade 12 examination results did not reflect a significant change during the years that followed 1997. The study further pinpoints Science as a learning area that learners fail alarmingly. It also goes on to isolate electricity as an area that is difficult for both the learners and the educators to understand, thereby contributing enormously towards the very high failure rate mentioned earlier. The researcher also found that literature revealed that not much in-service education and training has been done to redress the malpractices that may be the contributory factors towards the high failure rate in question. The researcher introduced the audio-tutorial self-study programme to assess its influence on the knowledge and insight of Science educators. Conclusions are made and the recommendations are drawn based on the findings of the study. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2002

The majority of learners perform badly at the end of the formal schooling in South Africa. This point is verified by the poor results after almost every Grade 12 Final examination. The statistics of candidates who wrote the Senior Certificate examination at the end of 1996 reflect a 53,9% pass rate and that of 1997, 47,4% (Department of Education, 1999:12). It was also mentioned that the depicted scenario prompted a national outcry from several sectors of the South African community. This study shows that the grade 12 examination results did not reflect a significant change during the years that followed 1997. The study further pinpoints Science as a learning area that learners fail alarmingly. It also goes on to isolate electricity as an area that is difficult for both the learners and the educators to understand, thereby contributing enormously towards the very high failure rate mentioned earlier. The researcher also found that literature revealed that not much in-service education and training has been done to redress the malpractices that may be the contributory factors towards the high failure rate in question. The researcher introduced the audio-tutorial self-study programme to assess its influence on the knowledge and insight of Science educators. Conclusions are made and the recommendations are drawn based on the findings of the study. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2002

The present investigation concerned itself with the efficiency of the audio-tutorial method of teaching biology as compared with the more conventional method usually seen in college biology, which involves the use of lectures and laboratory periods.

The present study is an introduction to the Audio-Tutorial approach to instruction for teaching Biology and associated fields and an evaluation of its use. The audio-tutorial system way introduced in the Biology class at Goulburn College of Advanced Education in Spring 1975. The 16 students who enrolled in the Introductory Biology course had no prior knowledge that a self-paced individualized method would be used. The method of course presentation was based on the audio-tutorial approach to learning introduced by Professor Postlethwait at Purdue University. The course material was divided into 10 Study Units each accompanied by a unit quiz. The text was 'Biological Sciences' by Keeton (1972). For each Study Unit a 'Student Study Guide' and an 'Exercise Notebook' were prepared by the author in advance. The Study Guide gives explicit objectives which the students have to achieve and the activities designed to achieve them. When the student has achieved the objectives, he will take a unit quiz. The instructor gives help when needed and administers and reviews each unit quiz with the students as soon as the quiz is completed. The Study Unit III entitled 'Molds, Yeasts and Mushrooms' was taught to two groups of 8 students each, chosen at random from the 16 students who enrolled in Biology course 904111, one continued using the audio-tutorial system and the other was taught by a conventional method. The instructional time was one week. The cognitive achievements of these two groups of students was compared through a pretest-post test approach. The audio-tutorial system did substantially better. Data of this experiment are discussed in the light of the present study and the findings of other workers.

The problem of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two methods of teaching beginning typewriting in the community college. The two methods are an audio-tutorial approach and the traditional textbook approach. Groups taught by the contrasting methods of instruction were compared on the basis of their production performance and their straight-copy skills after thirty-six class periods of instruction. A comparison was also made of the attrition rate of the two groups.