Successful tertiary-level education in the biological sciences is crucially important in providing a high-level work force for a number of careers. The government of South Africa has realised the strong positive correlation that exists between the availability of scientific and technical human resources, the viability of the economy, and the well-being of its people. However, despite government policies and tertiary institutions efforts in South Africa to increase enrolment and improve students’ throughput, the pass rates at first-year university level remains low, a source of concern for the government and affected institutions. The low pass rates of first-year students in the biological sciences at tertiary institutions constituted the problem which prompted the study. The aim of this study was to identify factors perceived to be essential for academic success in first-year biological sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and to investigate the effects of a computer-based programme designed to address some of the factors. The programme was developed to help students increase their awareness of appropriate attitudes, metacognitive knowledge and work-habits, all of which contribute to achieving academic success. The study had two main phases, a “diagnostic” and a “therapeutic” phase. The research methods adopted in this mixed-methods study included the use of interviews and questionnaires to elicit information from various stakeholders. In the diagnostic phase, interviews were used, first to elicit the perceptions of 10 lecturers teaching first-year biology courses, 8 Honours students, and 17 undergraduates, at the University of the Witwatersrand, about factors they believed influenced academic success. The five top-ranked factors influencing academic success identified were being motivated, using appropriate study habits, having positive attitudes to studies, asking for help and clarification, and managing time effectively. Whilst the above-mentioned were the common factors identified by the three samples, each stakeholder group made its distinctive contributions. Secondly, to obtain a wider perspective of first-year students’ views, a questionnaire focussing on attitudes, work-habits and metacognition was administered to two large groups of students (n=145; n=100) at the end of two consecutive years. In this replicate study the three top-ranked factors in both studies had to do with academic behaviours: attending all lectures; taking accurate notes; and asking for help and clarification when a topic was not understood. Eighty-three first-year students provided data on students’ changing perceptions at the beginning and end of the year. This data was used to determine if, without an intervention, a year at the university influenced students’ perceptions about appropriate factors affecting academic success. Rasch analytical techniques applied to 27 items in the questionnaire yielded 11 responses which were statistically significantly different. These responses were later addressed in the package because students needed this information from the start of their studies. During the therapeutic phase a computer-based instructional programme, Bioskills, was designed to inform student users about attitudes, behaviours and metacognitive factors the literature and stakeholders said were important for academic success. Six experts and 75 first-year students provided comments as part of a formative evaluation during its development. These were used to modify the screen design, user interface and content of the alpha version of the package. Bioskills proved very easy to use, even for first-time computer users. A case-study approach was used to explore the experiences of eight students with Bioskills, in particular its influence on their attitudes, metacognition and academic behaviours. All eight students made positive comments, saying it was relevant, informative and encouraging. Six out of the eight recommended it be used much earlier in the year, whilst two said it took too much time to work through. Without trying to imply causation the four students who used Bioskills three or four times passed the course. Students’ metacognitive gains were reported in terms of metacognitive knowledge [what students know about successful learning] and metacognitive control [the application of the knowledge]. The small sample size (n=8) made it difficult to detect trends. However, individual students mentioned new attitudes (being more determined, showing more interest in the topic and applying more positive attitudes to their studies) which they claimed they learned from using Bioskills. Attribution is traditionally explained as a search for understanding of causes. Students’ attributions on specific academic tasks are therefore important in the remediation efforts by educators. Of the 38 factors identified by the eight students, as causes for poor performance in their June examination, before they used Bioskills, almost two-thirds, when categorized using attribution dimensions, were of internal but unstable dimensions. The literature suggests it is easier to remediate causes that are internal and unstable rather than external and stable. After using Bioskills, four of the eight students who performed well at the end of a teaching block ascribed their success to the effort they had put in, whilst two of the four who did not do well, blamed external factors (the length of the test, the question structure) as contributing to their poor results. The important contribution this study made was the theoretical framework developed which expanded the existing attitude-behaviour models by adding additional constructs and showing the relationships between them. In addition, a summary of factors mentioned by the stakeholders and supplemented with views from the literature were used to propose a conceptual model of factors influencing academic success. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications of the constructs in the model for improved academic performance and as an area for further research.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Johannesburg, June 2013. / This study was motivated by the introduction of the topic of evolution in the Grade 12 Life Sciences curriculum in South African high schools in 2008. Many Life sciences teachers were concerned about their preparedness to teach evolution as this topic was new to them as well. They were worried about their ability to teach evolution as many felt that their content knowledge was inadequate to effectively teach evolution. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature and the extent of the pedagogical content knowledge of Life Sciences teachers who were going to teach evolution for the first time in South African high schools in 2008. This study used a five-category model of pedagogical content knowledge adapted from Shulman. Data were collected from two different samples from teachers who were attending workshops which were aimed at alleviating the teachers’ concerns and fears about evolution and to help them prepare to teach the topic of evolution. The first workshop was held at the end of the second school term in 2008, just a few weeks before many teachers were meant to start teaching evolution. The second workshop was held during the period when all teachers were supposed to have started teaching evolution, and that was in August 2008. The first group of teachers comprised 39 teachers who attended the evolution workshop during the SAASTE conference and the second group comprised 40 teachers attending the evolution workshop organised for NAPTOSA. The questionnaires were designed to address the five categories in the pedagogical content knowledge model used in this study. Seven activity-based questionnaires were used to gather data from two convenience samples consisting of two groups of teachers. The questionnaires investigated the nature and extent of the teachers’ knowledge of the evolution content they were supposed to teach; their knowledge of the teaching and learning difficulties regarding evolution; knowledge of the preconceptions and misconceptions associated with evolution; knowledge of appropriate methods and strategies to teach evolution and their curricular knowledge. Open-coding and frequency counting were used to analyse the data. The data revealed that the some teachers over-estimated their knowledge of the evolution subject matter, many harboured misconceptions about evolution. Further analysis of data revealed that many did not know of different approaches and strategies they could use when teaching evolution and that they did not know of the different additional resources they could use when teaching evolution. In general the teachers’ knowledge levels for teaching evolution, in all the five categories of pedagogical content knowledge was low, an indication that the teachers were ill-prepared for teaching evolution.

Senior high school students in a Human Biology course were given college level work through the Phase Achievement System (PAS), a biology course at Brigham Young University (BYU). Statistical analysis showed significant growth in high school student learning through the PAS. When ability to work with PAS was measured, significant differences between the high school and college groups were not evident. A high percentage of college and high school students dropped out of the PAS, probably becasue students could fail at the PAS without experiencing academic failure.

No description available.

M.S.

M.S.

Since 1970, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have studied the effects of a game technique called the tearns-games-tournament method on the achievement scores, attitudes, and classroom process of elementary and junior high students. Their findings raised many questions about the applicability of team-games to affect achievement at the high school level or in subject areas other than math and English. In 1980, the National Science Foundation allocated funds for the creation of TGT materials for seventh-grade science, even though research of its effectiveness for science courses had not been conducted. This study was designed to provide answers to the following questions: Would high school students playing teams-games-tournaments have greater academic achievement in a high school biology course than students in classes using traditional classroom methods? Would high school students in TGT classes have greater retention of knowledge after a delayed period of time than those students in classes using traditional classroom methods? Would high school students in TGT classes have more positive attitudes toward the subject of biology than students in classes using traditional classroom methods? Would high school students like TGT better as a means for studying chapter material than traditional methods? Eight biology classes were involved in the seven-week treatment period. Analysis of variance was used to compare control and experimental groups for (1) pre-test cognitive knowledge, (2) post-test cognitive knowledge, (3) delayed post-test cognitive knowledge, (4) pre-test attitudes towards biology, and (5) post-test attitudes towards biology. Analysis of covariance was computed using I.Q. and pre-test scores as covariates for post-test cognitive means and delayed post-test cognitive means. A dependent t-test was computed for attitudes of experimental classes towards team-games. TGT had no significant effect on the biology achievement scores or attitudes towards biology of high school students in this study. Experimental classes did like team-games and sustained their attitudes towards them for the duration of the study. / Ed. D.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of level III video disc instruction on high school biology students. There were three areas studied: students' achievement in biology, students' attitude toward biology, and confidence. The experimental group consisted of 70 biology students. The control group also consisted of 70 biology students. The teacher of the experimental group used level in video disc instruction to teach about invertebrates, vertebrates, human systems, and plants throughout the semester. The teachers of the control group taught the same topics during the same period using the traditional lecture method and without level III video disc instruction. Students took the Biology Achievement Test, the Purdue Master Attitude Scale, and the Confidence in Learning Inventory before and after the treatment period. A t-test on the pretest scores of the experimental group and the control group showed no significant difference between the two groups. The experimental group also took the Technology Preference Survey after the treatment period.