The study investigated South African Grade 10 Physical science learners’ reasoning about basic chemical phenomena at sub-microscopic level. The study adopted a non-experimental, exploratory and descriptive method and was principally guided by the ex-post facto research design using a concurrent embedded strategy of mixed qualitative and qualitative approach. A total of 280 grade 10 physical science learners in their intact classes and six of their teachers participated in the study. The 280 physical science learners comprised of 100 students from two top performing schools, 100 learners from two middle performing schools and the last 80 learners were drawn from two poor performing schools in Gauteng Department of Education’s Tshwane North District. A two-tier multiple-choice paper and pencil Test of Basic Chemistry Knowledge (TBCK) based on the three levels of chemical representation of matter was administered to the 280 physical science learners in their Grade 11 first term to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. In addition to the TBCK, focus group discussions (FGDs) with learners, teacher interviews and document analysis were used to triangulate data. The results revealed that most Grade 10 learners find it easy to identify pure elements and the solid state but find it difficult to negotiate between the three levels (macroscopic, sub-microscopic and symbolic) of chemical representation of matter. It became clear that learners experienced more difficulties in the concepts of basic solutions, acidic solutions, concentration and ionic compounds in solution. It also became apparent that some learners could not tell differences between a diatomic element and a compound indicating conceptual problems when they reason at particle level, and as a result they could not identify a mixture of elements. The results also indicated that the concepts of pure compounds and mixtures of compounds were not easy to comprehend as most learners took a pure compound for a mixture of atoms and a mixture of compounds for a mixture of elements. It is therefore concluded that learners find it difficult negotiating the three levels of chemical representation of matter. However, it is not clear whether the misconceptions the learners showed could be completely attributable to the concepts involved or the nature of the sub-microscopic models that were used in the test as it was also revealed that most teachers were not using sub-microscopic representations during instruction to enable learners to think at particle level. Furthermore, justifications to the multiple-choice tasks revealed lack of understanding of basic chemical concepts as well as language problems amongst learners as they could not clearly express their reasoning. Based on the results, some recommendations to educators, chemistry curriculum planners, teacher education and the chemistry education research field are suggested. / Science and Technology Education / D. Phil. ((Philosophy in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)

The colonial history of South Africa and its legacy of cultural and linguistic domination have resulted in a situation where the. literatures of the majority of South Africans were relegated to the margins of institutional, social and cultural life. Exclusion (of local writings) was the principal mode by which power was exercised within university English departments. It is within this context that this study posits lacunae and challenges for the reconstruction of the South African literature curriculum. Although various approaches have been used by English departments during this decade to include South African literature in the curriculum (pluralism, inter-disciplinary studies, alternate canon formation, canon rejection, eclecticism, elective programmes, etc.), the curriculum continues to repeat the established norms and values of colonial/apartheid society, it avoids confronting the ideological construction of traditional English literature and is a revamping or upgrading of the programmes offered during the colonial/apartheid era. The genealogical study uncovers the production, regulation, distribution, circulation and operation of statements, decentres discourse, and reveals how discourse is secondary to systems of power. Chapter Four explores both theoretical and methodological underpinnings for the reconstruction of the South African literature curriculum deriving from the critical educational approaches of Freire, Giroux and Apple, the discursive approach of Foucault and the post colonial reading strategies of Zavarzadeh and Morton. The teaching of South African literature would best be served by working within a critical paradigm, having as its objective the goals of critical educational studies. Chapter Four also includes a review of the curriculum in local practice through a curriculum impact study using empirical research based on the 1996 English literature syllabi of South African universities as well as the findings of the surveys conducted by Malan and Bosman in 1986 and Lindfors in 1992. Chapter Five posits recommendations for curriculum reconstruction with the main focus on the intervention of radical strategies that would lead to a new conflictual reading list. The objective is to put the canon under erasure by problematising the concept of literariness. Such an approach also reveals the power/ knowledge relations of culture, ideologies that dominate the discipline and the institutional arrangements of knowledge. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D.Ed. (Didactics)

The colonial history of South Africa and its legacy of cultural and linguistic domination have resulted in a situation where the. literatures of the majority of South Africans were relegated to the margins of institutional, social and cultural life. Exclusion (of local writings) was the principal mode by which power was exercised within university English departments. It is within this context that this study posits lacunae and challenges for the reconstruction of the South African literature curriculum. Although various approaches have been used by English departments during this decade to include South African literature in the curriculum (pluralism, inter-disciplinary studies, alternate canon formation, canon rejection, eclecticism, elective programmes, etc.), the curriculum continues to repeat the established norms and values of colonial/apartheid society, it avoids confronting the ideological construction of traditional English literature and is a revamping or upgrading of the programmes offered during the colonial/apartheid era. The genealogical study uncovers the production, regulation, distribution, circulation and operation of statements, decentres discourse, and reveals how discourse is secondary to systems of power. Chapter Four explores both theoretical and methodological underpinnings for the reconstruction of the South African literature curriculum deriving from the critical educational approaches of Freire, Giroux and Apple, the discursive approach of Foucault and the post colonial reading strategies of Zavarzadeh and Morton. The teaching of South African literature would best be served by working within a critical paradigm, having as its objective the goals of critical educational studies. Chapter Four also includes a review of the curriculum in local practice through a curriculum impact study using empirical research based on the 1996 English literature syllabi of South African universities as well as the findings of the surveys conducted by Malan and Bosman in 1986 and Lindfors in 1992. Chapter Five posits recommendations for curriculum reconstruction with the main focus on the intervention of radical strategies that would lead to a new conflictual reading list. The objective is to put the canon under erasure by problematising the concept of literariness. Such an approach also reveals the power/ knowledge relations of culture, ideologies that dominate the discipline and the institutional arrangements of knowledge. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D.Ed. (Didactics)