Purpose of the study: The study explored an approach to analysing and evaluating strategies for teaching science concepts at the first-year university level based on B.O. Smith and co-workers conceptual framework of teaching. As such, the study represents an attempt to bridge the gap between a recently developed theoretical view of teaching and practical problems of classroom science teaching. A basic assumption made in the study was that teaching is a type of goal-directed activity. The major goal of science teaching was taken to be the acquisition of scientific paradigms. According to T.S. Kuhn, scientific paradigms constitute what a "scientific community thinks it knows". Since science concepts (i.e. rules governing the use of a term) are inextricably bound to scientific paradigms, the teaching of science concepts was seen as an essential aspect of science teaching strategies. It was pointed out, moreover, that teaching strategies used to teach science concepts are rarely, if ever, firmly based on systematized knowledge of teaching. Procedure: Development of the methodology was carried forward in four phases: identifying aspects of Smith and co-workers’ theoretical work potentially useful for analysing and evaluating the teaching of science concepts; characterizing records of actual teaching strategies; analyzing and evaluating actual teaching strategies for goodness-of-fit with ideal teaching strategies; and suggesting specific problems arising from the study requiring further investigation. The methodology was developed and illustrated using actual teaching strategies employed by an instructor in a first-year university physics course. The teaching strategies utilized covered a time span of eleven lectures and were directed toward an understanding of eight different science concepts. The eight concepts taught were: "Mass", "Law in Physics", "Electricity", "Electric Field", "Number of Field Lines", "Feedback", "Wave Superposition", and "Nuclear Binding Energy". Findings of the study: A general conclusion of the study was that the theoretical framework used in the study appeared to be potentially useful for analysing and evaluating certain aspects of classroom teaching. The "venture" and "move" categorizations of the framework proved tractable for analysing and evaluating actual teaching strategies performed in a lecture-type teaching situation. Difficulty, however, is likely to be encountered if the "play" categorizations; at the present stage of development, were to be included in the methodology. Classifying and organizing the information introduced by the various "moves" in a teaching strategy, in terms of the "functions to be accomplished in teaching a concept", appeared useful not only for deducing "rule-formulations" (i.e. rules governing the use of a term naming the concept) but also for evaluation purposes. In the evaluation process teaching functions which appear to be inadequately performed, because the appropriate information was not presented or because the "moves" were defective in some way, were identified. It was pointed out that suggestions for altering; a particular teaching strategy in order to include the necessary information or to modify particular "moves" would require experimental investigations into the most advantageous teaching strategy for producing specified learning outcomes for a particular group of students. The results of analysing and evaluating teaching strategies aimed at teaching concepts as illustrated in the study was seen as potentially useful information for a classroom teacher. However, it was emphasized that identifying the "intended product" of a teaching strategy (i.e. expected rule-formulations deducible from information presented in teaching a concept) is most difficult. Although the methodology developed was only applied to concept teaching it would appear to be generalizable to other kinds of teaching. Finally, four problems arising from the study and deserving further investigation were identified and described. The problems, viewed as ranging along a hypothetical-practical continuum, were: difficulties encountered in employing the "play" categorizations; a suggested expansion of the "conceptual venture" idea; devising teaching strategies for concept teaching by considering "teaching functions" in terms of the "point-at-ability" of a concept; and a suggested use of the methodology for devising a "Handbook of Teaching Strategies for Selected Science Concepts." / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

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This thesis argues that an AS model in computer science needs to be independent of a BS model because their student populations are distinct. The first two years of a BS model cannot be successfully copied in the AS environment. The AS model curriculum must begin at a different level while also providing competencies comparable to those in the first two years of a BS curriculum.Three questions had to be addressed before an AS model could be formulated. 1) What is an AS in computer science? Specific attention was given to the AA, AAS, BA and BS degrees, along with computer engineering, information systems, systems analysis and data processing majors. 2) How does the student population of the AS differ from other degrees? Compared to their BS counterpart, the AS population is weighted toward female, older, ethnicly diverse, mobile, part-time, remedial students who have additional responsibilities. 3) Lastly, is there a need for standardization? An unequivocable yes was the answer. After exploring these questions a model was presented.The proposed model attempted to address the primary goals of the educational, industrial and accreditation organizations (AACJC, ACM and CSAB). A very explicit description of the model was followed by two implementations. / Department of Computer Science

Scientific literacy has been recognized internationally for its importance as a goal of science education. Lying at the core of scientific literacy is understandings of nature of science (NOS). A desired outcome from a scientifically literate populace is – critical evaluation of reports and discussions about science in the media. It is generally assumed that an informed conception of NOS will lead to this desired outcome of scientific literacy. Yet this assumption remains untested. The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship, if any, between NOS understandings and the quality of evaluating science in the media. Sixty-four non-science majors from a local community college participated in the study. Participants were asked to evaluate on three health-related news articles reporting scientific claims by completing the Health News Evaluation Questionnaire. Their NOS understandings were assessed by the Views about Science Questionnaire. Participants were invited for a follow-up interview to further probe their NOS conceptions and quality of evaluating science news articles. The quality of evaluation, and the application and prioritization of criteria by each participant were analyzed. These were compared with the level of NOS understandings. Reasons for applying or not applying and for prioritizing or not prioritizing the NOS-related criteria were also examined in the follow-up interview. No correlation was identified between the non-science majors’ understanding on the targeted aspects of NOS and their frequency of application of these concepts in evaluating the science news except the followings where significant correlations, though weak, were identified. These include understanding of the peer view process and its frequency of application in evaluating (i) Article 2 on the effect of calorie on body weight and memory (r=0.325, p<0.05), (ii) Article 3 on cell phone controversies (r=0.326, p<0.05) and (iii) all the 3 news articles as a whole (r=0.381, p<0.05). Correlations are also identified between understanding of the peer review process and the level of sophistication with its application in the evaluation of Article 2 (r=0.345, p<0.05) and all the three articles as a whole (r=0.39, p<0.05). Another intriguing finding was that understanding of the tentative NOS was found to be correlated with the stance adopted in the evaluation of Article 3 (r=0.434, p<0.05). The poor performance of the participants in evaluating science in the media was attributed to the lack of awareness for the important role of NOS understandings, unfamiliarity with the application of NOS understandings, and compartmentalization among various NOS aspects. These were possible culprits for successful transformation of NOS understandings to critical evaluation of science in the media. Based on the findings, it is argued that NOS understandings are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for critical evaluation of science in the media. Three additional conditions are suggested: (1) awareness towards the importance and the need in making reference to NOS understandings, (2) ability to apply NOS understandings, and (3) understanding the interconnectedness among various NOS aspects would aid successful transformation of NOS understandings to critical evaluation of science in the media. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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The problem of this study was to determine the emphasis placed on various science teaching practices by a random sample of high school biology, chemistry, and physics teachers in selected Texas high schools. The subproblem was to compare the emphasis placed on the practices as reported by the high school teachers with the emphasis as recommended by national science education specialists, teachers of biology, chemistry, and physics in selected Texas colleges and universities, and teachers of professional education courses in selected Texas colleges and universities.

M.Ed. / In the light of the increasing need for tertiary education, recent technological developments, and the vast and logarithmic developments in the natural sciences, this investigation endeavors to provide guidelines for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a multimedia learning package for use in the natural sciences ...

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, June 2017 / The language issues in South Africa recently made headlines where inclusive education in respective mother tongues has been the outcry. South Africa has been a democratic state for more than 20 years and still such language inequalities are most prevalent. The issue of language redress to accommodate the country’s educational needs and demographics remains a big concern even at University levels. The focus of this study was to investigate the challenges, concerns, familiarity and understandings of the difficulties that non-technical terms presented to B.Ed. second year University students. This case study explored whether issues with non-technical terms’ science contextual meanings and familiarity in science related fields of study were still persistent at University level. The study was conducted at an English medium South African University, with student demographics coming from mostly urban settings with mixed home language backgrounds where English was highly spoken in school. The data collected in this case study was derived from University students’ responses on a questionnaire to predetermined questions that focused on non-technical terms’ meanings followed by a semi-structured group interview. The findings in the interview with participants gave an indication to their contextual familiarity and understanding of non-technical terms’ science context meanings, with the aim to improving teaching and learning of physical sciences in schools as a preparatory measure for further University studying. Similar to the findings from studies with South African teachers and Grade 12 learners’ (see Oyoo, 2016, in press; Oyoo & Semeon, 2015) which revealed that South African school learners encountered difficulties with non-technical terms presented in the science context, this study revealed that South African University students’ also experience difficulty with non-technical terms’ science context meanings. The main sources of difficulty identified in the study were attributed to the South African language and historical background which contributes to poor vocabulary. Students’ lacked the exposure, and contextual familiarity to the language that these meanings are embedded in. This led to students’ inability to differentiate between non-technical terms’ specific scientific context meaning from terms’ everyday meaning. The lowered exposure to these terms’ actual contextual use inside and outside classroom conversations is a factor that needs to be countered. Students’ acknowledged that explicit meaning of non-technical terms’ science context meanings should have been made when learning science at school. School science instruction needs to pay special attention to details on the context of the word in use as a preparatory measure for University. This claim is more on the fact that, participants acknowledged that familiarity is the major factor to their difficulty based on their different lived experiences. / LG2017

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