The performance of learners in Physical Sciences in South Africa has been very poor for a very long time because of lack of basic understanding of scientific concepts. Given this background, there is the need to conduct an educational research to find pedagogical ways to improve performance in Physical Sciences in the secondary schools. Hence, the proposed study aims to investigate the use of science resource centres and laboratories to improve Physical Sciences education in Mthatha. In the light of the literature review, a list of facts were acquired which were used to develop the questionnaire for the Physical Sciences learners and their teachers. Seven public and private high schools in Mthatha were selected for the study. Stratified simple random sampling was used to select respondents. The study followed a non-experimental quantitative design to collect data. The main instruments used were questionnaire and interview. The various responses were analysed and interpreted with the literature. It was found that, the use of science resource centre and laboratory activities, together with a more learner-centred approach to teaching would significantly improve learner performance in Physical Sciences. The necessary recommendations and suggestions were made. It is hope that these recommendations would be taken up by the appropriate bodies to ensure that the needed benefits are obtained from the science resources, and laboratories. In this way, the science and technological base of the nation as a whole is strengthened for its development. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

Poor Physical Science performance in South African schools is due to ineffective Physical Science teaching. Quality Physical Science teaching stems from quality Physical Science subject advisory services. Traditionally interventions to raise teaching standards were done by inspectors who established if schools functioned according to set rules rather that supporting teaching staff. School inspection was considered a fault finding mission with punitive objectives; hence principals and teachers were negatively disposed to it. The Department of Basic Education since has re-interpreted intervention from checking compliance to support and development of school personnel. This task is allocated to units in district offices in provincial Departments of Education and district staff members’ responsibilities are linked to responsibilities of principals and teachers. The subject advisory unit focuses on curriculum matters in each school subject; thus Physical Science subject advisors support Physical Science teachers with content, pedagogical content knowledge, assessment and Interventions for improved results. This study investigated the role of Physical Science subject advisors in enhancing the quality of Physical Science teaching. Requirements for employment of a subject advisor (qualifications, work experience, interest, attitude and competence), challenges and solutions were explored by a mixed method study. A Physical Science provincial DCES, Physical Science subject advisors, principals, Physical Science teachers in four districts and four PLC support groups were purposefully sampled to explore perceptions of the subject advisor’s role in improving Physical Science teaching. Quantitative data collected by document analysis and questionnaires and qualitative data collected by individual and focus group interviews were analysed. Findings showed that the Physical Science subject advisors possessed minimum qualifications and experience; however, the school subject (Physics and Chemistry combined) does not match the specialization in tertiary institutions (divided into Physics and Chemistry). Thus, some subject advisors may major in one of two parts. Further, certain school content is not included in the university syllabus. This may limit advisors’ content knowledge, the core of content support in Physical Science. This influences support offered to Physical Science teachers and requires advisors’ professional development which is not currently offered by the Department of Basic Education. Recommendations based on the findings include immediate and long term solutions to improve effective subject advisory. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The integration of knowledge and skills across subjects and terrains of practice is crucial for achieving applied competence as defined in the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) (Department of Education 2003:3).). Physical science underperformance has plagued out Further Education Training (FET) schools sector for some time and therefore this study which is directed at the possible causes of poor performance and to device strategies that could assist physical science teachers to teach more effectively addresses a crucial gap in the performance of the country’s education provision. Emanating from the above, this study focused on the impact of National Curriculum Statement principle in the teaching of physical science in Grades 10 to 12 around Sekhukhune district. The study looked at integration as a principle endorsed in the National Curriculum Statement and how this is implemented by teachers in the teaching of physical science in grades 10-12.A literature study on the impact of National Curriculum Statement principle in the teaching of physical science was undertaken. A qualitative approach was used to obtain data from Grades 10-12 teacher in FET around Sekhukhune district. Data were collected in the form of participant observation, semi-structured and focus group interviews. The results indicate that teaches had no clear idea of integrating the relevant concepts in the subjects they were teaching (physical science). It was also found that teachers did not receive adequate in-service training specifically targeting the principle of integration. The study recommends the professional development of physical science teachers. The study indicated that the continuum model of integration is suitable for the implementation of concepts integration. It is believed that if the continuum model of integration could be used and followed by teacher as a guiding principle in the integration process, the challenges experienced by teachers in this regard will be minimized. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

Acompanha produto: Ensino de ciências... / A Educação Ambiental é fundamental para criar um novo modelo de comportamento humano em relação ao ambiente e à natureza e a escola poderá ser o ambiente ideal para promover esta Educação. Embora muitas escolas tratem deste tema através de diversos projetos, nem sempre conseguem alcançar os objetivos pretendidos. A importância da Educação Ambiental para o desenvolvimento sustentável e o papel do engenheiro como agente transformador do meio foi determinante para que o Conselho Nacional de Educação através da resolução CNE/CES 11, de 11 de março de 2002, que institui as Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais do Curso de Graduação em Engenharia em seu Art. 6º, § 1º, incluísse a disciplina de Ciências do Ambiente no núcleo de conteúdos básicos dos cursos de Engenharia. Porém, como nos demais níveis de educação formal, nem sempre o resultado atende à proposta da disciplina e ao projeto pedagógico do curso. Com o propósito de contribuir para a mudança desta realidade, foi realizada esta pesquisa. Este estudo parte de uma pesquisa qualitativa que utilizou análise documental do projeto pedagógico do curso de bacharelado em Engenharia Elétrica na UTFPR, campus Curitiba. A análise concentrou-se nos objetivos do curso, competências, atitudes e habilidades e perfil profissional do egresso e nas ementas das disciplinas de Ciências Ambientais que compõem a grade curricular. A partir desta identificação definiram-se os assuntos propostos para a reformulação da ementa e do conteúdo programático da disciplina de Ciências do Ambiente, que constitui o objetivo desta pesquisa e o produto desta dissertação. Os dados coletados foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo com base nos seguintes aspectos: Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais do Curso de Graduação em Engenharia, A Educação Ambiental no contexto universitário e as Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Educação Ambiental – DCNEA, no ensino superior. Dentre os principais resultados deste estudo pode-se inferir que a reformulação da ementa e dos conteúdos programáticos da disciplina de Ciências do Ambiente presente na grade curricular do projeto pedagógico do curso (PPC), pode contribuir com a ambientalização curricular e com a sensibilização do futuro profissional de engenharia elétrica para a responsabilidade socioambiental. / Environmental Education is fundamental to create a new model of human behavior regarding to the environment and nature and school could be the ideal environment to promote this education. Although many schools address this issue through a variety of projects, they are not always able to achieve their intended goals. The importance of Environmental Education for sustainable development and the role of the engineer as a transforming agent of the environment was decisive for the National Education Council, through resolution CNE/CES 11 of March 11, 2002, that establishes National Curricular Guidelines for the Engineering Graduate Course in its Art. 6º, § 1º, to include the course of Environmental Sciences in the nucleus of basic contents of the engineering graduate courses. However, as in the other levels of formal education, the result does not always meet the course proposal and the pedagogical program of the course. In order to contribute to the change of this reality, this research was carried out. This study is based on a qualitative research that used a documentary analysis of the pedagogical program of the bachelor's degree course in Electrical Engineering at UTFPR, campus Curitiba. The analysis focused on the objectives of the course, competencies, attitudes and abilities and professional profile of the egress student and in the programs of the Environmental Sciences courses that compose the curricular grid. From this identification were defined the proposed subjects for the reformulation of the programs of the course of Environmental Sciences, which is the product of this dissertation. The collected data were submitted to content analysis that was based on the following aspects: National Curricular Guidelines of the Engineering Undergraduate Courses, Environmental Education inside the university context and the National Curricular Guidelines for Environmental Education - NCGEE, in higher education. Among the main results of this study it can be inferred that the reformulation of the program and the contents of the Environmental Sciences course present in the curricular grid of the pedagogical project of the course (PPC), can contribute to the curricular environmentalization and the sensitization of the future electrical engineering professional to the socioenvironmental responsibility.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Quality, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / The emergence of a highly competitive and integrated international economy, rapid technological innovation, and a growing knowledge base will continue to have a profound impact on the lives of communities. In recent years there has been an international movement towards educational reform, particularly in science education, to meet the need for a sustainable environment, economy, and society. Science education is a key element in developing scientific literacy among today’s and tomorrow’s youth. Recent decades have seen an exponential growth in scientific applications, and one would expect an accompanied increase in science interests in the classroom, as well as an increased understanding of basic science ideas and ways of thinking will follow. However, research has shown that this is not the case. In this study, the researcher, through the research methodology, took an in-depth look at whether the curriculum reform in the Life Science curriculum was forthcoming to lifelong learning. The key questions guiding this study are as follows: (a) What are the perceptions and expectations of grade 12 learners regarding the quality of the Life Sciences curriculum in respect of lifelong learning; (b) What are the perceptions and expectations of grade 12 learners regarding the their Life Sciences educators; (c) What are the perceptions of the grade 12 Life Sciences educators of the relevance of the grade 12 Life Sciences curriculum with a view to lifelong learning; (d) How does the grade 12 Life Sciences curriculum impact on lifelong learning of learners. This study falls within the realm of mixed methods study. Mixed methods encompass both a quantitative and a qualitative study. The study was conducted in the district of Pinetown because in 2013 this district produced the best results in Kwa-Zulu Natal in the National Senior Certificate Life Sciences examination. This study used simple random sampling to obtain the learner participants. The researcher conducted the study in 16 schools and 25 learners from each school were randomly selected. The educator sample comprised 75 grade 12 Life Sciences educators. The SERVQUAL questionnaire was administered to the 400 learners that were randomly selected while; the educator questionnaire was administered to the sample of 75 educators. The findings of the research revealed that educators experienced many challenges which hindered the successful implementation of the Life Sciences curriculum effectively. The quality of the Life Sciences curriculum itself did not that hinge on lifelong learning. It did not have very much relevance to the lives of the learners and as such the learners were learning about things that were abstract to them. Another finding was that educators found it challenging to relate the grade 12 Life Sciences curriculum to the everyday experiences of the learners because time was a limiting factor. The exam driven nature of Life Sciences had resulted in rote memorisation of scientific facts by the students without any or very little attention being paid to analysis and application of knowledge. The inability to evaluate the process of curriculum implementation by curriculum developers could have serious consequences for the learners and communities at large. For any qualitative change to occur in Life Sciences education, the curriculum must undergo a paradigm shift. To encourage schools and teachers to implement this paradigm shift, fundamentally there needs to be an overarching reform of teacher empowerment. In essence, what is needed from the national educational policy makers is a shift towards more evolutionary policy planning which aims to improve the fit between the intention of the curriculum and the conditions on the ground, to blend top-down policy initiative and bottom-up participation and to promote continuous interaction between all policy actors. / D

Environmental challenges facing the world currently call for efforts that can avert eminent disasters related to these challenges. In an effort to engage in conservation, the Environmental Resource Management course at Technical University offers an opportunity to train for sustainable development in the country. However, the development and implementation of courses aimed at developing careers in sustainability in institutions of higher learning are coming under scrutiny as questions are being asked about their contributions to sustainable development. This research explored the Environmental Resource Management course to understand how it was developed and implemented to address a practitioner in the environmental resources conservation sector. The study surfaced the contradictions in the course which can be used as a lens to re-orient the course to enable a practitioner in education for sustainable development to emerge. In Kenya, vocational courses in environmental education are a career choice for secondary school leavers and those engaged in the environmental conservation sector. This study carried out at Technical University of Kenya (TU-K) between January 2009 and April 2012 aimed at exploring how a diploma course: Environmental Resource Management (ERM) enabled the learners to become practitioners in environmental resource management. It surfaced contradictions and suggested transformative approaches to re-orient the course for sustainable development. This was necessitated by the paradigm shift in environmental education from environmental conservation education that emphasised ecological studies to Education for Sustainable Development that is broader and more holistic, encompassing social, economic and environmental aspects. The course has to be re-orientated to enable a practitioner in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to emerge considering the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD, 2005-2014). The course aims at training personnel for deployment in environmental conservation and management organisations to work as resource officers/supervisors in national parks, forestry management, water management, energy development projects officers, etc. Data was gathered through document analysis, questionnaires, interviews, observation and focus group discussions. Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was engaged in surfacing contradictions in the Environmental Resource Management learning system in terms of its development and implementation. While Communities of Practice (COP) principles were used as the ontological underpinning for the ERM course. The results indicate that the ERM course was revised between 1998 and 2002 by experts from Saskatchewan Institute of Science and Technology (SIAST) in collaboration with TU-K staff under the programme, enhancing environmental management in Kenya. The research also established that the ERM course review process was informed by sustainable development principles, as outlined in Agenda 21. Further it was realised that the Develop a Curriculum (DACUM) process was engaged to develop the learning units. This course development envisaged Competency Based Education (CBE) as the main mode of the ERM delivery. CBE is student centred and allows for multi-entry and exit. The study however realised that at implementation this approach was partially incorporated, as the country’s education system is examination oriented and time bound. The study findings indicate that most of the units taught were on ecosystem management with the social and economic aspects having less space and time, therefore the three pillars of Education for Sustainable Development were not adequately addressed in the course to enable a practitioner in the concept to emerge. Also teaching and learning in the course was found to be more theoretical than practical with little hands-on activities because the main focus of the course was to enable the learners to acquire a certificate through examination rather than gain the appropriate competencies. Although the course was found to be enhancing ESD in relation to global and local sustainability issues, there were contradictions or challenges in the system that affected full realisation of the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes. For example the exclusion of the recipient staff in the planning of the course, lack of training of the lecturers on how to train on CBE, insufficient practical field excursions devoid of community engagement, lack of funds, lack of equipment and poor coordination. This study recommends a re-orientation of the course to a more practical approach to teaching such as: • Engagement of students with the community to solve real-life environmental problems; • Mainstreaming ESD in all courses in the institutions of higher learning so that environmental concerns are addressed by everyone; • Reviewing the educational policy to encourage solving of real-life environmental problems rather than passing theoretical examinations; • Enhancing competency based learning to enable students to become competent in their areas of specialisation; • Encouraging networking and direct involvement of the students in the community instead of spending more time in class; and • Establishing a Community of Practice among the students in Higher Education Institutions to enhance conservation practices. The study contributes in-depth insight into exploring courses in Technical Vocational Education and Training institutions using Communities of Practice as a lens within the Kenyan context. It gives some empirical and explanatory insight into how learning can emerge and be expanded in Education for Sustainable Development through relevant courses such as tje Environmental Resource Management course. It also provides learning tools to work with contradictions that arise from socio-cultural and historical dimensions of learning about natural resources in the Kenyan context. Its other key contribution is that it provides further insight into the re-orientation of the ERM courses to embrace ESD for a broader and a more holistic approach to natural resources conservation and poverty alleviation processes that are critical for responding to socio-ecological issues and risks and development challenges in Kenya.

This thesis explains the development of a website for eighth graders about the Battle of Gettysburg. One purpose of the project is to provide several primary source documents, pictures, video from a reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg, clips from movies about the Civil War, and other material that suppport the students in their learning. The second purpose is to fulffill standard 8.10 of History-Social Science Content Standards for eight grade. This project will help students fulfill this requirement.

Learners’ Physical Science performance in South Africa has been under discussion for several years, the challenge being that it has been exacerbated by continuous changes in the curriculum. Systems that have been put in place have yielded insufficient satisfactory solutions to both underperformance in the subject and sustainable good performance. Although interventions by curriculum policymakers have been ineffective, the issue at hand remains that teachers need to implement good teaching practices in order to ensure that all learners receive quality education. Physical Science teachers are custodians of a subject that may address scarce skills in the education system, so the quality of teaching must be optimised. Teachers need to implement intervention processes put in place by other stakeholders to reduce the negative perceptions that most people have about Physical Science. This study investigates how various factors related to the quality of teachers may affect the performance of Grade 12 learners in this subject. Since past studies have presented a broad spectrum of these factors, this study has categorised them as those directly related to teaching and those indirectly related to teaching. As a basis for data collection the researcher first established the overall status of the Physical Science teachers and investigated how the factors identified affect teaching. A mixed method approach was followed, and given the breadth of the study, available raw data was collected through questionnaires, interviews and observations. Data collected on factors indirectly related to teaching showed that these factors affect factors directly related to teaching and both of them affect the performance of the teacher, and consequently those of learners. These findings revealed that the performance of Physical Science cannot be based on one factor only, but on a combination of factors that are interrelated and should be integrated for effective teaching practices. Recommendations have been made to the National and Provincial Department of Education, District offices, school management teams and Physical Science teachers to reinforce other strategies that have been in place in order to improve or sustain good performance of the subject and to close gaps that have not been identified as possible intervention strategies. They include upgrading qualifications with the current content and methodologies to match the changing curriculum, restructuring workshops so that they are informed by the teacher’s needs, stabilising the curriculum to avoid many changes in short periods of time, retraining of teachers, relevant appointment of Heads of Departments (HoDs) into subject management positions, utilisation of support groups by teachers, proper management of the subject, proper screening of Physical Science learners and provision of teaching and learning resources. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

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)

Online learning is a rapidly growing phenomenon in post-secondary education. Institutions of higher learning have embraced online learning for its perceived merits, but without the consideration of how instructors deal with this different learning medium. Little is known of the extent to which different disciplines are suited to the online medium; this is pertinent to disciplines that rely on spontaneous in-person discussion. Furthermore, as colleges continue to invest heavily in online learning, instructors who only possess face-to-face teaching experience may begin teaching online. This poses a pedagogical challenge for instructors who are unfamiliar with the medium. This qualitative, in-depth interview study with ten social science instructors elucidates the process of transition from face-to-face teaching to online teaching. Through grounded analysis, a few key themes emerged. Respondents explain that teaching in the online classroom is qualitatively different from teaching in-person. The asynchronisity of the online classroom - which means students do not "meet", discuss, or learn at the same time - is a subtle yet significant difference between the two mediums. The asynchronous classroom means instructors relinquish control of when and where students will engage in study and discussion, and this requires students to have especially high self-regulatory skills. Respondents also explained that their online courses were several times larger than their in-person ones, with some courses allowing over twice as many students as an in-person course. Consequently, instructors must find new ways to approach teaching in the online medium. This pitfall of relying on old, obsolete methods in the online medium can be avoided if instructors are provided with the peer and pedagogical support of their professional peers, and access to teaching assistants to manage the greater time commitment of teaching online. In order to have a positive experience, online teachers must be willing to take on an intellectual challenge that may defy how they perceive themselves and their role in higher education. If instructors are open to a new intellectual challenge and possess the proper resources, they will become committed to teaching online and perceive the advantages of the medium to outweigh the disadvantages.