This study begins by analysing and exploring problems associated with (a) history teaching as part of the Human and Social Sciences learning area, (b) history teaching within an Outcomes-based approach, and (c) history teaching and racism. In an effort to provide solutions to these problems the study proceeds to propose a framework for teaching history within the Human and Social Sciences learning area, to suggest a viable Outcomes-based approach to teaching history in the context of this learning area, and an attempt is also made to provide criteria for an anti-racist approach to history teaching. Further, teaching and learning strategies of how far learners can exhibit antiracist perspectives and attitudes have been developed. Overall, the study found that an interdisciplinary approach - intended to preserve history's identity within the Human and Social Sciences learning area- is worthwhile and essential, given the rich potential of the discipline to enrich and even gain from the unique insights that other disciplines within the learning area can provide. It is evident that history, either by itself or in association with other disciplines, lends itself well to Outcomes-based Education; and that while it is important and necessary to differentiate between learning outcomes on the one hand, and aims and objectives on the other, the former and the latter two demonstrate some significant overlaps. Given the crucial importance of improving race and a range of other relations in South Africa, the findings of the study seem to prove to be a feasible and indeed critically important way in which history teaching could deal with racial and other forms of viprejudice, injustice and discrimination. This seems to be the case because the findings reveal that learners registered progress in various aspects of anti-racist history teaching. Given the gains by learners, therefore, an Outcomes-based history teaching within the Human and Social Sciences learning area would seem to be an essential approach to learning programme development in the South African system of education and training. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

This is a qualitative interpretive study undertaken through a case study design. The study was carried out to investigate the responsiveness of Social Studies teacher training curriculum towards democratic citizenship education (DCE) with two colleges of education (primary) in Botswana, and the University of Botswana. The following instruments were used as a means to gather data: individual interviews, group interviews, qualitative-questionnaire and document analysis. The participants for the study were drawn from colleges of education Social Studies lecturers and student-teachers with Social Studies as a major subject and the University of Botswana lecturers in the Faculty of Education. The study was inspired by the quest for democratisation of the school system in Botswana through a responsive curriculum. Botswana is dubbed a shining example of democracy, yet active participation of citizens in the national agenda is far to be admired. The best genesis for this enormous task is with teacher training because teachers play a pivotal role in transforming the society through the diffusion of requisite knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes. Thus, this argument positions this study to explore the responsiveness of teacher training curriculum at primary teacher training colleges towards DCE. This study was informed by the constructivist perspective on education and teaching. Constructivism is defined by Darforth and Smith (2005) as a broad set of interrelated theories that suggest that knowledge is human creation. This means that, the ideas, attitudes and practices referred to as constructivism are about how humans who learn by building knowledge cooperatively through social interaction and application of prior knowledge in a continual interpretation of ongoing experiences. Moreover, this explains that people explore events and environments, interact among themselves and confront situations and challenge they encounter. The findings of the study show that the teaching of DCE at colleges of education has not been successful as was expected. Firstly, according to the participants, the curriculum does not have adequate content on DCE. Secondly, the values of DCE which are capable of developing student-teachers to be effective citizenship education teachers are not well included in the syllabus. Thirdly, college lecturers believe in active methods of teaching for DCE but perform the opposite in their classes. Lastly, colleges have a lot of challenges that hamper effective transmission of DCE. These range from lack of appropriate educational material for DCE to college leadership that does not recognise the voices of the students in decision making. This study, however, recognises efforts made by colleges to train formidable Social Studies teachers for the transmission of DCE. The study elevates an argument that in-service teachers need support in their effort to transmit DCE to pupils in primary schools. Thus, in the light of the pervasive influence of findings from this study I recommend that policy makers and curriculum planners should consider updating lecturers about the type of Social Studies teacher they are expected to produce. Also I recommend that colleges should review their study materials to align them to the ideals of DCE, with a view to fill the gaps and deficiencies that exist in some topics. Lastly, the study concludes by raising an essential argument that with the current teacher training curriculum and classroom atmosphere in colleges of education, Botswana’s goal of training effective and functional citizenry is an illusion. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum studies)

Thesis (MEd (Curriculum Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The numerous changes to the South African education system since January 1998 have had far reaching effects on schools and the training of educators (Government Gazette, 31 May 2002:13). Changes in subject content have occurred in various subjects, and the General Science (now Natural Science) syllabus is no exception. The General Science syllabus previously catered mainly for Chemistry, Physics and Biology, but the Curriculum 2005 (C2005) Natural Science syllabus includes subject matter on Physical Geography (Climatology, Astronomy, and Geomorphology) (Department of Education, 2002b:6). The problem with this is that educators that previously taught General Science are not necessarily qualified to present the Physical Geography component of the new syllabus. This study investigates the impact of the changes in the new curriculum. The review of existing literature on curriculum development in Natural Science education in South Africa emphasises key changes made in the development and implementation of C2005 and the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS). It also explores the characteristic features of misconceptions, before considering specific misconceptions in Natural Sciences. The first part of the two-tiered empirical investigation is based on the results of questionnaires and interviews completed by different groups of Natural Sciences educators. The questionnaires, which drew in part on existing questionnaires used in similar studies, were based on information used for the literature review. The second part of the empirical investigation consisted of interviews conducted with Natural Sciences Departmental Heads at randomly selected schools. An attempt was made to determine how these senior educators experienced the implementation of C2005 and RNCS and what their attitude to the new curriculum were. The data obtained from the questionnaires and the subsequent interviews were categorised, interpreted and coded for statistical processing.

Not only is Quantum Mechanics (QM) conceptually rich, it is also a theory that physics students have found abstract and technically formidable. Nevertheless, compared to other classical topics of physics, university students’ understanding of QM has received minimal attention in the physics education literature. The principal purpose of this study was to characterize the variation in the ways that undergraduate physics students depict the basic concepts of QM and to extrapolate the results to scaffold possible changes to instructional practices at the university that provided the context for the study. In so doing, an adaptation of a developmental phenomenographic perspective was chosen. Empirically, the study was approached through in-depth interviews with 35 physics students from two Ethiopian governmental universities after they had been exposed to the traditional QM course for one-third of a semester. Interview responses were analyzed using phenomenographic approach where a picture of students’ depictions was established for each quantum concept by expounding the given responses. For each basic quantum concept addressed, the structure of the description categories was separately constructed, and overall, it was found that naive, quasi-classical ontology and/or variants of classical ways of visualization are dominant in students’ responses. For example, it was found that students’ depictions of the photon concept could be described with three distinct categories of description, which are (a) classical intuitive description, (b) mixed model description and (c) quasi-quantum model description. Similarly, the findings revealed that it is possible to establish three qualitatively different categories of description to picture students’ depictions of matter waves, namely, (a) classical and trajectory-based description, (b) an intricate blend of classical and quantum description and (c) incipient quantum model description. Likewise, it was found that students’ depictions of uncertainty principle can be described as: (a) uncertainty as classical ignorance, (b) uncertainty as measurement disturbance and (c) uncertainty as a quasi-quantum principle. With regard to learning QM, the categories of description made clear several issues: most students did not have enough knowledge to depict the basic concepts of QM properly; they were influenced by the perspective of classical physics and their perceptions in making explanations about QM; and they also applied mixed ideas, one based on their classical model and the other from newly introduced QM. These results are also supported by the findings of previous studies in similar domains. Findings from the study were used to guide the design of multiple representations-based instructions and interactive learning tutorials on the conceptual aspects of QM that has been shown to address specific difficulties identified in the study. Theoretical and practical implications of the study, as well as potential future considerations are drawn. / Mathematics, Science and Technology Education / D. Phil. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)

This is a qualitative interpretive study undertaken through a case study design. The study was carried out to investigate the responsiveness of Social Studies teacher training curriculum towards democratic citizenship education (DCE) with two colleges of education (primary) in Botswana, and the University of Botswana. The following instruments were used as a means to gather data: individual interviews, group interviews, qualitative-questionnaire and document analysis. The participants for the study were drawn from colleges of education Social Studies lecturers and student-teachers with Social Studies as a major subject and the University of Botswana lecturers in the Faculty of Education. The study was inspired by the quest for democratisation of the school system in Botswana through a responsive curriculum. Botswana is dubbed a shining example of democracy, yet active participation of citizens in the national agenda is far to be admired. The best genesis for this enormous task is with teacher training because teachers play a pivotal role in transforming the society through the diffusion of requisite knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes. Thus, this argument positions this study to explore the responsiveness of teacher training curriculum at primary teacher training colleges towards DCE. This study was informed by the constructivist perspective on education and teaching. Constructivism is defined by Darforth and Smith (2005) as a broad set of interrelated theories that suggest that knowledge is human creation. This means that, the ideas, attitudes and practices referred to as constructivism are about how humans who learn by building knowledge cooperatively through social interaction and application of prior knowledge in a continual interpretation of ongoing experiences. Moreover, this explains that people explore events and environments, interact among themselves and confront situations and challenge they encounter. The findings of the study show that the teaching of DCE at colleges of education has not been successful as was expected. Firstly, according to the participants, the curriculum does not have adequate content on DCE. Secondly, the values of DCE which are capable of developing student-teachers to be effective citizenship education teachers are not well included in the syllabus. Thirdly, college lecturers believe in active methods of teaching for DCE but perform the opposite in their classes. Lastly, colleges have a lot of challenges that hamper effective transmission of DCE. These range from lack of appropriate educational material for DCE to college leadership that does not recognise the voices of the students in decision making. This study, however, recognises efforts made by colleges to train formidable Social Studies teachers for the transmission of DCE. The study elevates an argument that in-service teachers need support in their effort to transmit DCE to pupils in primary schools. Thus, in the light of the pervasive influence of findings from this study I recommend that policy makers and curriculum planners should consider updating lecturers about the type of Social Studies teacher they are expected to produce. Also I recommend that colleges should review their study materials to align them to the ideals of DCE, with a view to fill the gaps and deficiencies that exist in some topics. Lastly, the study concludes by raising an essential argument that with the current teacher training curriculum and classroom atmosphere in colleges of education, Botswana’s goal of training effective and functional citizenry is an illusion. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum studies)

This study investigated the effects of incorporating English language teaching in Physical Sciences education. The sample was selected from Physical Sciences Grade 10 learners in a school in Mpumalanga Province and comprised an experimental group who were taught through a workbook that incorporated language teaching in science lessons and a control group who were taught via the normal textbook prescribed by the Department of Basic Education. Pre- and post-tests were administered to both groups and a sample of learners participated in a focus group interview. Two educators were also individually interviewed. The results revealed that incorporating language teaching in science lessons not only improves learners’ academic performance but also their comprehension skills, and encouraged the application of learner-centred methods of teaching. The study recommends that Physical Sciences textbooks include English language activities with the view of incorporating language teaching in Physical Sciences content lessons. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

The Zimbabwean Education Act of 1987 stated that English was the official language of learning and teaching (LoLT) from grade four upwards. From grade three downwards, the mother tongue was to be used. That Education Act was later amended in 2006, to extend the use of the mother tongue up to grade seven. As a college lecturer, I have observed that there is tension between policy and practice. English and indigenous languages are vying for supremacy as the LoLT from as early as the Early Childhood Development (ECD) level. For the majority of these learners, English is a second language. This research aims to investigate problems emanating from the use of English as a second language (ESL) in learning and teaching Environmental Science (ES) at primary school level. Its objectives are to investigate the usefulness of the language policy currently in use in Zimbabwe as well as to investigate empirically, how grades four to seven teachers and their pupils communicate in class during ES lessons; and identify problems resulting from the use of ESL during ES lessons at primary school level and suggest solutions to these problems. I purposively chose ES because I developed interest in that subject when I taught it at college level where I observed many students teaching it for almost three decades. Most of the pupils these students taught struggled to communicate in ESL. My research was not intended to test existing theory. Therefore I chose an inductive (qualitative) approach. I adopted the phenomenological case study in which I collected data from the natural setting, namely: three purposively selected primary schools. I did my pilot study at the fourth school. I used four methods of data collection, namely: direct observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis. The participants were grades four to seven teachers and their pupils. Findings of this study show that pupils were not willing to participate in class oral discourse. When teachers asked questions, pupils usually gave one-word answers. Teachers and pupils spoke the same first language (L1). So, when they failed to express themselves coherently in English, they code-switched to their L1. When that happened, most of the pupils were eager to talk. They gave correct responses in their L1. Group discussions were very lively when they were held in the pupils’ L1. But when teachers instructed the pupils to discuss in English, many pupils were silenced because of their limited English proficiency (LEP). It was very evident that ESL was a barrier to the learning of ES for many learners. Pupils faced conceptual and communication problems because most of them were not yet proficient enough to use ESL effectively to learn ES. Participants welcomed code-switching to L1 as a solution to their limited English proficiency. / Educational Studies / D. Phil. (Education)

The funding regimens of Higher education institutions (HEIs) present a challenge to every institution. It is expected that students who are selected to register for degrees or diplomas must be successful and obtain their qualifications in the minimum time required to ensure optimum subsidy for the institution. The throughput rates in higher education institutions remains of serious concern and emphasis on the selection criteria or prerequisites to enter a specific programme might be a possible factor in the throughput rates of students. The aim of this study was to identify and describe whether basic nursing students who passed Grade 12 Biology, currently referred to as Life Science, with at least 50% was a factor in the successful completion of the Biological and Natural Science module (BNS 100) in their first year. A quantitative research study was conducted in one government nursing college, Gauteng province in Tshwane region in South Africa. A checklist was used to collect data from the 2014 first-year student records and a questionnaire was used to collect data from the 2015 second-year students. No sampling was done since all the 2014 first-year students’ admission records were accessed for data collection and all the available second-year students of 2015 were invited to participate. The findings revealed that background knowledge of Grade 12 Life Science and English language proficiency could be associated with the academic performance in the BNS100 module of the basic nursing students. The findings might be used to make recommendations for possible prerequisites for entry into a nursing programme as well as to support students’ education and training to ensure a reduction in student attrition rates and improve the shortage of nurses. The findings motivated the researcher to recommend that the college under study, and other HIEs with similar concerns and student profiles should revise the selection and recruitment criteria for students to enter the basic nursing programme. This might contribute to selecting the correct prospective candidates who would have a better chance of completing their basic training in the four-year time as the expected period to complete the programme. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The purpose of this study was to develop a Life Sciences programme, integrating Environmental Education, on environmental endocrine disruptors, for the Further Education and Training Phase of the Outcomes Based Educational System. This programme aims at giving learners the necessary knowledge and skills to limit their exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs). The programme was evaluated by means of a quantitative study. Group-administered questionnaires were used to gather information before and after the programme had commenced. Lickert scales were used to establish the learners' knowledge, attitudes and values in connection with EDCs and the environment before and after the learners had followed the programme on EDCs. The results of the study indicated that the programme proved to be successful in increasing the knowledge of the target group in connection with EDCs. This study will contribute to the process of integrating Environmental Education in the Life Sciences curriculum. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.(Environmental Education)

This research project explores the views of secondary school Development Studies teachers on the subject in Swaziland. Development Studies as a school subject, was designed to integrate environmental education into the secondary school curricula in Swaziland. The study followed a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual grounded theory design. Face-to-face individual interviews were carried out where the respondents expressed their thoughts, concerns and feelings about Development Studies as a school subject. Eight Development Studies teachers and one curriculum designer were interviewed. Only one question, followed by relevant probes was presented to the respondents. The question asked was: What do you think of Development Studies as a school subject? This study followed Tesch's approach to data analysis. The study revealed that Development Studies teachers in Swaziland were generally not trained in environmental education. Recommendations are made. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.(Environmental Ed.)