The quality of matric results for Physical Sciences in South Africa is very poor and as a result few learners are able to meet the admission requirements to study careers related to Physical Science at tertiary institutions. The study investigated barriers to high performance of Physical Science learners at the township secondary schools in the Tshwane West District, in the Gauteng Province. Using a qualitative approach and a case study design, samples were chosen purposefully involving three secondary schools in the Tshwane West District. The schools that obtained a high pass rate in the Physical Science Grade 12 in the year 2017 were identified. Grade 11 and 12 Physical Science teachers and learners participated in this study. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews, and Physical Science lesson observation. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with four Physical Science teachers including Heads of Department (HODs) from the three selected secondary schools and 15 Physical Science learners in Grade 11 and 12. The data were analysed manually. The data were categorised according to themes, and then coded by hand and supported by the literature review. The anonymity of all participants was protected. Upon analysis of the results, some contributory barriers of high performance in Physical Science were identified from the three township schools, and these include inability to finish Grade 12 curriculum in time, parents forcing learners to do Physical Science in the senior grades (particularly in Grades 11 and 12), lack of motivation, learners with a negative attitude towards the subject, poverty, crime and dysfunctional Physical Science laboratories. Recommendations for improvement in the areas identified were provided. The Curriculum Developers of the Department of Education must review the Physical Science curriculum, particularly with the view of reducing the number of topics covered in Grades 11 and 12. Poverty and crime must be attended to as learners cannot learn when they are hungry and in an unsafe environment. It was also recommended that the Department of Education must assist in provision of resources necessary to teach Physical Science efficiently. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Science and Technology Education)

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an active teaching strategy that could be implemented in the South African educational system to assist in developing problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, collaborative skills, self-directed learning and intrinsic motivation in students. Even though it is not easy to drift from a teacher-centred strategy to a student-centred strategy, but this drift is supposed to be a paradigm drift for the nation. ‘Physics is difficult’ has been the anthem of students in South African high schools. This has led to lower pass rates in physics and as a result low physics career person in society. Physics students in high schools need to be exposed to the PBL strategy since the PBL strategy focuses on real-life problems to develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills and self-directed learning in students which are the skills needed for concept formation in Physical Science. Basically, the education of Physical Science students focused on the ability to acquire skills to solve real-life problems. This study focuses on exploring the experiences of high school physics teachers at Entsikeni cluster, South African, when implementing problem-based learning (PBL) in their physics classrooms. The study uses the mixed-method approach where three different research instruments were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data sequentially. Questionnaires, RTOP and interview protocol were employed. The findings of the study indicate that teachers project positive attitudes toward the PBL strategy but may probably not continue to use it because it requires more time than that which is allocated in the Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement (CAPS) Physical Science document and as a result may not be able to finish their ATP on time. Teachers are teaching physics with no specialization in physics, which probably could lead to poor, pass rates in Physical Science. Teachers were inexperienced in teaching physics in the FET and could probably affect students’ academic performance. It is recommended they apply the PBL strategy to correct the negative effect of their inexperience on students’ performance. It is evident that if inexperienced trained teachers apply an instructional strategy based on research, they tend to develop students' performance as compared to applying the traditional instructional strategy. / Science and Technology Education / M. Sc. (Physics Education)