Faculty of Science
School of Physics[Science Education]
0305541n
mososloaneR@science.pg.wist.ac.za / This research report is based on a study that investigated South African Grade-10
learners’ conceptions about day and night, and the seasons, after instruction in these
topics. The study was motivated by examiners’ reports that learners perform poorly in
physical science, and by alternative conceptions that learners have about scientific
concepts, as reported in the literature. A motive for conducting the study in South Africa
is that relatively little has been published about South African learners’ conceptions about
day and night, and the seasons.
An open-ended diagnostic questionnaire was used to probe learners’ conceptions about
day and night, and the seasons. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were
checked by the researchers’ supervisor and colleagues. The questionnaire was piloted in
a secondary school in the same township as the school that was later used to collect the
main study data. Learners in the pilot study were asked to state problems encountered
while answering the questionnaire. This resulted in minor modifications on the
questionnaire.
The modified questionnaire was then administered to the main study group, and open
coding was used to analyze the results. The results show that the majority of learners
lacked scientifically acceptable conceptions about day and night, and the seasons, e.g.
they did not understand the combined rotation of the Earth about its axis, and the
revolution of the Earth about the Sun. The results also show that learners could not
properly interpret diagrams, and to effectively use diagrams to clarify their answers.
Learners lack scientifically acceptable conceptions despite detailed explanations given in
their textbooks, which imply that the books were not used effectively in the learning
process. Some recommendations made, following these results, are that learners’
attention should be drawn to rich information presented in their textbooks, and that some
3-dimensional objects should be used when teaching the topic.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/1791 |
| Date | 16 November 2006 |
| Creators | Mosoloane, Retselisitsoe |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 64154 bytes, 37897 bytes, 16401 bytes, 111384 bytes, 204975 bytes, 87743 bytes, 138911 bytes, 56201 bytes, 81946 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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