The aim of this study was to determine whether the underachievement
of pupils in science is due to the fact that the pupils have not
reached the phase of formal thinking. The question is whether the
difference in achievement in science of pupils with the same I.Q.
can be attributed to the fact that the underachiever is on a lower
cognitive level than the better achiever.
The child in the junior secondary school phase is in or somewhere
between the phase of concrete operational thinking or phase of
formal operational thinking.
An analysis of the syllabi in the junior secondary school phase
showed that formal operational thinking is required of pupils
especially in standard 7.
In this research the population was defined as the Afrikaans-speaking pupils in the junior secondary school phase of the schools
in a big town. The experimental group consisted of pupils with
I.Q. ≥ 108 with low marks in science while the control group
consisted of pupils with I.Q. ≥ 108 who did well in science.
In this study 58 pupils were tested individually with 4 tests of
formal thinking namely the switches-test (an adaption of the
combinations of coloured and colourless chemical bodies-test),
equilibrium in the balance, flexibility of rods and the oscillation
of a pendulum.
A significant difference was found between the experimental and
control groups. (F = 28,84, p < 0,001).
This study proved the following:
(i) Gifted pupils in the junior secondary school phase with
poor marks in science haven't reached the level of
formal thinking to the same degree as gifted pupils with
good marks in science.
(ii) Gifted children in standard 6 who did well in science had
already reached a plateau with regard to the development
of formal thinking.
(iii) Pupils differ with regard to the level of cognitive
development regardless of having the same I.Q. and age.
The above conclusions have the following implications for
didactics: -
The curricula and syllabi must be combined in such a way that
formal thinking is not expected of the child before he is capable
of it.
Every teacher must try to individualize his teaching methods in
order to make provision for differences in the cognitive levels
of the pupils in his class. / Thesis (MEd)--PU vir CHO
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/10865 |
| Date | January 1976 |
| Creators | Du Plessis, Stefanus Johannes Paul |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | other |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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