Student Number : 0107553H -
MSc research report -
School of Science Education -
Faculty of Science / One of the most important challenges of the secondary school science teacher is to help
learners to obtain, analyze and evaluate evidence using experimental and investigative
methods. The understanding and application of concepts of evidence play a central role in
setting up valid experiment and is usually ignored in the secondary school science
curriculum. Recognizing the significance and value of an understanding of evidence in
developing learners’ ability to carry out appropriate experimental work in science, the
question arises of learners’ understanding of ‘concepts of evidence’ in experimental
design. In this study the researcher endeavored to answer some of the questions
concerning learners’ understanding of evidence: What understanding do learners entering
the Further Education and Training (FET) band have of the concepts of validity in
experimental design? What is the effect of an intervention on their understanding of
concepts of validity? How well do learners show their ability to apply concepts of
evidence to an assessment task?
The study investigated the ability of a sample of grade 10 Physical Science learners, in
one Gauteng Province secondary school to use and understand the concepts of evidence
before and after an intervention, and their ability apply these ideas about evidence in an
assessment sheet task. First, a survey of learners’ understanding of the concepts of
validity was conducted using a written diagnostic test, consisting of three probes that had
been previously used to diagnose learners’ understanding of validity in experimental
design. Second, an evaluation of changes in such understanding due to a specific teaching
intervention was completed using the same diagnostic test. Finally, the 2004 Grade 9
Common Tasks for Assessment (CTA) investigation task was administered to the same
subjects in order to investigate whether or not their understanding of concepts of
evidence would be apparent in this CTA investigation task.
Several key findings emerged from the data. The major findings of this study were that
the sample investigated began the study with a level of understanding equal to a group of
Foundation University students tested in a previous study and that their understanding did
not change much during the intervention. In fact, analysis of the results from the probes
in the diagnostic test revealed that learners had little problem choosing the independent variable and controlling variables. However, the findings from the probes indicated that
the intervention did not seem to have had a major effect since the difference in the
number of responses between the pre-test and post- test was relatively small. Moreover,
the results also revealed that it was possible to analyze learners’ responses using the
existing model of learners’ understanding of validity, and that the majority of learners fell
into Level C in the model which refers to the application of previous understanding in a
new situation.
The results from the CTA investigation task revealed that learners’ understanding of
concepts of evidence could be demonstrated in new science context. In fact, the results
revealed that learners showed ability to apply their understanding of concepts of evidence
in experimental design to the assessment task. Moreover, the CTA results indicated that
the understanding of identifying variables, constructing graphs; describing the
relationship between variables in a graph; formulating the investigative questions were
the most applied concepts of evidence by learners. Finally, the results of this study
highlight the need for providing secondary science learners with opportunities to practice
and develop concepts of evidence. In the light of these findings it is recommended that
children need to be explicitly taught about the purpose of science investigations and
introduced to important ideas about evidence if their ability to perform investigation tasks
is to be improved.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/1692 |
| Date | 14 November 2006 |
| Creators | Collen, Mkhomazi Khanghela |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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