Lesotho junior secondary science teachers' perceptions and use of past examination papers in teaching.
Date
2009-06-17T07:36:59Z
Authors
Majara, Sophia M.
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Abstract
Literature has shown that assessment has various purposes in education, ranging from
establishing the starting point, to monitoring and evaluation, while the role of assessment
in supporting learning is yet to be explored. In this study I explore the influence of
assessment on teaching in the Lesotho junior certificate science curriculum. I achieve this
by exploring the nature tools of summative assessment, teachers’ views on these tools
and how teachers engage the tools once they have served the summative assessment
purpose. In exploring the nature of tools of assessment I conducted a documentary
analysis of junior certificate science papers written over three years, and obtained
teachers’ views on the papers and their uses through a questionnaire and a focus group
interview. The study is predominantly qualitative and interpretive and is informed by
three theories; curriculum theory; which explains the cyclic relationship of the curriculum
elements, Bloom’s taxonomy which guides the drawing of educational objectives and
construction of tools of assessment and social theories explaining reflection on and
understanding of one’s social practices. Analysis of the past examination papers showed
that they are relatively valid for the syllabus for which they are designed, though there are
some discrepancies. Teachers find the questions in the examination papers appropriate for
use in teaching, though they need to be simplified at times. The question papers also
assess the understanding of science in the context of life around the learner. The uses to
which teachers put past examination papers range from planning to testing and the most
common uses are teaching and testing. According to the findings, past examination
papers do have an influence on what teachers select for teaching and how they approach
what they have selected. Further recommendations that I can make on the basis of this
study are; that teachers can derive themes for action research from which they can build
pedagogical content knowledge for various topics. Finally, they can also be used as a
source of a variety of tasks for learners.
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Keywords
Junior Secondary Science, Examination, Past Papers, Perceptions, Teachers, Teaching