Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37988
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Item Teachers' Discourse, Language, Genetics, Life Sciences, South Africa, classrooms(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mupfawa, ShunguSouth Africa has consistently ranked close to the bottom in international studies on the quality of mathematics and science education. This poor performance portrays a negative picture of the quality of teaching and learning science and mathematics in the country. Local reports such as the South African National Diagnostic Report on grade 12 performance attest to this as it shows that the quality of passes in life sciences at the matric level is low. As a result, fewer matriculants enrol for life sciences-related careers at higher institutions of learning. The overall quality of passes in life sciences could be aggravated by the poor performance of learners in genetics-related questions which make a substantial contribution to scores in the Life Sciences examination. Literature on the teaching and learning of genetics also points to difficulty with the teaching and learning of this topic, including the use of language by the teachers. This thesis reports on a case study in which I investigated the classroom Discourse of four life sciences teachers while teaching basic genetics to grade 12 learners. The study aimed to characterise the teachers’ Discourse during the teaching of basic genetics. In this study, my conception of Discourse was influenced by Gee’s Theory of Discourse which makes a distinction between Discourse with an upper-case ‘D’ denoting language and other factors associated with it and discourse with a lower-case ‘d’ as referring to language. Therefore, in this study, the teachers’ Discourse ‘D’ was conceptualised in terms of language ‘d’ (the language of science) and context which entailed Discourse strategies, interaction patterns, teacher Discourse moves, and multimodal representations. This study drew on literature and research from the fields of Discourse analysis, language, teacher talk, science teaching, and classroom Discourse to develop a complex picture of the classroom. A case study was conducted in three high schools in Johannesburg, South Africa. Data was collected from four teachers each of whom was observed three times, and video recorded while teaching basic genetics concepts to grade 12 learners. A follow-up interview was conducted with each teacher. These post-observation interviews together with field notes were added for data triangulation purposes. The interviews helped me to access teachers’ rationale for taking certain actions during the observed lessons. Moreover, the interviews enhanced the trustworthiness of my analysis. The lesson observation transcripts were analysed using Lemke’s Thematic Analysis merged with Mortimer and Scott’s Communicative Approaches and Discourse patterns. This study unveiled two major types of Discourse of teachers who followed an examination based approach and teachers whose Discourse followed a conceptual approach. This led to the development of a Discourse Teaching Strategy Model which portrays teachers as being either conceptually or assessment focused. My Discourse Teaching Strategy Model shows that amongst other characteristics, conceptually focused teachers used higher-order questions to build conceptual understanding and logical exposition for consolidation. Further, the model shows that logical exposition was sometimes replaced by selective summary where the teachers justified the curriculum. Teachers adopting a conceptual focused strategy used controlling pacing and marking importance as pedagogical measures and admonition for maintaining discipline. This study contributes to the effective teaching of genetics by offering the Discourse Teaching Strategy Model as a model to guide thinking about the planning and development of science teaching as well as a tool for reflection upon one’s teaching strategies. Thus, this model can be used to expand self-development or in-service development especially if one is to teach for ii conceptual understanding. Researchers can use the model as an analytical tool for identifying a particular teacher’s Discourse practices.Item Investigating the Development of Experiential Skills in Grade 11 Life Sciences(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) McPherson-Geyser, Genevieve; Kavai, PortiaThe aim of this study is to investigate the development of experiential skills in Grade 11 Life Sciences learners, and the influence of experiential skills on learner proficiency. The study seeks to gain insight into experiential skills development as a teaching approach, while aligning assessments with the needed cognitive levels for improved proficiency. South Africa’s educational system uses the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) to guide teachers in developing and assessing learners’ Life Sciences proficiency, which tests the extent to which skills and knowledge are applied successfully in assessments. Experiential skills involve a cyclic process, the stages of which are necessary to the achievement of a desired performance objective (Lalwani, 2020). However, McPherson-Geyser et al. (2020) argue that teachers’ limited knowledge of experiential skills is challenged when they are faced with the four modes of experiential skills development, namely: concrete experiences, reflective observations, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation (Kolb & Kolb, 2005). When developing experiential skills in the Life Sciences classroom, the correct tool as a guiding source is needed, and this study uses lesson plans as that tool. Competent lesson planning is vital for effective teaching and can be used to best facilitate the development of experiential skills among learners across each topic covered in the classroom (Daft & Marcic, 2014). The study reported an interconnection between the interpretivist and positivist paradigm when applied in a mixed method study containing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitative descriptive case studies were used to analyse experiential skills development lessons, which were created using the conceptual framework. Concurrently, quantitative pre, during, and post-testing—together with questionnaires completed by 66 learners—explored the extent to which the experiential skills developed influenced learner proficiency. Findings from both the quantitative and the qualitative approaches were triangulated to give an in-depth understanding of the study. The qualitative data proved that effective lesson planning by the teacher bears a significant influence on learner experiential skills development. Conversely, it can be hypothesised that the ineffective use of lesson planning can negatively influence learner experiential skills development. Therefore, understanding what aspects are needed in designing an effective experiential skills lesson shows itself to be of great importance in the process. The quantitative data findings clearly indicate that there were significant differences between the means of the pre-test and the during-test, as well as the pre-test and post-test, across the entire group of 66 learners. A significant difference was found between the answers and explanations learners gave in the pre-test, as compared to their answers and explanations in the during and post-tests, displaying different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a classification system used to distinguish levels of cognition. The participating learners also indicated that there was a significant improvement in their experiential skills, which in turn had a positive influence on their proficiency in assessments. I perceived that moving towards a more student-centred classroom assignment was most effective when it included the development of all four modes of experiential learning. Learners identified that the lessons, and the sequence in which they were taught, allowed for the development of a variety of experiential skills. In the pre-test, results showed that if learners merely complete assessments for the sake of complying with the Department of Education’s requirement, without developing the related experiential skills, there is no long-term benefit for upcoming assessments as the skill will soon be forgotten or lost. The study showed that these experiential skills can be acquired through experiential skill lesson planning. I then developed a tool to assist teachers when planning for experiential skill lessons using the given conceptual framework. If the tool is implemented and used effectively to develop experiential skills, teachers may fulfil more than the requirements in the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement of the Department of Education. This study recommends research into the use of this tool in the development of experiential skills, measuring the tool’s effectiveness both in classrooms and during assessments, and identifying any attributes and shortcomings which would influence overall learner proficiency.