3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Examining pre-service teachers' reflections on their classroom teaching in order to identify topic specific pedagogical content knowledge in their practice(2017) Van der Merwe, DeniseThe gap between theory and practice in education remains a persistent problem identified by some researchers as today’s “Achilles heel of teacher education”. The experience in science education is no different. Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has emerged as a theoretical construct that offers science education practitioners a framework to bridge the theory-practice divide because of its ability to transform content knowledge. However, little is known about how the complexity of classroom practice influences PCK acquired by pre-service teachers from structured courses. The purpose of this study was to illuminate pre-service teachers’ PCK as it develops from a point of reasoning about teaching a specific topic into classroom delivery. This study was performed as a qualitative case study of 23 final year pre-service science teachers. It was located in a methodology class that had a specific objective to develop PCK in core topics of science. The students were exposed to an explict intervention on developing PCK in teaching stochiometry then placed in various High Schools around Johannesburg during teaching experience. Data collected was largely during their placement in schools. It consisted of qualitative data such as lesson plans, audio recordings of classroom teaching and self - analysis reports submitted after the teaching experience. Analysis was based on a qualitative in-depth method for identification of evidence of teaching segments illustrating pedagogical transformation. These are segments where there is evidence of two or more topic specific components of PCK defined as Topic Specific Content Knowledge (TSPCK). These were called TSPCK episodes. The TSPCK episodes identified in lessons plans and in recorded lessons were analysed for identificaton of components present and the nature of interactions. These were turned into pictorial TSPCK MAPS. The analysis of pre-service teachers’ views on TSPCK were analysed through a combination of open statements and a science teacher belief tool. The findings indicated that TSPCK episodes identified in lessons plans experience an authentic expansion, blossoming into a cluster of episodes which still carried out the original intention. In some cases the intention could be seen through a similar TSPCK episode in some cases the component sequence and identity had changed. Furthermore, pre-service teachers showed positive awareness of their own level of teacher development and credited their development to the TSPCK framework. Recommendations in this report include promotion of the implementation of the TSPCK framework in Initial Teacher Education, particularly in the methodology courses with reference to classroom complexity.Item The relationship between second language achievement and language learning strategies in English first and second language learners(2016) Lutz, NicoletteAll learners in the current South African setting, according to the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) document and government legislation, have to learn a second language. Whilst taking this into consideration, this study aimed to look at the relationship between second language achievement and language learning strategies in English first and second language learners. The sample consisted of 128 English first and second language learners in Grade 6 and 7 from a Primary Government School in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The learners completed the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) which provided information on the language learning strategies they use most readily. The data collected from the SILL was then analysed in relation to the learners’ marks in the second language they were studying to ascertain the relationship that the strategy use may have with second language achievement. It was discovered that there were significant relationships between metacognitive, memory and affective strategy use and second language achievement. Alongside this, certain learning strategies were found to be correlated with each other and due to this relationship, may also impact on second language achievement. Given the role that language has played in South African society and the impact it has had on the schooling system, understanding what may impact on language learning may serve to enhance this setting.Item Pre-service teachers' development of topic specific PCK in kinematics and transferability of PCK competence to a new physics topic(2016-09-13) Akinyemi, Olutosin SolomonThere have been indications of inadequate content knowledge of South African physical science teachers and poor pedagogical content knowledge in making the concepts accessible to students. With this, the pre-service teachers are considered a part of the science education foremost links to schools and young science learners. Empirically, it has been reported that this unique teacher knowledge could be developed particularly in pre-service teachers in a planning context and that the new technique of developing pre-service teachers’ PCK within a topic helps in their good mastery of teaching concepts and thus making them specialists in topics. The Topic Specific PCK (TSPCK) construct focuses on the transformation of the understanding of content of a particular topic. This study investigated the extent to which focus on kinematics improves pre-service teachers’ PCK in the topic and possible transferability of the learnt pedagogical competence to a new physics topic – electric circuits. Guiding this study were two research questions: What is the impact of the intervention on the quality of pre-service teachers’ Topic Specific PCK in Kinematics? To what extent is the preservice teachers’ learnt pedagogical transformation competence transferrable to their planning of a new topic in physics topic – Electric circuits? This study used mixed methods to investigate TSPCK in pre-service teachers. It was located in the methodology class of Twenty-three (23) 4th year physical science majors. The study included an intervention where the theoretical framework for TSPCK was used to introduce the construct in Kinematics. The intervention explains each of the five components of Topic Specific PCK using the knowledge concepts of Kinematics. Data were collected using three instruments: an instrument measuring content knowledge in kinematics; an instrument measuring the quality of Topic Specific PCK in kinematics administered as a set of pre/post intervention tests; and an instrument measuring transferability of learnt competence in planning for teaching a new topic electricity. The pre-service teachers’ written responses to the TSPCK kinematics tool were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Both methods of analysis revealed that the pre-service teachers improved in their quality of TSPCK in kinematics following the intervention. It was also found out that the pre-service teachers’ improvement in the quality of TSPCK in kinematics was as result of rigorous engagement with the TSPCK components at varying degrees. Similarly, on the topic of transfer, electricity which was not discussed during the intervention, TSPCK tool in electric circuits was administered to the pre-service teachers and few records of their actual classroom teaching were analyzed. This was done to examine possible transferability of learnt pedagogical transformation competence to the new physics topic of electricity. The findings revealed that the pre-service teachers had ‘developing level’ of TSPCK in the topic of transfer similar to the finding in the topic of kinematics. The study demonstrated that focus on a single topic in a methodology course will enable transfer to another topic provided the teachers have the pre-requisite content knowledge. The findings of this study would contribute to the training of the Physical science student teachers and specifically improve their planning of other physics topics to enhance effective teaching and learning process.