3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Outcomes-based education: how have selected teachers respondend to curriculum 2005?(2014-03-24) Williams, MeganOn the 30 July 1996, the Department of Education launched a national curriculum process. Included in this process was the establishment of an outcomes-based education (OBE) system. This research reflects how selected South African teachers responded to the implementation of an outcomes-based education curriculum, at the onset of 1998. The research also reflects the perspectives of individuals whose task it is to design the new curriculum. The research is housed in an interpretative paradigm and has a qualitative perspective to it, in that it is primarily concerned with understanding the individual teacher’s perspective and experience of outcomes-based education. The case study research method is used, with interviews and questionnaires as the data gathering methods. The research reveals teachers’ understanding of OBE, as well as their concerns and aspirations of an outcomes-based curriculum. A number of recommendations are made to aid teachers and curriculum developers during this time of curriculum change.Item Evolution of my subject matter knowledge for teaching energy resources and its uses in Grade 11 : self study.(2013-07-24) Khumalo, Maureen K.The implementation of a new curriculum is a challenging issue to educators in many countries. In this country training for an implementation of a curriculum is done in one week and it takes a form of one a size fits all. The study investigated how I transform my content knowledge when teaching a new topic in the new curriculum. The aim of this study was to carry a self- study of how I transformed my content knowledge when teaching energy resources and its uses to make it comprehensible to learners. The following research question guided the study: How did my PCK develop as I developed the broad content of the energy resources and its uses into focused, teachable and comprehensible content? How did my planning and reflecting on practice change as I participated in the process of planning, developing and implementing the lesson plans? When teachers teach, they draw upon knowledge of their subject matter, general pedagogy as well as context. This could be improved by the contribution of the concept of pedagogical content knowledge where content and pedagogy are blended. Therefore, for this study I have chosen PCK as a theoretical framework because I will be looking at how my content knowledge can be transformed into content knowledge for teaching. The study employed a qualitative research, which uses multiple realities that are socially constructed through collective and individual definitions of the situations. It is a self –study focusing on my own teaching and intending to improve my practice as a teacher. The focus is myself teaching two grade 11 classes in a township school. Khumalo M. iv Data was collected in a form of concept maps, reflective journals, lesson plan and CoRE s and PaPeRs. CoRes and PaPe-Rs were used to capture and portray my PCK. The methodological tools used to document and portray my Pedagogical Content Knowledge when teaching energy and resources, used representations called Content Representation (CoRe) and Pedagogical and Professional – experience Repertoires (PaP-eRs). The CoRe elaborated on my construction of content, which framed the topic and each Pa-PeR, was a narrative derived from the classroom observations and the journal. Findings in this study indicate that using the CoRe and PaPeR as a tool to portray PCK helps in the development of content knowledge. Some elements of PCK could be identified and the implementation of developed lessons led to insight into my teaching. Learners participated more freely and develop confidence when home language was used. I gained confidence using the CoRe to develop lessons.Item Facing the challenge of learning and teaching gold mining grade 11 in the new curriculum : a self-study.(2012-08-31) Ndhlovu, MajabulileThe South African government that was elected in 1994 made tremendous changes in the Education system. The new government came up with the new curriculum for Basic Education (grade R- 12). The new curriculum had new topics in physical science. This made me as a teacher doubt whether I would be able to teach new topics. During my time as a student, I was not taught mining at school or college. As a result, I decided to do a self study in order to investigate how I would learn gold mining as a topic in order for me to be able to teach it to my learners. My study involved studying my own teaching practice while learning and also finding out the key things that made me understand the content knowledge involved in the topic of gold mining. The self study was done in order to ensure that I understood the content knowledge and how best to teach it to the learners. I used a collaboration team, reflective journal, group interviews classroom observation and learners’ responses to collect data. The participants were my grade 11 learners and myself. My data was analysed using a PCK model, CoRes and PaPeRs. I had to learn the content knowledge and transform it to make it understandable to learners. I designed lessons using the prior knowledge of learners and integrating Physical Science and Geography. Lessons did not go as smoothly as I had expected. Learners wanted some of their existing knowledge to be included. The classroom activities depended entirely on the relationship between the teacher and learners. I carried out my study bearing in mind that implementation of the new curriculum depends not only on classroom interactions (DoE, 2002) but most importantly on the content knowledge that the teacher has and how it is transformed. Learners taught me to understand gold mining from the geographical point of view as well from the scientific point of view. From the beginning of the study they were really excited and were looking forward to new things. Using the learners’ science prior knowledge helped me design lessons that allowed me to learn to be a facilitator.