4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Life Sciences

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    Exploring the pedagogical value of ICT in life sciences teaching and learning
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Lubisi, Gift Thamsanqa; Ndlovu, Nokulunga Sithabile
    Life Sciences (LS) is a subject that is mostly based on theoretical and practical ideas that may be difficult to prove in a classroom context. It is thus not easy for some learners to grasp. This study therefore sought to explore the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by six LS teachers teaching in three grades (10, 11, and 12) in two public schools located in the Gauteng province in South Africa. It sought to investigate how ICT usage enhances learner understanding of LS concepts. A qualitative research design was used for data collection and analysis. Laurillard’s media forms helped to make sense of data from semi- structured interviews and one lesson observed for each of the six teachers. The findings revealed that all participating teachers perceived the effectiveness of ICTs as enabling learners to ‘see’ LS abstract concepts. Their use of ICTs in the classroom was confined to narrative, interactive, and communicative media forms. There is evidence that suggests that the pedagogical value of the technologies is aligned with the teachers’ perceptions as the combination of the three media forms facilitates visualization of abstract concepts— depending on how they are used. Therefore, this research recommends that the use of ICTs (in this case, the smartboards and learner laptops) be extended to the utilization of the adaptive media where learners can be exposed to simulations to help them concretize their understanding of LS. My main argument and findings are that these concepts within the framework will only be effective based on how the teacher views and applies it. I also observed that if learners have access to technologies for learning the subject, potentially better (deeper) learning will be achieved through its use. Moreover, if learners are not given opportunities to apply the learning, engage in a critical way to reveal the importance of ICTs in their lives, pedagogical efforts remain futile. Thus, pedagogical value is key in ICT integration, not only in LS but in all learning.
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    An exploration of the integration of ICT in Life Sciences lessons: A case of teachers in Merafong City
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Fenni, Sajini; Kazeni, M.
    The advancement of technology in the 21st Century has transformed educational delivery in various ways, including the use of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), to enhance the teaching and learning process. In line with this trend, the South African Gauteng Department of Education supplied schools with ICT devices for use in the teaching and learning process, with the aim of improving learner performance in subjects such as Life Sciences. To achieve this aim, teachers are required to integrate educational ICT into their lessons. Despite the provision of ICT devices, the performance of Life Sciences learners has remained poor in Merafong City high schools. The reasons for the continued poor performance of learners, despite the availability of ICT devices has been a matter of speculation. Therefore, this study explored the integration of ICT in Life Sciences lessons, in Merafong City high schools. The study employed a qualitative case study design, and six Life Sciences teachers from both township and city government high schools in Merafong City participated in the study. Data were collected using semi- structured interviews and lesson observations, and were analyzed using a thematic data analysis method. The study findings revealed that the participating teachers have positive perceptions about the integration of ICT into their lessons, and they acknowledged the positive contribution of ICT use in the teaching and learning of Life Sciences. The findings also indicated that not all the participating teachers were competent in the use of educational ICT. In addition, a number of challenges faced by Life Sciences teachers during the integration of ICT in their lessons were highlighted. The implications of the findings are discussed, and recommendations on how to improve the integration of ICT in Life Sciences lessons to mitigate the challenges faced are provided.
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    Teachers' Discourse, Language, Genetics, Life Sciences, South Africa, classrooms
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mupfawa, Shungu
    South 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.
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    Investigating the Development of Experiential Skills in Grade 11 Life Sciences
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) McPherson-Geyser, Genevieve; Kavai, Portia
    The 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.
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    An investigation of how a lecturer uses discussion to promote meaning making during the teaching of the topic of Excretion to 3rd year preservice Life Sciences teachers
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Nyaloku, Malebo; Mandikonza, Caleb
    This study seeks to investigate how a lecturer uses discussion to promote meaning making during the teaching of the topic of Excretion to 3rd year preservice Life Sciences teacher. The process of meaning making includes how people understand and make sense of the content. Qualitative research was conducted to investigate how a lecturer uses discussion to promote meaning making. In this study, I used an interview and observations of video-recorded lectures on Excretion. The participant in this study is a Life Sciences lecturer at the university of the Witwatersrand. Data analysis involved watching the video-recorded lectures, transcribing them and coding transcripts to identify how discussion was used to promote meaning making and having a semi-structured interview with the lecturer responsible for teaching Excretion to 3rd year preservice teachers. The findings from this study shows that discussion promotes meaning making when students engage with the lecturer, the teaching and learning materials and with other students, which allows them to share ideas and make meaning of the intended knowledge.