Teacher's use of pedagogical link-making in the teaching of chemical change: the case of one Grade 10 physical science class in Gauteng

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how a particular teacher used pedagogical link-making in the teaching of the Grade 10 topic on the Reactions in aqueous solution under Chemical Change. The aspect to support knowledge building is one of three forms of pedagogical link-making according to Scott, Mortimer and Ametller (2011), which has roots in social constructivism. The authors assert that scientific conceptual knowledge is attainable when teachers and learners make connections between concepts in the continuing of meaning-making processes in classroom interaction. Data, for this instrumental case study were obtained at a school in Gauteng East district South Africa. The data ware in the form of video and audio recordings of four lessons, in which the teacher was teaching chemistry to a class of 24 learners (14 girls and 10 boys) aged between 15 -17 years. An analytical tool, developed by Scott, Mortimer, and Ametller (2011), was used to analyse the data for the presence of the six pedagogical link-makings to support knowledge building. The results of the study showed that the teacher used five approaches support knowledge building for meaningful learning, which were between; everyday life and scientific ways of explaining; scientific concepts; scientific explanation and real world phenomena; modes of representation and moving from one different scale and levels of explanation. From the findings of my study, I recommend that further studies that integrate all three forms of pedagogical link making approaches be conducted in similar classrooms for a more holistic understanding of teachers’ practices in teaching conceptual development through link-making.