Abstract
Abstract : This study aimed to find out how early grades learners express their thinking about some of the themes in the school science curriculum. In a cross-sectional, qualitative study, with data from Grade R and Grade 3 children at a primary school in Soweto, it was evident that the learners had not advanced in their thinking beyond naïve conceptions of vitalist biology ('living and non-living objects) and observational astronomy. The research was undertaken to fill a gap in the knowledge of local children's emergent concepts of the natural world and how these are elicited in the classroom. It is a problem space because natural science is not explicitly included in the foundation phase curriculum. It only occupies a marginal, and often 'concealed' space, within the life skills subject strand known as ‘beginning knowledge’. I argue that this exclusion, along with the absence of suitable science content teaching (and pedagogy) in initial teacher education programmes, need to be addressed in research. I argue that it is important for student teachers and teachers in practice to know as much as possible about how children see the natural world. With such knowledge, curriculum and instruction can be designed to suit the children. The study comprised two phases: interviews were conducted in informal discussion format after all the learners (n=53) had watched a series of classroom demonstrations. The second phase consisted of a smaller sample (n=20), when individual, clinical, task-based interviews were conducted about two topics, namely 'living and non-living things’, and 'earth, sun and moon'. The findings show that there is limited progression over the three-year period (from Grade R to Grade 3) of the participating children’s concept development. This study shows, also, that, although many of the participants may lack normative science concepts, they were able to reason sufficiently to understand some of the causal relationships in natural phenomena. But overall, the detailed analysis of the children's discourse and activities show that they need systematic instruction and language advancement to express their understanding. The study was conducted as an exploration of conceptual change and the work of theorists in the field, such as Susan Carey, Alison Gopnik, Elisabeth Spelke and others formed the framework of the study. Science learning and conceptual change theorising of specialists such as Stella Vosniadou and Andrea diSessa complemented the literature framework. The analysis of the video and audio data were analysed qualitatively, coding and categorising the content, and selected data for discourse analysis. The research was conducted with an interpreter who could serve as back and forth translator for isiZulu, which was utilised by children and the interviewer in code-switching...
Ph.D. (Education)