A comparison of the cognitive development of outcome based versus non outcome based education: an exploration of South African learners
- Authors: Austin, Tracey-Lee
- Date: 2008-10-29T12:18:56Z
- Subjects: Competency based education , Constructivism (Education)
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:13805 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1406
- Description: D.Litt. et Phil. , Jean Piaget (1896-1980) played a major role in laying the groundwork for many of our current beliefs about cognitive development. While specific beliefs and ideas of different cultures may vary, Piaget posited that the stages of cognitive development, namely, sensori-motor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational, unfold in the same sequence at roughly the same ages, irrespective of cultural and educational background. The new political changes in South Africa have transformed the education policies from the content-orientated, rote-learning based curriculum of the past, to a skills-based, interactive learning approach called Outcomes-Based Education (OBE). OBE aims to move away from the old ¡¥tabula rasa¡¦ education policy towards a dynamic learning system that involves learners at a critical level of intelligence. OBE presents itself as compatible with developments in cognitive psychology, particularly Piaget¡¦s theory of intellectual development. With the recent change in curriculum, this research investigated whether children in South Africa have attained concrete and formal operations as OBE purports to encourage. The research takes a closer look at children¡¦s cognitive abilities as assessed by Piaget¡¦s theory of development. With reference to South African education ¡§as part of the far-reaching political, social and economic changes, aimed at an egalitarian and healthy society, the new political dispensation has replaced the previous education policy with a constructivist, Outcomes Based Educational approach.¡¨ (Skuy et al, 1999, p. 3). This study was conducted on children from grades one through to grades five, at two primary schools. One of the schools implemented OBE „b 4 years ago (experimental group), whilst the other has not as yet implemented OBE (control group). The measuring instruments consisted of Piaget¡¦s cognitive tests for assessing the concrete and formal operational stages. Piaget¡¦s tests are designed to look for a particular type of understanding/reasoning that typifies a particular developmental stage (Bybee & Sund, 1982). The tests consisted of one-to-one interviews designed to evaluate concrete, transitional and formal operational patterns of thought. Due to the relatively small sample group (ten participants per group) and the fact that the data is ordinal, the analysis was carried out using non-parametric and descriptive statistics. Thus, the results of Piaget¡¦s tests were compared to OBE related marks and academic marks using Spearman¡¦s Correlation Coefficient for ranked data, in order to better understand the nature of the relationship between OBE and cognitive development. Since the data is categorical, i.e., categorised as concrete operational and formal operational, the results of each child in the OBE school were also compared to the results of each child in the non-OBE school using the Mann-Whitney-U test (Howell, 1995) in order to determine whether there is a difference between OBE-cognitive development and Non-OBE-cognitive development. The aim of this study was to establish whether O.B.E is indeed a better approach than other methods of teaching with reference to cognitive development. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that O.B.E is not necessarily a more superior system to that of other teaching systems, and that in fact, the more traditional methods of teaching may enhance cognitive development more than O.B.E. , Dr. Alban Burke
- Full Text:
- Authors: Austin, Tracey-Lee
- Date: 2008-10-29T12:18:56Z
- Subjects: Competency based education , Constructivism (Education)
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:13805 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1406
- Description: D.Litt. et Phil. , Jean Piaget (1896-1980) played a major role in laying the groundwork for many of our current beliefs about cognitive development. While specific beliefs and ideas of different cultures may vary, Piaget posited that the stages of cognitive development, namely, sensori-motor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational, unfold in the same sequence at roughly the same ages, irrespective of cultural and educational background. The new political changes in South Africa have transformed the education policies from the content-orientated, rote-learning based curriculum of the past, to a skills-based, interactive learning approach called Outcomes-Based Education (OBE). OBE aims to move away from the old ¡¥tabula rasa¡¦ education policy towards a dynamic learning system that involves learners at a critical level of intelligence. OBE presents itself as compatible with developments in cognitive psychology, particularly Piaget¡¦s theory of intellectual development. With the recent change in curriculum, this research investigated whether children in South Africa have attained concrete and formal operations as OBE purports to encourage. The research takes a closer look at children¡¦s cognitive abilities as assessed by Piaget¡¦s theory of development. With reference to South African education ¡§as part of the far-reaching political, social and economic changes, aimed at an egalitarian and healthy society, the new political dispensation has replaced the previous education policy with a constructivist, Outcomes Based Educational approach.¡¨ (Skuy et al, 1999, p. 3). This study was conducted on children from grades one through to grades five, at two primary schools. One of the schools implemented OBE „b 4 years ago (experimental group), whilst the other has not as yet implemented OBE (control group). The measuring instruments consisted of Piaget¡¦s cognitive tests for assessing the concrete and formal operational stages. Piaget¡¦s tests are designed to look for a particular type of understanding/reasoning that typifies a particular developmental stage (Bybee & Sund, 1982). The tests consisted of one-to-one interviews designed to evaluate concrete, transitional and formal operational patterns of thought. Due to the relatively small sample group (ten participants per group) and the fact that the data is ordinal, the analysis was carried out using non-parametric and descriptive statistics. Thus, the results of Piaget¡¦s tests were compared to OBE related marks and academic marks using Spearman¡¦s Correlation Coefficient for ranked data, in order to better understand the nature of the relationship between OBE and cognitive development. Since the data is categorical, i.e., categorised as concrete operational and formal operational, the results of each child in the OBE school were also compared to the results of each child in the non-OBE school using the Mann-Whitney-U test (Howell, 1995) in order to determine whether there is a difference between OBE-cognitive development and Non-OBE-cognitive development. The aim of this study was to establish whether O.B.E is indeed a better approach than other methods of teaching with reference to cognitive development. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that O.B.E is not necessarily a more superior system to that of other teaching systems, and that in fact, the more traditional methods of teaching may enhance cognitive development more than O.B.E. , Dr. Alban Burke
- Full Text:
The relationship between outcomes based education and cognitive development : an exploration of South African learners
- Authors: Austin, Tracey-Lee
- Date: 2011-02-28T06:21:35Z
- Subjects: Competency based education , Cognition in children , Constructivism (Education)
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:7037 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3559
- Description: M.A. , Jean Piaget (1896-1980) played a major role in laying the groundwork for many of our current beliefs about cognitive development. By examining children's answers to particular questions and how they reached those answers, Piaget concluded that children's thinking was qualitatively different from adults and that it had its own special logic. Piaget was concerned with explaining the universal aspects of cognitive development rather than individual differences between people. While specific beliefs and ideas of different cultures may vary, Piaget posited that the stages of cognitive development, namely, sensori-motor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational, unfold in the same sequence at roughly the same ages, irrespective of cultural and educational background. The new political changes in South Africa have transformed the education policies from the content-orientated, rote-learning based curriculum of the past, to a skills-based, interactive learning approach called OutcomesBased Education (OBE). OBE aims to move away from the old 'tabula rasa' education policy towards a dynamic learning system that involves learners at a critical level of intelligence. OBE presents itself as compatible with developments in cognitive psychology, particularly Piaget's theory of intellectual development. The aim of this study was to explore, on a theoretical level, whether OBE is a marked improvement on the old system, particularly with regard to cognitive development, or whether the old system is equivalent to or better than OBE as a facilitator of the development of the concrete operational and formal operational stages. As this was a literature survey, an extensive theoretical analysis on Piaget's theory as well as on the premises of OBE was done, in order to determine whether there are theoretical links between OBE and Piaget's theory. Theoretical links were found between OBE and Piaget's theory, hence the pertinent and salient aspects of both Piaget's theory and the premises of OBE were reformulated in terms of the following hypotheses for the next stage of the research: • Children exposed to OBE will show an accelerated cognitive development when compared to children who have not been exposed to OBE. • There is a relationship between OBE and cognitive development. These hypotheses will have to be followed up by an empirical study where the cognitive development of learners from an OBE system will have to be compared with the cognitive development of learners from a non-OBE system. The research design of such a study will have to be such that the proposed hypotheses could be tested.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Austin, Tracey-Lee
- Date: 2011-02-28T06:21:35Z
- Subjects: Competency based education , Cognition in children , Constructivism (Education)
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:7037 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3559
- Description: M.A. , Jean Piaget (1896-1980) played a major role in laying the groundwork for many of our current beliefs about cognitive development. By examining children's answers to particular questions and how they reached those answers, Piaget concluded that children's thinking was qualitatively different from adults and that it had its own special logic. Piaget was concerned with explaining the universal aspects of cognitive development rather than individual differences between people. While specific beliefs and ideas of different cultures may vary, Piaget posited that the stages of cognitive development, namely, sensori-motor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational, unfold in the same sequence at roughly the same ages, irrespective of cultural and educational background. The new political changes in South Africa have transformed the education policies from the content-orientated, rote-learning based curriculum of the past, to a skills-based, interactive learning approach called OutcomesBased Education (OBE). OBE aims to move away from the old 'tabula rasa' education policy towards a dynamic learning system that involves learners at a critical level of intelligence. OBE presents itself as compatible with developments in cognitive psychology, particularly Piaget's theory of intellectual development. The aim of this study was to explore, on a theoretical level, whether OBE is a marked improvement on the old system, particularly with regard to cognitive development, or whether the old system is equivalent to or better than OBE as a facilitator of the development of the concrete operational and formal operational stages. As this was a literature survey, an extensive theoretical analysis on Piaget's theory as well as on the premises of OBE was done, in order to determine whether there are theoretical links between OBE and Piaget's theory. Theoretical links were found between OBE and Piaget's theory, hence the pertinent and salient aspects of both Piaget's theory and the premises of OBE were reformulated in terms of the following hypotheses for the next stage of the research: • Children exposed to OBE will show an accelerated cognitive development when compared to children who have not been exposed to OBE. • There is a relationship between OBE and cognitive development. These hypotheses will have to be followed up by an empirical study where the cognitive development of learners from an OBE system will have to be compared with the cognitive development of learners from a non-OBE system. The research design of such a study will have to be such that the proposed hypotheses could be tested.
- Full Text:
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