Grade 12 learners’ conceptual understanding of chemical representations
- Authors: Joseph, Aleyamma
- Date: 2012-08-27
- Subjects: Chemistry study and teaching (Secondary) , Chemistry examinations evaluation , Chemistry teachers - In-service training , Examinations - Interpretation , Grading and marking (Students)
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:3158 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/6575
- Description: M.Ed. , The education system in this country has undergone tremendous changes in the last few years with the intention of transforming it into a competent education system that can match and be equivalent to the global standards. In spite of all the changes, the underperformance of learners and schools in the National Senior Certificate examination, especially in the critical subjects such as mathematics and physical sciences is a serious challenge to all stakeholders of education. The national pass rate for physical science was 55% at national level and 64.5% at the Gauteng Provincial level in the Grade 12, 2008 national examination. The examination results published in the past three years reflects that there is no significant improvement in the performance of learners in the physical sciences examination. In view of the above it will be appropriate to explore new strategies and ways to enable learners to achieve the desired outcomes at a higher level in physical sciences. The aim of this study is to investigate the conceptual understanding of chemical representations by grade 12 learners. A quantitative research method was utilised to determine the performance of Grade 12 learners in responding to questions at the macroscopic, microscopic and symbolic levels of chemical representations. A sample of five hundred randomly selected learner scripts from the 2008 National Senior Certificate examination were used for the script analysis and data collection. A second phase of qualitative research method was used to collect and analyse data to describe how teachers facilitate learner conceptual understanding at the macroscopic, microscopic and symbolic levels of chemical representation. Three teachers from previously disadvantaged schools were selected to participate in this research study. Interviews and class observations were conducted to collect data for this phase of study. The findings indicate that the grade 12 learners have a poor conceptual understanding of macroscopic, microscopic and symbolic levels of chemical representations. This lack of understanding is reflected in their poor performance in answering questions in the NSC chemistry examination of 2008. Teachers have a limited conception of the three levels of chemical representations and they lack effective teaching strategies to facilitate the learning of concepts at the levels of chemical representations. This poor facilitation of concepts by teachers at classroom levels has a negative impact on the level of understanding by learners and hence, they perform poor in the grade 12 NSC examination. To improve the performance of grade 12 learners in the NSC examination it is recommended that the Department of Basic Education initiate in-service courses for physical sciences teachers in chemistry. This should be done with a view to developing teacher knowledge and understanding of the levels of chemical representation to enable them to more explicitly fashion strategies in facilitating the learning of concepts at these levels.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Joseph, Aleyamma
- Date: 2012-08-27
- Subjects: Chemistry study and teaching (Secondary) , Chemistry examinations evaluation , Chemistry teachers - In-service training , Examinations - Interpretation , Grading and marking (Students)
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:3158 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/6575
- Description: M.Ed. , The education system in this country has undergone tremendous changes in the last few years with the intention of transforming it into a competent education system that can match and be equivalent to the global standards. In spite of all the changes, the underperformance of learners and schools in the National Senior Certificate examination, especially in the critical subjects such as mathematics and physical sciences is a serious challenge to all stakeholders of education. The national pass rate for physical science was 55% at national level and 64.5% at the Gauteng Provincial level in the Grade 12, 2008 national examination. The examination results published in the past three years reflects that there is no significant improvement in the performance of learners in the physical sciences examination. In view of the above it will be appropriate to explore new strategies and ways to enable learners to achieve the desired outcomes at a higher level in physical sciences. The aim of this study is to investigate the conceptual understanding of chemical representations by grade 12 learners. A quantitative research method was utilised to determine the performance of Grade 12 learners in responding to questions at the macroscopic, microscopic and symbolic levels of chemical representations. A sample of five hundred randomly selected learner scripts from the 2008 National Senior Certificate examination were used for the script analysis and data collection. A second phase of qualitative research method was used to collect and analyse data to describe how teachers facilitate learner conceptual understanding at the macroscopic, microscopic and symbolic levels of chemical representation. Three teachers from previously disadvantaged schools were selected to participate in this research study. Interviews and class observations were conducted to collect data for this phase of study. The findings indicate that the grade 12 learners have a poor conceptual understanding of macroscopic, microscopic and symbolic levels of chemical representations. This lack of understanding is reflected in their poor performance in answering questions in the NSC chemistry examination of 2008. Teachers have a limited conception of the three levels of chemical representations and they lack effective teaching strategies to facilitate the learning of concepts at the levels of chemical representations. This poor facilitation of concepts by teachers at classroom levels has a negative impact on the level of understanding by learners and hence, they perform poor in the grade 12 NSC examination. To improve the performance of grade 12 learners in the NSC examination it is recommended that the Department of Basic Education initiate in-service courses for physical sciences teachers in chemistry. This should be done with a view to developing teacher knowledge and understanding of the levels of chemical representation to enable them to more explicitly fashion strategies in facilitating the learning of concepts at these levels.
- Full Text:
Student misconceptions in a high stakes grade 12 physics examination
- Authors: Van Niekerk, Celesté
- Date: 2012-08-28
- Subjects: Physics examinations evaluation , Physics study and teaching (Secondary) , Grading and marking (Students) , Constructivism (Education) , Examinations - Interpretation
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:3340 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/6740
- Description: M.Ed. , The grade 12 Physical Sciences students of 2008 were the first group of South African students to write a National Senior Certificate (NSC) on the new outcomes-based education (OBE) curriculum – the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). Society scrutinised the performance of students in this high stake examination. The outcome was disappointing: 71,3% of the students achieved a mark of less than 40%, and 45% of the group achieved a mark of less than 30%. Concern amongst the educational community, specifically the Department of Education (DOE), initiated a request for research into the possible causes of the poor performance by students in this examination. There are many factors that affect the performance of students, including the misconceptions held by students regarding subject content. This study aims to contribute knowledge about the common misconceptions held by science students regarding Physics. It also investigates the performance of students in explanation-type questions and what explanation-types reveal about student misconceptions. The research design for this study is a content analysis which was carried out qualitatively in two phases. In the primary phase, a sample of student examination scripts was analysed. During the secondary phase, interviews were conducted with grade 12 Physical Sciences students and teachers from one school. The findings of this study are that the following misconceptions are commonly held by students: • Heavier objects exert more force on lighter objects during a collision; • Total external resistance decreases when an external resistor, connected in parallel, is removed; • Energy is lost in certain situations; • A split-ring is found in an AC generator; • The voltage increases when appliances are added to a multi-plug.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Van Niekerk, Celesté
- Date: 2012-08-28
- Subjects: Physics examinations evaluation , Physics study and teaching (Secondary) , Grading and marking (Students) , Constructivism (Education) , Examinations - Interpretation
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:3340 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/6740
- Description: M.Ed. , The grade 12 Physical Sciences students of 2008 were the first group of South African students to write a National Senior Certificate (NSC) on the new outcomes-based education (OBE) curriculum – the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). Society scrutinised the performance of students in this high stake examination. The outcome was disappointing: 71,3% of the students achieved a mark of less than 40%, and 45% of the group achieved a mark of less than 30%. Concern amongst the educational community, specifically the Department of Education (DOE), initiated a request for research into the possible causes of the poor performance by students in this examination. There are many factors that affect the performance of students, including the misconceptions held by students regarding subject content. This study aims to contribute knowledge about the common misconceptions held by science students regarding Physics. It also investigates the performance of students in explanation-type questions and what explanation-types reveal about student misconceptions. The research design for this study is a content analysis which was carried out qualitatively in two phases. In the primary phase, a sample of student examination scripts was analysed. During the secondary phase, interviews were conducted with grade 12 Physical Sciences students and teachers from one school. The findings of this study are that the following misconceptions are commonly held by students: • Heavier objects exert more force on lighter objects during a collision; • Total external resistance decreases when an external resistor, connected in parallel, is removed; • Energy is lost in certain situations; • A split-ring is found in an AC generator; • The voltage increases when appliances are added to a multi-plug.
- Full Text:
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