The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of a questionnaire adapted from Students' Motivation Towards Science Learning questionnaire developed by Tuan and colleagues, to assess motivation to learn science among Namibian Grade 12 students (N = 755). The overall reliability of the scores on the 19-item questionnaire…

This article reports on using open-response questions to reveal the level of, and change in, conceptual understanding of a small sample of Grade 11 learners of trigonometry in a South African high school. The investigation used learner response sheets in a regular classroom with the teacher as researcher. Combining the idea of concept image and…

The literature on science education reveals a worldwide decline in young people's interest in the study of sciences. This lack of interest has resulted in low enrolment rates in science-related courses at tertiary level. Researchers have suggested, among other innovations, the use of context-based teaching approaches as a way of motivating…

In Life Sciences education internationally, including South Africa, the study of animal and organ morphology has traditionally involved dissections since the early nineteenth century. The major purpose of this study was to investigate how the engagement of learners with animal organ dissections may influence the development of problem-solving…

This paper reports on an investigation of two inter-related but different matters, one of interest to science education researchers and teachers in general, and the other to those teaching about evolution. The first was motivated by the dilemma facing teachers who want to diagnose learners' prior knowledge before teaching and are concerned about…

More than a thousand Grade 10 Physical Science learners from four South African provinces participated in a study that probed their conceptions of energy. The purpose was to determine the learners' conceptual resources, i.e. their initial conceptions, and identify the potentially productive resources from which they may construct physics concepts.…