Problem-based learning (PBL) is considered to be an effective teaching and learning strategy as it leads to longer retention of concepts learnt, improves problem-solving skills and enhances critical thinking. However, teachers often find it difficult to implement as they do not receive guidance during their initial training. A professional…

It has recently been suggested that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has a concept-specific nature, beyond the topic-specific level of PCK. This paper reports a case study of three pre-service teachers' reported PCK about three fundamental concepts within the topic of electrostatics, namely electrostatic force, electric field and electric field…

This paper reports on a study conducted with Grade 11 learners as participants, in four public high schools in a rural district of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The central objective was to investigate the mathematical discourses of Grade 11 learners related to the word, algebraic and graphic representations of asymptotes of the…

There is a scarcity of studies that focus on how South African high school physical sciences teachers are grappling with chemical laboratory safety (CLS). This is despite the fact that the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements in the South African school system increased emphasis on laboratory activities in the physical sciences. Department…

Against the background of the low mathematical performance of South African learners in international panel studies, there is an urgent need to improve mathematical education. In particular, the curriculum and its structure raise questions. It is logical that the prescribed curricula should align with learners' developmental trajectories. Given…

In this paper we probe prospective mathematics teachers' thinking as displayed in their solutions to a geometry content knowledge-based task. Geometry content knowledge is examined in terms of connections made by these prospective teachers between the geometric configurations and the geometric principles established through visualization and…

Previous research on students' difficulties in learning chemical equilibrium has shown that students hold misconceptions about this topic, and this often results in unintended learning. However, recent developments in human learning from the behavioural sciences perspective indicate that students' difficulties in learning are much more than…

The Department of Basic Education in South Africa has identified factorisation as a problem area in Mathematics teaching. Learners in earlier grades are exposed to mathematical tasks, involving concepts, such as factors of integers, fractions, equivalent fractions and prime numbers, that are easier to solve when the divisibility rules are applied.…

This article reports on a study that investigated the extent to which 57 Grade 6 students at a particular school have misconceptions regarding equality, with the equal sign as focus. It also investigated this school's three Grade 5 and 6 teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching regarding equality, again focusing on the equal sign. The…

This article explores teachers' knowledge and views on the role of learners' socio-cultural background when teaching Natural Sciences to Grade 9 learners at three South African township schools. Within a socio-cultural framework, the research investigated how teachers accommodate learners' cultural norms and values, religion and beliefs,…

Students' graph comprehension may be affected by the background of the students who are the readers or interpreters of the graph, their knowledge of the context in which the graph is set, and the inferential processes required by the graph operation. This research study investigated these aspects of graph comprehension for 152 first year…

This paper explores teachers' perceptions of their learners' proficiency in statistical literacy, reasoning and thinking. Research in Statistics education has prompted a move away from the teaching of statistical skills, towards focusing on the development of statistical literacy, reasoning and thinking. The recent South African Grade 10-12…

In an exploratory study, 36 South African physical science teachers' understanding of basic concepts concerning electric and magnetic fields was studied from a perspective of possible concept confusion. Concept confusion is said to occur when features of one concept are incorrectly attributed to a different concept, in the case of this study to…

The study reported in this article sought to explore and observe how grade 9 learners solve real-wor(l)d problems (a) without real context and (b) without real meaning. Learners' abilities to make sense of the decontextualised word problems set in the real world were investigated with regard to learners' use of common sense in relation to problem…

Identifying an instructional tool for merging scientific and indigenous knowledge (IK) is problematic as there is no clear guidance on how this can be achieved. Argumentation is recommended as a possible integrative instructional theoretical methodology as it imbues notions of dialogue and persuasion, while at the same time embracing the…