In South Africa, there is a strong recognition of the affordances of information and communications technology (ICT) in science teaching and learning. A key indicator for the effective use of ICT is the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) of teachers with TPACK-Practical (TPACK-P) being an important iteration related to teacher…

Teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has the potential to influence lesson planning, teaching and students' academic performance in science. Since PCK is embodied in lesson planning (as planned PCK), this study employed the multiple-case design to describe in-depth the biology teachers' profiles of planned topic-specific PCK (plTSPCK) for…

Although there is a lot of interest in the development of computational thinking (CT) and the benefits it could have for every student, integrating it into science classrooms may be more difficult than traditional teaching. This can be very challenging for South African science teachers. Thus, there is an increasing need to prepare teachers and…

The mole concept is one of the fundamental concepts in chemistry. However, a number of studies carried out in various countries have shown that teachers and learners face many difficulties in teaching and learning the concept. One of the underlying sources of teaching and learning difficulties of the mole concept identified in literature is the…

This paper reports on an investigation into management in Mathematics classrooms. Classroom management is contextualised in terms of the managerial actions required to manage classrooms effectively and the extent to which effective classroom management responds to contextual challenges. Relevant literature is reviewed, and theoretical perspectives…

This study examines the relationship between teacher quality and student achievement in Mathematics among Grade 4 pupils located in 91 urban primary schools and 181 rural primary schools in Kenya. We hypothesise that teacher quality indicators including teacher characteristics, teacher qualification comprising initial teacher education and teacher…

Learners come to class with a wealth of knowledge. Working with learner prior knowledge (LPK) is the foundation upon which new concepts get their meaning. Yet some teachers find interacting with LPK complex. Reflecting on practice, particularly within a professional learning community (PLC), has resulted in improvements in teaching. The focus of…

The South African curriculum emphasizes the teaching of problem solving in mathematics. However, little is known about South African teachers' views on the teaching of mathematical problem solving (MPS). The purpose of this study was to establish Grade 9 South African teachers' views, teaching strategies and the support required in their teaching…

This paper reports on the professional development of four mathematics teachers in South Africa. The four teachers all participated in a Mathematical Thinking course before taking an Advanced Certificate in Education in mathematics. The research, which aimed to understand these teachers' ongoing professional development, took place two years after…

Chemical equilibrium is one of the most important yet difficult topics to teach. The purpose of this study was to examine how two science teachers experienced the mediation of and how they mediated learning of this topic, chemical equilibrium, to high-achieving students. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, lesson observations and…

This paper reports on an aspect of a larger research study conceptualised within a teacher development project in Mthatha, Eastern Cape Province. The project was initiated with the objective to develop appropriate skills to use dynamic geometry software (DGS) effectively and strategically as a teaching and learning tool for mathematics. The study…

This article looks at the development of mathematisation in a primary school mathematics teacher's classroom. The teacher was a volunteer in a professional development programme that promoted didactisation principles for mathematics teacher development. At the heart of didactisation lies the principle of mathematisation. Mathematisation as a…

This article aims to investigate how science teachers engaged with the macroscopic, sub-microscopic and symbolic levels of representations in their Chemistry teaching. Data were collected in Limpopo province in South Africa from 15 "lead" teachers and this paper reports on five lessons presented by the teachers during professional…

Professional learning communities as a form of teacher development have been in existence internationally for some time now and more recently in South Africa. Although strong claims have been made for their influence on teacher practices, very few research studies have investigated these claims. This paper presents a case study that connects…

Ratio and proportion have many daily life applications and hence form an important part of the Mathematical Literacy (ML) curriculum in South African schools. The purpose of this study was to explore ML teachers' application of ratio in an assessment task with multiple measure spaces set within the real-life context of the need to establish the…