The logistics and cost of running large class tutorials to improve learning for students in high enrolment courses raise questions about whether the associated effort and cost are worthwhile. The option to replace these class activities with online homework with its promise of built-in feedback is attractive. Using an activity theory lens and an…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the nature of small group discussion tasks and learners' talk during Physical Science lessons. The study was conducted during Physical Science lessons with three self-selected groups of Grade 11 learners from one school. A total of three lessons were followed. During the…

The topic of resources for learning mathematics commonly becomes of interest during times of disruption and rapid change in education. The considerable research on undergraduate mathematics students' resource use largely focuses on learning resources in the form of material technologies and texts. Concerned that contemporary decisions about…

This study aimed at exploring the understanding of concept inventories for classroom assessment by physics tutors and pre-service teachers in selected diploma teachers' training colleges in Tanzania. The study employed a qualitative research approach and a case study design. Eight physics tutors and 20 second-year pre-service physics teachers from…

Learners in general struggle when working with word problems. South African learners in particular have an added barrier owing to the many official languages that have been legislated. The South African Department of Basic Education, through its curriculum statements, envisages that problem solving will play a fundamental part in mathematics…

The present study explores the validity of inferences that may be drawn from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) learner achievement data by measuring the South African curriculum-TIMSS alignment for the Grade 8 science assessments from 2007 to 2019. The Singapore curriculum--TIMSS alignment indices are a fair…

The aim of the study was to ascertain the expectations and perceptions of engineering graduates regarding an engineering career in the world of work, and compare them to perspectives of academic leaders of the engineering disciplines in which these graduates studied. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study firstly entailed a quantitative survey…

Education institutions globally, are increasingly driven to integrate innovative technologies in teaching spaces. While many studies have been conducted on e-learning, blended learning and m-learning, only a few studies have concentrated on the STEM preservice teachers' e-readiness for using online multimodal teaching methods in developing…

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…

This study explored the perceived benefits and challenges that Natural Sciences teachers experience when using blended teaching in Smart Schools. This qualitative research focused on public township schools with challenging socio-economic contexts in the Gauteng Province, South Africa. A non-probability purposive sampling method was followed. The…

This paper addresses the important question of the nature of the subject matter (content knowledge) that should be a base for a science teacher education curriculum. We present our argument in two parts. Firstly, we report an argument conceptualising the nature of content knowledge for science teaching that we called TerSCK. This is followed by a…

The issue of missing data raises concerns in all statistical and educational research. In this study, we focus on missing data in school-based assessment data generated by progressed high school learners (those who did not meet the promotional requirements for their current grades but were allowed to move to the next grade because of policy…

This study investigated children's knowledge of the addition of fractions with unlike denominators. It focussed on the strategies used by children to add fractions with unlike denominators. A cross-sectional survey of Grade 8 children in schools in two districts in Ghana was used. A test on the addition of fractions with unlike denominators was…

Creating awareness of environmental sustainability issues through formal education may be an effective way to help citizens deal with these issues. Teachers, however, have not been sufficiently trained on how to teach with sustainability concerns in mind. For this study, a purposively selected group of six chemistry teachers was exposed to an…

There is growing global concern concerning South African learners' mathematics achievement, with research identifying many factors contributing to poor mathematics achievement, with class size being one of them. When classrooms are overcrowded, this may lead to a stressful environment which can negatively impact the quality of teaching and…