The intervention programmes have a direct influence on teachers' knowledge of teaching different topics. This paper focuses on how Grade 8 natural science teachers' knowledge developed during an intervention programme. Eight schools were selected to participate, and 25 Grade 8 Natural Sciences teachers from Gauteng province participated. Data were…

Linking assessment and curriculum in science education, particularly within the topic of matter and its changes, is often taken for granted. Some of the fundamental elements of the assessment, such as the choice of wording and visual representations, as well as its relation to the curricular sequence, remain understudied. In addition, very few…

In this qualitative study, the researchers explored the ways in which 21st-century skills (specifically communication and critical thinking) are enhanced by Grade 10 beginner Physical Sciences teachers while teaching Particulate Nature of Matter (PNM) through the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL). The study was conducted in one of the…

This study aims to investigate the perspectives of primary school teachers in South Africa, who participated in a "Lesson Study" (LS) project, on this professional development process and about their professional learning. The study followed a mixed approach, with data collected through a questionnaire, followed up by interviews. A novel…

This paper focuses, empirically, on the developments seen in a group of South African early grades' mathematics teacher educators in the course of a university-provincial education department partnership project. This project sought to support the district Mathematics Subject Advisers to support, in turn, teachers to implement an intervention…

This paper explores the experiences of 37 physical science high school teachers who participated in a professional development (PD) programme coordinated by three Experimento multipliers. The Experimento programme is a Siemens Stiftung international educational programme aimed at providing didactic and methodological approaches to classroom…

This study investigated the achievement goals orientation of first year physics students at a South African university. The mixed methods design involved a quantitative survey of 291 students using an achievement goals questionnaire and individual interviews of selected participants. Results showed that the students perceived they have a stronger…

This study diagnosed the understanding about energy and biological-context energy concepts held by 90 first-year South African university biology students. In particular, students' explanations of energy in a biological context, how energy is involved in different biological situations and whether energy is present and what types of energy are…

Using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003 data, this study built mathematics achievement models of 8th graders in four countries: the USA, Russia, Singapore and South Africa. These 4 countries represent the full spectrum of mathematics achievement. In addition, they represent 4 continents, and they include 2 countries…

When the United Nations General Assembly authorized holding the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, it was hardly a secret--or even a point in dispute--that progress in implementing sustainable development had been disappointing since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. With poverty deepening and environmental…