How educators interpret and integrate the assessment standards when conducting scientific investigations inthe intermediate phase

[摘要] The shortage of scientists in South Africa today can be attributed to poor teacherdevelopment especially in Natural Sciences. Educator interpretation and integration ofassessment standards when conducting scientific investigations in Natural Sciences in theIntermediate Phase, is what this study sought to explore.The National Curriculum Statement (NCS) policy outlines the seven roles to be fulfilled byeducators in the Norms and Standards for educators. However, this investigation focusedmainly on the two roles for educators:· Interpreters and designers of learning programmes and materials (LO 1: ScientificInvestigations)· Scholars, researchers and lifelong learners (DoE, 2002:3)The five schools sampled are from Mankweng area, situated in the Capricorn district inLimpopo province of South Africa. The data was qualitatively collected using the interviews,observations and document analysis as strategies. Before the investigation starts, allparticipants were told that the investigation was on how they (educators) design (plan),present and assess learners when conducting Learning Outcome 1: Scientific Investigationsand how they integrate the assessment standards. The observation and interview scheduleswere clarified during the meeting.The study revealed that most educators do not know different types of scientificinvestigations, their lessons designed showed little understanding of LO 1: ScientificInvestigations and the integration of assessment standards which are: 1. Planninginvestigation 2. Conducting scientific investigation and collecting data. 3. Evaluating dataand communicate findings. Data analysed revealed that most educators have littleunderstanding and follow a direct teaching style, and thus Construct Scientific Knowledge(LO 2). Only one educator of the 13 observed and interviewed was able to integrateassessment standards 1 and 2. There is a relationship between the level of qualification andbetter understanding of NCS implementation because the educator above is a scholar,researcher and lifelong learner.I recommend that educators teaching Natural Sciences be work shopped by knowledgeablecurriculum advisors (teacher development) on how to teach Scientific Investigations LO 1. And in addition, support should be given to educators on implementing new curricula such asNCS and CAPS ensuring that teacher development is priority. Finally, to ensure that LO 1can be effectively taught in schools, science kits should be made available to all schoolswhereas the importance of laboratories cannot be overemphasised.

[发布机构] University of Pretoria