The purpose of this study was to find out teachers' preferred teaching sequence for basic chemistry topics in Physical Science in South Africa, to obtain their reasons underpinning their preferred sequence, and to compare these sequences with the prescribed sequences in the current curriculum. The study was located within a pragmatic paradigm and…

This article presents student-teachers' perceptions of spatial 3D-descriptive geometry education in Mozambique. To interpret a 3D object through 2D projections and vice-versa requires spatial abilities that are deemed crucial for learning in any spatially dependent discipline such as 3D-descriptive geometry, engineering and technical-vocational…

In Life Sciences education internationally, including South Africa, the study of animal and organ morphology has traditionally involved dissections since the early nineteenth century. The major purpose of this study was to investigate how the engagement of learners with animal organ dissections may influence the development of problem-solving…

It is a known fact that South African learners underachieve in mathematics. One possible factor that might have an influence on their mathematics achievement is the conceptual knowledge of mathematics teachers. In order to facilitate conceptual understanding, mathematics teachers themselves must possess profound mathematical knowledge. One key…

An adequate understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) has become increasingly important for science teachers in the context of the recent curriculum revisions being implemented in Grades R-9 in South African schools. This study explored the NOS conceptions and the influence of these conceptions on the classroom practice of two groups of…

It is commonly accepted that Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) has a topic-specific nature. However, its implementation in teacher education programmes has remained generic and tacit. This paper reports on an attempt to improve the quality of PCK in chemistry pre-service teachers in a specified topic--chemical equilibrium. By locating PCK at a…

The incidence and prevalence of alternative conceptions in science have been reported by a number of researchers. This article reports findings of a study involving the development and implementation of two intervention programmes to address alternative conceptions related to interference and diffraction of waves among 133 first year university…

This paper reports a study on the use of ICT to teach parabolic functions to secondary school students. The project was informed by the need to find better ways of presenting parabolic functions to secondary school students in order to improve their learning of the concepts and improve their interest and performance in mathematics. The study was…