Student teachers' views: what is an interesting life sciences curriculum?
In South Africa, the Grade 12 'classes of 2008 and 2009' were the first to write examinations under the revised Life Sciences (Biology) curriculum which focuses on outcomes-based education (OBE). This paper presents an exploration of what students (as learners) considered to be difficult a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Education Association of South Africa
2011-01-01
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| Series: | South African Journal of Education |
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| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002011000400006 |
| _version_ | 1818137583143616512 |
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| author | Rian de Villiers |
| author_facet | Rian de Villiers |
| author_sort | Rian de Villiers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In South Africa, the Grade 12 'classes of 2008 and 2009' were the first to write examinations under the revised Life Sciences (Biology) curriculum which focuses on outcomes-based education (OBE). This paper presents an exploration of what students (as learners) considered to be difficult and interesting in Grades 10-12 Life Sciences curricula in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase. A sample of 125 first year, pre-service Life Sciences and Natural Sciences teachers from a university responded to a questionnaire in regard to their experiences with the newly implemented FET Life Sciences curricula. The responses to the questions were analysed qualitatively and/or quantitatively. Friedman tests were used to compare the mean rankings of the four different content knowledge areas within each curriculum, and to make cross-curricular comparisons of the mean rankings of the same content knowledge area for all three curricula. All four content areas of Grade 12 were considered as being more interesting than the other two grades. In terms of difficulty, the students found the Grade 10 curriculum themes the most difficult, followed by the Grade 12 and the Grade 11 curricula. Most of the students found the themes under the content area Diversity, change and continuity (Grades 10-12) more difficult to learn than the other three content areas. It is recommended that more emphasis needs to be placed on what learners are interested in, and on having this incorporated into Life Sciences curricula. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T09:58:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e8710d2e939745d4a8dc8aed3101250e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0256-0100 2076-3433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T09:58:36Z |
| publishDate | 2011-01-01 |
| publisher | Education Association of South Africa |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South African Journal of Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-e8710d2e939745d4a8dc8aed3101250e2022-12-22T01:12:11ZengEducation Association of South AfricaSouth African Journal of Education0256-01002076-34332011-01-01314535548Student teachers' views: what is an interesting life sciences curriculum?Rian de VilliersIn South Africa, the Grade 12 'classes of 2008 and 2009' were the first to write examinations under the revised Life Sciences (Biology) curriculum which focuses on outcomes-based education (OBE). This paper presents an exploration of what students (as learners) considered to be difficult and interesting in Grades 10-12 Life Sciences curricula in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase. A sample of 125 first year, pre-service Life Sciences and Natural Sciences teachers from a university responded to a questionnaire in regard to their experiences with the newly implemented FET Life Sciences curricula. The responses to the questions were analysed qualitatively and/or quantitatively. Friedman tests were used to compare the mean rankings of the four different content knowledge areas within each curriculum, and to make cross-curricular comparisons of the mean rankings of the same content knowledge area for all three curricula. All four content areas of Grade 12 were considered as being more interesting than the other two grades. In terms of difficulty, the students found the Grade 10 curriculum themes the most difficult, followed by the Grade 12 and the Grade 11 curricula. Most of the students found the themes under the content area Diversity, change and continuity (Grades 10-12) more difficult to learn than the other three content areas. It is recommended that more emphasis needs to be placed on what learners are interested in, and on having this incorporated into Life Sciences curricula.http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002011000400006curriculumdifficultyinterestingLife Sciencesstudentsteachers |
| spellingShingle | Rian de Villiers Student teachers' views: what is an interesting life sciences curriculum? South African Journal of Education curriculum difficulty interesting Life Sciences students teachers |
| title | Student teachers' views: what is an interesting life sciences curriculum? |
| title_full | Student teachers' views: what is an interesting life sciences curriculum? |
| title_fullStr | Student teachers' views: what is an interesting life sciences curriculum? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Student teachers' views: what is an interesting life sciences curriculum? |
| title_short | Student teachers' views: what is an interesting life sciences curriculum? |
| title_sort | student teachers views what is an interesting life sciences curriculum |
| topic | curriculum difficulty interesting Life Sciences students teachers |
| url | http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002011000400006 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT riandevilliers studentteachersviewswhatisaninterestinglifesciencescurriculum |