| dc.description.abstract | This study investigated: l) the nature of worldviews presuppositions held by three groups of learners in Form IV classes in three high schools in Swaziland; 2) the nature of cognitive border crossing exhibited by the learners from the traditional to the scientific worldview and 3) whether or not three learning theories/hypotheses: border crossing, collaterality and contiguity were applicable to their conceptions of force, energy, work and power. The study, situated within the sociocultural constructivist theory. involved the administration of two instruments namely, 'My Idea about nature (MIAN) and the Physics achievement Test (PAT), as well as the use of a Videotaped group Discussion. Further the study adopted a quassi experimental design modified after Solomon-3 control group design, in which three comparable groups – one experimental and two control groups, were investigated. The experimental and second control groups were exposed to exemplary teaching/learning strategies while the true control group was not so exposed. At the end of the instructional intervention, the discussions of two groups, each consisting of ten subjects &om the experimental and second control groups, were video recorded to test whether or not their views had changed from alternative to scientifically valid conceptions of selected concepts. The findings of the study showed that the subjects, regardless of their gender, age and interest in science, exhibited: (l) varying degrees of traditional as well as scientific notions about selected phenomena; (2) a multiplicity of worldview presuppositions and 3) different forms of cognitive border crossing thus corroborating t the three learning theories/hypotheses. However, the study revealed that each of the three theoretical models did not seem to fully capture the phenomenon of border crossing, and hence the positing of the "African learner Model", which combined the three models to show how, when, and in what contexts the various types of border crossings took place in the mind of a learner. The implications of the findings for teacher training curriculum development and instructional practices were highlighted for a closer consideration. | en_US |
