| dc.description.abstract | This thesis relates the teaching of ecology in schools to the requirements of the National Curriculum Statements, Grades R-9 and Grades 10-12, for Natural and Life Sciences. It examines the conceptual understanding of the learners to determine their level of bioliteracy. The effectiveness of various teaching strategies in enhancing bioliteracy is considered. The study was a case study involving classroom observations of Grades 4 to 7 at a primary school and Grades 8 to 11 at a high school in the Western Cape of South Africa, and the administration of a misconceptions questionnaire to learners in Grades 8 to 11. The Department of Education did not allow researchers into the Grade 12 classes. To counter this, the misconceptions questionnaire was also administered to first-year Life Science students and to students in one second-year course in the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology. It was administered to a small sample of the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students (prospective teachers) at the University of the Western Cape, in order to determine
whether misconceptions would be carried into their teaching. In-depth interviews which focused on the particular student's misconceptions were used to verify the misconceptions which the first-year students held. The questionnaire revealed that learners lacked an understanding of photosynthesis and respiration, which forms the basis for an understanding of food chains and energy flow within an ecosystem. Learners were confused about ecology and did not understand basic concepts. The misconceptions held in high school carried over to university, as shown by the fact that the first-year Life Science students, tested before they had had any lectures, still held many of the misconceptions that were found among the high school learners. A few second-year students still held misconceptions, but their understanding of photosynthesis and respiration was better than that of first-year students. The questionnaire also revealed that learners lack language skills. Good language skills are necessary for the development of scientific literacy. Three of the seven teachers whose classes were observed admitted to finding it difficult to teach ecology. One of them suggested that the Department of Education provide special training to teachers in this area of teaching. Issues relevant to South African problems were not addressed in any of the classes observed. - Too-little time is allocated to the teaching of ecology to allow for any discussion of social issues relating to this subject. Time, resource constraints, and a lack of training in teaching ecology make it impossible for teachers to fulfil the requirements of the curriculum. Grade 10 learners were required to identify abiotic and biotic factors operating in a local ecosystem, and to describe the trophic relationships present. Grade 11 learners were required to study and report on one local example of human influence on the environment. These requirements were not
met. While teachers were prepared to take learners out of the classroom to study ecology, some of them were not able to do so because of extremely large classes and associated problems. The results of the misconceptions questionnaire for the PGCE students revealed that a
high percentage of them had very little understanding of ecology and that they held several common misconceptions, despite having completed a degree which qualified them to teach Life Science or Natural Science in high school. This study demonstrated that more attention needs to be given to the proper training of Life Science teachers, and to instruction in practical work and fieldwork in the Life
Sciences. | en_US |
