Teachers‟ perceptions on the importance of practical work in the teaching and learning of natural sciences in Grade 9 at township schools

Abstract

In recent years, learners‟ performance in science has been unacceptably low. As a result, numerous research studies have been undertaken to understand learners' poor performance in science. A more in-depth view of the problem of poor science performance, as examined in this study, is that students are struggling to transition from the Senior Phase to the Further Education and Training Phase. Most of the studies attribute this failure to the style of teaching employed by Senior Phase teachers, that is, science teachers‟ lack of self-confidence concerning the Natural Science content knowledge. The National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) was introduced to solve the challenges faced in South African education, including Natural Sciences at the Senior Phase. This was expected to have a significant bearing on the learning and teaching of Natural Sciences. The CAPS emphasises the teaching and learning of Natural Science that promotes hands-on approaches by utilising practical work, as well as using it as a tool for assessment. Therefore, South African educators teaching Natural Sciences must utilise practical work as an important pedagogical strategy to improve the scientific skills of learners in this school subject. Since the CAP‟s debut in 2012, significant research has been conducted to better understand how teachers in the Senior phase of Natural Sciences evaluate the value of practical activity in topic learning. This study investigated the perceptions of teachers on the importance of integrating practical work in the teaching and learning of Natural Sciences in Grade 9. The study was conducted in the Metro East district township high schools of Western Cape. The study utilised a deductive approach based on interpretivism. Social constructivism theory was used as the main theoretical framework of the study. Data to assess the teaching practical work was gathered employing interviews as well as document analysis of three purposively sampled Grade 9 Natural Science teachers‟ portfolios. Data was analysed qualitatively. The study found that teachers' perceptions on the importance of practical work in the teaching and learning of Natural Sciences were positive even though they used this pedagogy infrequently. The study found that teachers faced many challenges, such as inadequate resources, big classroom size, lack of functional laboratories and time constraints; they could not effectively conduct practical work daily. The findings further revealed that, when teachers conduct practical work, they use only one preferred method of demonstration with guided inquiry. It was found that Grade 9 Natural Science did not plan for practical lesson plans, except for reporting purposes of Continuous Assessment (CASS). Thus, this study recognises the difficulty teachers face and addresses some of the mentioned concerns. It was recommended that adequate resources be provided and that challenges that teachers encounter when doing practical work in these township schools must be addressed. Teachers‟ pedagogical knowledge needs to be developed by being properly trained to enable them to carry out meaningful science practical work more often. By using practical work as a teaching technique, learners will have ample opportunities to understand science content, as they will learn by interacting and engaging in hands-on practical activities.