Exploring foundation phase learners’ understanding of a healthy environment through conceptual change and collateral learning strategies
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Date
2018
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University of Zululand
Abstract
This study was carried out in the King Cetshwayo District of the Province of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Four schools offering Foundation Phase education were randomly selected for the study from the accessible population. Altogether, a total of three hundred and twenty-eight learners participated in the study from Nseleni, Richards Bay and eSikhaleni education circuits.
This study aimed to contribute to our understanding of how Foundation Phase (Elementary School) learners conceptualised a healthy environment, and whether or not instruction based on the classical cognitive conflict conceptual change model would differ from an approach based on collateral learning theory in educating grade three learners about a healthy environment. Specifically, the study set out to answer three research questions, namely: (a) What conceptions do grade three learners have of the construct of a healthy environment? (b) What explanations lie behind the learners’ conceptions of a healthy environment? and (c) Will there be a statistically significant difference in learner achievement between those taught through a cognitive conflict-based conceptual change approach versus those taught through an instructional approach based on the collateral learning theory? The theoretical basis of this study was built upon literature which pointed to the imminent threat to Planet Earth, seen against the devastating effects of human actions in the name of civilisation. Accordingly, elements from the cognitive conflict-based perspective of conceptual change and the collateral learning theory were integrated with Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development to consummate a conceptual framework for the study. In the view of the researcher, the conceptualisation and development of the conceptual framework of this study was one of her significant outputs. The research methodology was situated within the mixed methods research paradigm, meaning that both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. As a mixed methods research project, there were two designs applied. The first was a Case Study design, formulated to address the first two research questions, and utilising a test and interviews. The second research design was the Non-Equivalent Groups quasi-experimental research design, which was directed towards addressing the third research question. Simple random sampling was used to select the four participating schools from the education Circuits that participated in this study. Data were collected through individually-based and focus group interviews, as well as a pre-test, which also served as a post-test. The interviews were used to explore the grade three learners’ understanding of a healthy environment and elicit explanations about their answers in the hope of revealing the underlying reasoning for their answers concerning a healthy environment. Permission was requested and obtained to have all the interviews voice-recorded so that the interviewers could focus on the conversations with the learners rather than, for instance, on note-taking. The test was used to establish the baseline knowledge that the learners had about a healthy environment, as well as estimate their gains following the two interventions. The written test was administered in the usual way as class tests.
Qualitative data arising from individual and focus group interviews were analysed based on the hermeneutical approach – the first stage of which involved reading through all the transcripts of the learner responses and creating categories of description to identify emerging themes. This entailed finding patterns from which the themes and conceptual categories were constructed. In a reiterative process, the recurring themes and conceptual categories were progressively reduced in number by combining conceptually similar ones, resulting in a consolidated, fewer numbers of categories of descriptions. Quantitative data were analysed statistically using the Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS). The analysis involved a comparison of the means as a result of the two interventions. In this regard, both the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the t-test statistic were used. On the first research question, the majority of the participants demonstrated a good understanding of the term ‘environment’ in line with the espoused content of the Foundation Phase curriculum. On the definition of pollution, two categories of description emerged – that is, a view of pollution as some form or other of ‘contamination’, and pollution characterised in terms of its consequences or negative effects on the environment, people, animals and plants. On the whole, the learners demonstrated an acceptable level of understanding of the concept of pollution. Furthermore, the results showed that the learners had a good grasp of the concepts of safe drinking water; unsafe drinking water; wasting water; using water wisely; land/soil, air, water and noise pollution, well as the 3R’s of recycling, re-using and reducing. However, some mis- and/or alternative conceptions were noted. Overall, the general picture that emerged was that the grade three learners’ understanding of a healthy environment was in line with the expectations of the school curriculum at the Foundation Phase level. On the second research question the learners appeared to experience difficulty with the notion of recycling. On pollution, there was sufficient evidence that the learners made the connections between the respective photographic materials used and water, land/soil, air, and noise pollution. In addition, most learners gave explanations concerning how these types of pollution affected living organisms which depended on the particular environment. Furthermore, the learners easily distinguished between safe and unsafe drinking water, and gave satisfactory explanations about the adverse effects of drinking polluted water. However, it should also be mentioned that a few misconceptions also emerged from some of their explanations. These included the notions that one could catch TB from drinking dirty water, and that drinking clean water resulted in someone having enough blood. From learner explanations, the concept of re-using was partially understood. Overall, however, it should be stated that the learners had a good idea of the selected environmental concepts as prescribed by the Foundation Phase curriculum. On the third research question, although some gains had been made by both groups, there was no statistically significant difference between the two posttest mean scores. However, using the pretest scores as baseline, the collateral learning group had performed statistically significantly beyond the pretest, suggesting that there was some merit in thinking that collateral learning could be a productive approach to use in South African schools. The posttest mean score of the cognitive conflict-based conceptual change group was not significantly different from the pre-test mean score. This result suggests that more research is still needed to give clarity to this matter. Within the constraints of the study, the researcher is satisfied that much was achieved, and that the results reported in this study will go a long way in serving as baseline data for future research. The thesis ends with some recommendations in respect of both classroom practice and further research.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor Of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University Of Zululand, 2018
Keywords
foundation phase --learners --education --South Africa