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Abstract
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. Keywords: curriculum; difficulty; interesting; Life Sciences; students; teachers
Highlights
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Science Forum (2006) reported that the declining enrolment of students in the sciences is often attributed to the uninteresting curriculum of science courses
The 2008 and 2009 Grade 12 classes were the first cohort to enter the Further Education and Training (FET) phase under the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) in Grade 10. They were the first two Grade 12 classes to complete the new Life Sciences curriculum which focuses on outcomes-based education (OBE)
The study shows that there is a correlation between the grade of difficulty and the level of interest in regard to the content knowledge areas
Summary
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Science Forum (2006) reported that the declining enrolment of students in the sciences is often attributed to the uninteresting curriculum of science courses. The purpose of this study is to analyse, from the point of view of the learners, the level of cognitive difficulty of the themes under each content knowledge area in the Grades 10–12 Life Sciences curricula, to rank the It had already been recommended by Armstrong in 1973 that learners should be involved in choosing their curriculum topics. The study of Osborne and Collins (2001), cited in Kidman (2008, 2010), highlighted that learners’ decreasing interest in science was due to the lack of discussion of topics of interest, the alienation of science from society, the absence of creative expression opportunities and the prevalence of isolated subjects These learners were dissatisfied with science contexts that did not meet their interests. The study of Kidman (2010) found learners withdrawing from Biology courses in post-compulsory settings due to lack of interest and perceived lack of relevance of the course
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