Browsing by Author "Moru, E. K."

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    Examining Secondary School Physics Teachers' Beliefs About Teaching and Classroom Practices in Lesotho as a Foundation for Professional Development
    (International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education (2014), 2013) Qhobela, M.; Moru, E. K.
    The classroom practices of science teachers are indicative of their beliefs and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). PCK is an amalgam of knowledge about subject matter, pedagogy, and contextual issues. This article identifies areas where physics teachers in Lesotho may need professional development support by addressing the research question: How do secondary school physics teachers in Lesotho describe the teaching of science and their actual practice? A mixed-methods approach involving a survey and follow-up interviews of secondary school physics teachers was used to collect information about this research question. The results show that there is a disjuncture between the teachers� pedagogic knowledge and the teachers� contextual knowledge, indicating that their PCK was not well formed and could serve as a central focus for their professional development.
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    Examining secondary school Physics teachers� belief about teaching and classroom practices in Lesotho as foundation for professional development
    (International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2014) Qhobela, M.; Moru, E. K.
    The classroom practices of science teachers are indicative of their beliefs and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). PCK is an amalgam of knowledge about subject matter, pedagogy, and contextual issues. This article identifies areas where physics teachers in Lesotho may need professional development support by addressing the research question: How do secondary school physics teachers in Lesotho describe the teaching of science and their actual practice? A mixed-methods approach involving a survey and follow-up interviews of secondary school physics teachers was used to collect information about this research question. The results show that there is a disjuncture between the teachers� pedagogic knowledge and the teachers� contextual knowledge, indicating that their PCK was not well formed and could serve as a central focus for their professional development.
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    Secondary school teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of some common students' errors and misconceptions in sets
    (African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2013) Moru, E. K.; Qhobela, M.
    The study investigated teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of common students' errors and misconceptions in sets. Five mathematics teachers from one Lesotho secondary school were the sample of the study. Questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. The results show that teachers were able to identify the following students' errors: (i) writing an empty set as {0} instead of { }; (ii) treating the repeating elements of the union of two sets as distinct and (iii) treating an infinite set as a finite set. Teachers were not able to identify the errors where students (i) treated infinity as a number; (ii) said that the members of countable infinite sets cannot be compared and (iii) that curly brackets are used only when listing the members of a set. The identified errors were associated with some misconceptions. Depending on the nature of the students' tasks teachers' strategies and explanations of dealing with the errors and misconceptions were inclined towards calling on procedural knowledge. Only a few cases of conceptual knowledge were noted. Implications for teaching are proposed.
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    Secondary School Teachers� Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Some Common Student Errors and Misconceptions in Sets
    (Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics,Science and Technology Education (SAARMSTE), 2013) Moru, E. K.; Qhobela, M.
    The study investigated teachers� pedagogical content knowledge of common students� errors and misconceptions in sets. Five mathematics teachers from one Lesotho secondary school were the sample of the study. Questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. The results show that teachers were able to identify the following students� errors: (i) writing an empty set as {0} instead of { }; (ii) treating the repeating elements of the union of two sets as distinct and (iii) treating an infinite set as a finite set. Teachers were not able to identify the errors where students (i) treated infinity as a number; (ii) said that the members of countable infinite sets cannot be compared and (iii) that curly brackets are used only when listing the members of a set. The identified errors were associated with some misconceptions. Depending on the nature of the students� tasks teachers� strategies and explanations of dealing with the errors and misconceptions were inclined towards calling on procedural knowledge. Only a few cases of conceptual knowledge were noted. Implications for teaching are proposed.
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    Teacher knowledge of error analysis in differential calculus
    (Pythagoras, 2014) Moru, E. K.; Nchejane, J.; Qhobela, M. et.al.
    The study investigated teacher knowledge of error analysis in differential calculus. Two teachers were the sample of the study: one a subject specialist and the other a mathematics education specialist. Questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. The findings of the study reflect that the teachers' knowledge of error analysis was characterised by the following assertions, which are backed up with some evidence: (1) teachers identified the errors correctly, (2) the generalised error identification resulted in opaque analysis, (3) some of the identified errors were not interpreted from multiple perspectives, (4) teachers' evaluation of errors was either local or global and (5) in remedying errors accuracy and efficiency were emphasised more than conceptual understanding. The implications of the findings of the study for teaching include engaging in error analysis continuously as this is one way of improving knowledge for teaching.
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    Understanding challenges physics teachers come across as they implement learner-centred approaches in Lesotho
    (African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2014) Qhobela, M.; Moru, E. K.
    Teacher-centred strategies have dominated most physics lessons in Lesotho. This study attempted to understand the contributing factors for the choice of teacher-centred teaching instead of learner-centred teaching with the goal of informing a professional development programme designed to address this problem. The paper responds to the research question: what challenges do physics teachers come across when they attempt to implement learner-centred strategies in their lessons? Four teachers, with varying teaching experience, participated in the study. Data were collected using written responses and audio and video recordings. Analysis of the data reflected two elements. First, the operational definitions of learner-centred strategies that teachers use lack components that are likely to influence their teaching. Second, teachers claim that time and student characteristics are some of the challenges that affect their choice of the teacher-centred approaches. Implications of these findings for both professional development providers and classroom practitioners are discussed.