- Title
- The influence of hands-on chemistry experimental interventions on the attitudes of grade 9 learners toward natural science
- Creator
- Swartbooi Tarryn Beatrix
- Subject
- Chemistry -- Study and teaching
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MSc
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44628
- Identifier
- vital:38168
- Description
- The primary purpose of this research was to explore the influence that interactive, hands-on chemistry experiments may have on grade 9 learners’ attitudes toward Natural Sciences. A pragmatic research philosophy was used to best answer the research question which asked “Do hands-on chemistry interventions have a positive effect on grade 9 learners cognitive, affective and behavioural attitude toward Natural Sciences?” and explore the problem statement “The conducting of relevant hands-on chemistry experiments and demonstrations are expected to positively affect learners’ attitudes (cognitive, affective and behavioural), which would in turn motivate learners to further explore science, both in and outside of the classrooms and increase their interest”. The attitudes of learners were studied at two quintile-1 ranked schools both situated in lower socio-economic areas. The main findings that for cognitive attitude from the achievement tests were that Quintile-1 schools based in low socio-economic areas have similar cognitive attitude outcomes (pre-tests, post-tests) except for scientific language. In addition, according to multiple linear regression testing, the hands-on chemistry intervention group (test group) had a more uniform understanding of the scientific topic under study when compared to the traditionally taught group of learners (control group). Key findings from the survey and focus group for affective attitude (School A n=56 and School B n=14) showed that most of the learners responded that science interests them. They also responded that they wanted science club as a permanent fixture at their school and enjoyed doing experiments practically. Main findings for the behavioural attitudes from the focus group and survey were that hands on chemistry experiments motivated grade 9 learners to select Physical Sciences in grade 10 and it also encouraged them to want follow a career in science. From the survey responses it was inferred that learners’ behavioural attitude (BA) toward science was positively affected by science demonstrations and experiments.
- Format
- xxvi, 213 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Science
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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NMU School of BioMolecular and Chemical Sciences
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Swartbooi, TB 210048492 Dissertation Dec 2019.pdf | 7 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |