| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties encountered by the
grade ten township learners with respect to the concept of electricity. More
specifically, the study attempted to explore the learners’ scientific knowledge by
investigating their conceptions or alternative conceptions about electricity; the
influence of learners’ age, career interests and gender issues on their
conceptions of electricity and; the effectiveness of concept mapping (a pedagogic
tool designed by Novak in the 1970s) in facilitating the learners’ understanding of
electricity. The study was premised on socio-cultural constructivism as well as
meaningful learning as espoused by Ausubel (1968).
A Pre-Test-Post-Test Control Group Design was adopted in the study in which
two comparable groups were used. The data was analyzed using both qualitative
and quantitative research methods and the instruments that were used included
a conception of electricity (COET) (originally adopted and administered in the
Western Cape, Northern Cape provinces and in Norway in 1999 for the purpose
of Science and Technology Literacy Project (STLP) with the hope that their
reliability and validity was guaranteed); selected learner interviews and
evaluation forms.
The summary of findings has suggested that the Grade ten learners held
misconceptions about the concept of electricity even after they were exposed to
intervention that included concept mapping. In terms of the gender issues, there
was no significant difference in performance between the boys and girls though
the females outperformed their male counterparts at both groups. The
underachievement of the older learners compared to the younger ones has also
surfaced and that is against expectation since a number of studies carried out
earlier (see Ogunniyi (1999)) have already corroborated such findings. With
respect to career interests, what the learners indicated as their future dreams, i.e.
what they intend to do and become, seems to have been influenced their
performance at the pre- and post-test stages. === Magister Educationis - MEd
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