| Summary: | Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012. === Science students come to class with pre-instructional ideas that may influence the
acquisition of science concepts. A basic assumption of the constructivist learning theory
is that these pre-instructional ideas should be taken into account in constructing students'
learning experiences in science classes. A number of conceptual change strategies have
been studied in order to alter unscientific (also called alternative) conceptions towards the
scientifically accepted conceptions. The challenging task of the science educator is to
select appropriate teaching strategies and techniques that will enhance learning.
This study investigated students’ alternative conceptions about electric circuits and the
effect of activity-based instructional approaches in ameliorating these alternative
conceptions. The approach took into account the prior beliefs of the students. A learning
sequence was developed, presenting a variety of learning experiences in such a way and
order that learners' alternative conceptions could progressively be changed into
scientifically accepted ones. The sequence progressed from contextual to conceptual to
formal activities. Co-operative learning, scientific enquiry, verbalisation and analogous
reasoning techniques were used to guide learners in the acquisition of scientific concepts.
The approach was based on the assertion that learners' scientific knowledge and
understanding are socially constructed through talk, activity and interaction around
meaningful problems and tools.
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The research population consisted of hundred (100) first-year science students enrolled
at a South African university both from the NCS and the OSC (Nated 550). The test
that served as pre- and post-test probed into learners' alternative conceptions about
electric circuits. A theoretical framework, based on activity-theory as it is applied in a
constructivist view of learning, was developed. A pre-post-test comparison group
design was followed. In particular, the pre-test helped to identify alternative
conceptions held by the students in the research sample. This was then followed by
activity-based interventions within the pedagogical aegis of OBE with a view to
alleviate the identified alternatives conceptions. These interventions were followed by a
post-test in order to ascertain the effectiveness of the interventions in alleviating the
identified alternative conceptions. Both quantitative and qualitative data were
collected. From the quantitative data, using McNemar and “t” test, the findings showed
highly statistically significant gains between the pre- and post-test scores of both the
OBE and OSC groups (p < 0, 05), thus indicating the effectiveness of the intervention.
The qualitative data showed that most of the alternative conceptions appeared to have
been alleviated, No statistically significant difference was found between the
normalised gains of OBE and OSC groups.
Keywords: alternative conceptions, conceptual change, electric circuits, activity-based
instructional approaches, teaching strategies, activity-theory
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