SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION
6.3 IMPLICATIONS
The findings of this research may be relevant to all the stakeholders in the education process especially at the primary school level. The analysis of the data obtained in this study draws our attention to the fact that no single reason can be given for learners' success or lack of it. A number of implications arise from this case study that needs to be addressed.
This study was carried out during the implementation of the RNCS. The philosophy underpinning the RNCS was that of outcomes-based education. The curriculum can be viewed as having three aspects: the intended curriculum, the implemented curriculum and the attained curriculum (Reddy, 2006). It seems the curriculum that is intended by the RNCS is not
implemented the way it should be, resulting in the attained curriculum not meeting the
expectations of the RNCS. This is evident in learners' general lack of success with problem- solving. If learners attained the curriculum as prescribed by the RNCS then they would have more success with problem-solving. Hobden (2000) points out, "there is little value in having published curricula which are difficult for teachers to implement and are never experienced by the learners as originally intended by the curriculum planners" (p.79). He also maintains, in the end what really matters is the experienced curriculum.
Learners' uneven success with the Problem tasks could have stemmed from their insufficient experience with problem-solving during the Intermediate Phase. As evident from the analysis of the documents, learners were given just seven opportunities during the entire three years
spanning the Intermediate Phase (Table 4.10). All the activities were directly from textbooks and in many cases not relevant to the learners. The context of problem tasks have to be "embedded in the natural world" to make it more realistic to learners especially at the primary school level.
If the Problem tasks are from "real situations familiar to learners," they will then "learn more effectively" as they can make the connections required for successful learning (Hobden, 2000, p.
71).
Problem-solving is now a major part of the RNCS and as such should be given the status it deserves. Chin, et al. (1994) also believes teachers need to make problem-solving the "focus of their instruction" (p. 41). From this study, it appears that learners' limited experience with science problem-solving indicates that insufficient time is spent on this. Teachers need to realise that it takes time to develop problem-solving skills in young learners but once this is done it lays the foundation for the future and saves time as well (Wallace, 2002).
Some teachers especially in the primary school who teach all Learning Areas have limited content and pedagogical content knowledge. It would be difficult for them to set challenging problem-solving tasks that have higher cognitive demands (Chin, et al., 1994). Problems that focus on particular skills need to be designed. It was found from the TIMSS study that "South African mathematics and science teachers are among the least qualified" (Reddy, 2006, p. 15).
Teachers would need to be trained in this field of teaching problem-solving. Teacher support groups could also be set up.
It maybe that during teacher training, time could be spent on familiarising teachers with the scientific terminology and concepts in other African languages. These concepts could be incorporated in science lessons. This would ensure the science taught is understood by the majority of our learners who experience limited proficiency with the English language. This would also make science relevant to learners using the South African context as a platform.
Although teachers attended many workshops to ease in the implementation of outcomes- based education, this does not seems adequate. These workshops have to be properly monitored and evaluated to see if they are meeting the demands. Workshops on assessment are also essential. Teachers need training on how to assess group work. It is difficult to get an objective score for each learner. Different methods of assessment need to be incorporated into the science lesson. This is evident from this study as learners had different levels of success with the different types of Problem tasks. Learners doing well in the Group tasks did not necessarily do well in the Natural Science test or Problem tasks. Professional development courses could be offered to educators to help bridge the gap between the old and the new education system assessment strategies.
More attention needs to be paid to learner activities during science lessons. Daily scientific activities need to involve reasoning and analysis. It was reported that the international average and the prevalence of scientific inquiry activities in South Africa were similar in nearly all categories except for watching a demonstration of an experiment or conducting an experiment.
However, it would seem that in South Africa less than a third of the learners watched a
demonstration or conducted an experiment (Reddy, 2006, p. 104). A reason for this could be that many disadvantaged schools have little or no resources. However, primary science affords the teachers the opportunity to include more "hands on" and "make and do" science activities. The activities tend to be more susceptible to being practical and using improvised apparatus.
Learners' unrealistic view of success appears to indicate they have not thought about the task or their responses carefully. Learners need to be taught problem-solving strategies involving reflection so that they can be assured of success. Schoenfeld (1985) suggests that for learners to be resourceful they have to be "familiar with a broad range of heuristics" (p. 12). He also maintains they need coaching in how to manage the resources at their disposal and reflect on their problem strategy.
Group work seems to be a good way to introduce problem-solving as learners get to
experience success. Care needs to be taken when selecting groups to avoid personality clashes to create an optimum learning experience for all learners in the group. Although it is not always possible as the teacher may not be aware of such instances. An option could be to allow learners to form their own groups. It is also noted that learners will have to eventually learn to work with all types of people in society irrespective of any differences they might have. However, for the younger learner their initial experiences with group work needs to be encouraging and fruitful.
The group situation works well but needs to be monitored closely to maintain control and to ensure learners are working on the task at hand. Once the logistics of group work is sorted out it becomes an invaluable approach to teaching problem-solving.
From this study, it was found that not one but many issues could affect learners' success with problem-solving tasks. However, it is apparent that teachers especially need to:
• be aware of teaching problem-solving as an explicit skill;
• be attentive to learners language proficiency;
• use a variety of problem-solving assessment techniques;
• develop large numbers of appropriate and relevant problems that can be used;
• present problems in an unambiguous manner using visual stimuli as well as text;
• link Natural Science with technological problems thus incorporating "make and do"
activities; and
• continue with research at primary school level laying the foundation for higher level of GET.
This study has paved the way for future studies in primary science problem-solving.