The observation schedule and document analysis instrument were based on Gagne's hierarchy of knowledge and skills. Interviews, documents and observations were analyzed in terms of the hierarchy of knowledge and skills as a research framework informing the study.
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The Revised National Curriculum Statement for Science, Grades R-9, supports a hierarchical view of knowledge and skills in science. We would expect teacher assessment practices to reflect the idea of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills.
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND THE RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
Assessment practices in the natural sciences should be developed based on a hierarchy of knowledge and skills. This study sought to investigate the extent to which teachers were guided in their assessment practices and perceptions by a theory based on the hierarchy of knowledge and skills.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK INFORMING THE STUDY
Gagne (1985) states that the acquisition of the entire set of rules in this way forms a hierarchy of learning that describes a path to the attainment of organized sets of intellectual skills that represent 'understanding' of the subject. This hierarchical view of knowledge and skills was perceived as critical in fields such as the Natural Sciences where conceptual coherence, order and progression are a prerequisite.
DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
- Psychometric Assessment
- Educational Assessment
- Assessment as An Integral Part Of Learning
- Hierarchy of Knowledge and Skills
- Understanding the Concept "Process Skills"
From the psychological point of view, learning ranging from simple to complex tasks is a hierarchy of knowledge and skills (GagneI970). From the science point of view, a hierarchy of knowledge and skills is observed to vary from general skills to specific skills or vice versa (Woolnough, 1991).
INTRODUCTION
The hierarchical view of knowledge and skills is inherent in both theorists' conceptualization of leaming as a complex phenomenon. Formal operational thinking is characterized by the ability to deal with abstract ideas, and at this stage children will be able to formulate and test hypotheses (Bennett, 2003).
SCIENTIFICALLY WORTHWHILE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
34; The emphasis on processes goes beyond practical work, with the main aim being to teach students about the processes rather than the content of science. The notion of "scientific inquiry" is further supported by Mosothwane's (1995) study when he states: "teaching science is done through inquiry which will enhance and promote the child's understanding" (p. 79).
VIEWS OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AS THE BASIS FOR SCIENTIFIC ASSESSMENT PRACTICES
Assessment practices must also be holistic if assessment is to promote learning. His view of science learning and assessment practice seems to agree with Hodson's (1993) view of a holistic approach in teaching and assessment practice and other science educators as discussed in Christofi (1988).
NEW POLICIES ON ASSESSMENT IN SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
The Revised National Curriculum Statement for Science (2002) emphasizes process skills and this is most evident in learning outcome one, eg learning outcome one (LOl) which is scientific inquiry (learning concrete) is the only learning outcome that applies to the classroom. R and continues through ninth grade, while learning outcomes two (L02) and three (L03) that build scientific knowledge (concepts and rules) are introduced in fourth grade and performance expectations increase in complexity.
CONCLUSIONS: SOME GAPS IN THE LITERATURE
NTRODUCTION
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
INTERPRETATIVISM AS A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Human beings make decisions and are capable of acting on the world and changing according to their own needs, aspirations or ideas. This study is in the context of this claim. A range of data sources such as observations, document analyzes and interviews were adopted within this claim. In reconstructing the actor's perspectives, we are concerned with creating. If reconstruction aims at meaning, interpretivism is a.
METHODOLOGY
THE CHOICE OF QUALITATIVE APPROACH
The types of critical questions the project aims to answer are best understood through a case study. The choice of a qualitative case study is a deliberate attempt to give sufficient meaning to the teacher's interpretations. We must remember that although the critical questions attempt to answer the 'why' question, they are part of the larger question which can be rephrased as 'l!.0wdo Grade8Natl!:!.alScience.educatQIs st1]J. ct1£1.
UNDERTAKING RESEARCH
RESEARCH DESIGN
Denzin and Lincoln (1978) use this term on the assumption that any bias inherent in a particular data, S.Q.l.lre€, researcher and method would be neutralized if used in conjunction with other data sources, researcher and method . Based on the above argument, accepting document ·LJ, class:tQQID observation..and interviews is one type of data from different sources, and therefore my confidence in my findings. When the term sampling is used in this study, it will be used with Lu IS~and.
SELECTION OF SCHOOLS
GAINING ACCESS
METHODS OF COLLECTING DATA
- OBSERVATIONS
- THE OBSERVATION SCHEDULE AS A RESEARCH TOOL
- DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
- DOCUMENT ANALYSIS INSTRUMENT AS A RESEARCH TOOL
- INTERVIEWS
The observation schedule was developed based on Gagne's (1985) summary of intellectual skills and knowledge, from sLmple to com12lex (Appendix A). In recording the necessary data using a structured observation schedule, I had to be guided by terms/phrases that indicated a particular skill/knowledge that was being assessed. Analysis of teacher assessment documents had the potential to verify findings from observations of classroom assessment practices.
ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM OBSERVATION SCHEDULES AND ASSESSMENT DOCUMENTS
ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSCRIBED DATA FROM INTERVIEW SCHEDULE
The interview also shows that the teacher is unclear about the concept of the hierarchy of skills and knowledge, and is not aware of putting it into practice. It was clear from the interview that the teacher assesses questions according to the student's intellectual capabilities. The interview also shows that the teacher drew up assessment criteria, but was unclear about their meaning.
EDUCATOR "B" INTERVIEW ANALYSIS
Written Assessment
This was revealed when the educator was asked to account for the main purposes of assessment. This was revealed when the lecturer was asked to give an account of how she organizes the criteria when setting them. The lack of clarity regarding the organizing criteria emerged again when the educator was asked to account for how she assesses different levels of knowledge and skills.
Written Assessment
There were no question items that could be assigned to the problem-solving category, and a very small number (3%) could be assigned to rules. 13 above shows that most of the questions (58%) could be assigned to concepts, a higher percentage than any other category and accounted for about 53% of the points awarded in. This was evident in observations, worksheets and projects where no question points could be assigned problem solving.
EDUCATOR "D" INTERVIEW ANALYSES
Subject's description of his world in relation to Science
The teacher's perception of learning in science provides substantial evidence of a preference for inquiry-based learning/inquiry-based learning. Respondent: I think it would be beneficial for the students because you don't easily forget something that you have collected yourself, so they can do it, in the future they will be able to do research, analyze that information they have collected it and come both interpreting it and coming to conclusions. This came to light when the teacher was asked to report on what he considers to be evidence of the student's scientific knowledge.
Perception about a Hierarchy of knowledge and skills in Teaching and Learning Science
However, it is important to note that there was more assessment/question setting. There were few questions (13.5%) that could be assigned to the rule or problem-solving categories, which accounted for 0% of the marks assigned to the worksheets (the reasons for this were unknown). In the written assessment, the highest percentage of questions (52.4% for controlled tests, 46% for worksheets and 65% for projects) could be classified in the concept category.
INTRODUCTION
However, the teacher was not aware that he/she was in fact implementing a hierarchy of knowledge and skills. Although the interview reveals an unclear view of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills, the findings show that teacher assessment tasks were based/guided by a hierarchy of knowledge and skills. The teacher has an unclear understanding of the concept of hierarchy, but in her assessment practices the teacher implements the assessment of a hierarchy of intellectual knowledge and skills.
EDUCATOR. B
This can be captured by the educator's perception and her assessment strategies. While the educator demonstrated a vague perception of the notion of a hierarchy of intellectual skills and knowledge, she believed in teaching concrete knowledge. While from the findings it seems that the educator believed in concrete learning and that.
EDUCATOR C
This was evident in the educator's description of his/her world in relation to science. The results show that educator assessment tasks place more emphasis on concrete and conceptual skills than on rules/problem solving. While the interview reveals that the educator was unclear about the notion of hierarchy, his/her assessment tasks recognized several categories of a hierarchical spectrum.
EDUCATOR D
What is the Case with this Respondent?
With regard to assessment, the data analysis shows that the teacher assesses research skills rather than intellectual skills. The teacher's emphasis on one category within the hierarchical spectrum did not reflect his awareness of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills. The teacher's unclear perception of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills seemed to have influenced the way he develops his assessment practices.
First Critical Question: What perceptions do the Educators hold in relation to a theory of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills?
Fairbrother's (1988) conception of learning and assessment appears to be consistent with assessment practice adopted in South Africa. It is clear from the findings of this study that respondents' assessment practices are not necessarily influenced by their perceptions. Respondents had a limited understanding of the concept of the hierarchy of knowledge and skills, but in practice the categories of the hierarchy were recognized and practically implemented in their assessment practices.
INTRODUCTION
The findings showed that all teachers were unclear about the concept of hierarchy of knowledge and skills. The suggestion, therefore, is that policies should be explicit about the fact that expected performance within the learning outcomes is organized around the idea of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills. The lack of explicit knowledge of the idea of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills presented by respondents in this study influences their assessment practices.
Further Research
The pedagogues who participated in this research are well educated and work in functional schools, but they presented a vague perception of hierarchy. It was important to explore teachers' perceptions regarding the hierarchy of knowledge and skills, as the literature was informative about the notion of hierarchy of knowledge and skills that underpins the revised National Curriculum Statement for Science. The research should be designed with the aim of investigating to what extent educators' vague perception of the knowledge and skills hierarchy theory is related to their academic level.
Concluding Remarks
Research and the Teacher: A Qualitative Introduction to School-Based Research (second edition), London: Rout ledge. Towards a Grounded Theory of Teacher Development: A Study of the Narratives of Rural Primary Teachers in KwaZulu-Natal. Proceedings of the fifth annual conference of the South African Association for Research in Mathematics and Science Education (SAARMSE), Johannesburg.
APPENDIX "A"
Can you use examples to demonstrate how knowledge and skills can be organized sequentially? In terms of 'thinking' and 'doing' there are all levels of thinking and doing in the natural sciences. Is there an order in which these levels of action and thought can be organized?
