Characteristics of problem tasks 41 Presentation of problem tasks 41 Rubric and frequency of correct answers for the problem Weight 50. Average and correct answers to the problem tasks 88 Average percentage score of class B for all three tasks 94 Comparison of the problem task and science marks for the.
INTRODUCTION TO STUDY
THE STUDY
The problem tasks took the form of individual "paper and pencil" tests as well as two group activities. The students' final science grades were compared with the points they received for the problem assignments.
THE CONSTRUCTS
According to the RNCS, the Natural Science Learning Area is concerned with the promotion of scientific literacy (Department of Education, 2002, p. 4). The RNCS also believes that the science learning space should be able to provide a foundation on which students can build throughout their lives.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY
LITERATURE REVIEW
PROBLEM-SOLVING IN THE NEW CURRICULUM
In the learning area of mathematics, it directly relates to solving problems in learning outcomes one and two. Consequently, it is not unexpected to find that problem solving is seen as a core skill of the new curriculum.
PROBLEM-SOLVING IN SCHOOL SCIENCE
When it comes to problem solving in science learning, it appears in all three learning outcomes. The implication is that problem solving needs to be embedded in the South African context, thus making it practical and useful.
KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING
34; emphasized that younger children lack not only enthusiasm for problem solving, but also the ability to master many problem-solving skills and strategies" (p. 109). Although attempts were made to add studies from local educational contexts, it was difficult to find local studies, specific to solving problems in primary science.
CO-EDUCATIONAL MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOMS
Most students who take the English test have attended schools in towns and villages and English would not be their first language. Her research showed that in South Africa, students' proficiency in English largely determined their achievement in mathematics.
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP WORK
Therefore, language can affect the student's problem-solving ability by preventing access to the problem task itself. The study conducted by Kempa and Ayob (1995) addressed the question of how effective group work is in promoting peer learning.
SKILLS ASSOCIATED WITH PROBLEM-SOLVING
Reasoning skills are also part of problem-solving skills, and for some authors they are considered critical thinking skills. It is these three types of skills that could be said to constitute problem-solving skills.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PROBLEMS
Closed or open - if the problem is closed, the solution to the problem can only be. In some problems, learners may need to apply previously learned skills to the information given in the problem in order to solve it.
CONCLUSION
34;Paper and pencil" or "make and do" - the problem can either be answered on paper or may require the learners to make something. If this is the case, the problem is considered an inner type problem as the solution depends on it of specific information given in the problem itself.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- DESIGN OF STUDY
- THE CASE
- METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
- SUMMARY
The focus was on the Science Learning Area, in which students were required, across the curriculum, to develop problem-solving skills. Then, ten students were interviewed using a questionnaire about their experiences in the problem-solving tasks. The presentation of the problems in this study was done in the form of diagrams, tables and text.
Further evidence was collected in the form of the sixth grade student's end-of-year science grades. The Science test was written by all sixth grade students by the end of the year.
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS
RESPONSE TO INDIVIDUAL PROBLEM TASKS
Problem description: The content of the problem is handled with weight, which is specific to. Problem Description: The content of the problem is specific to planet Earth and beyond. The students seemed unable to read the food chain and correctly interpret the direction of the arrows.
It is assumed that the context of the food web was not well understood and students had difficulty expressing their reasoning. For example, one answer was, "It was easy because I had to look at the pictures to see which one is the heaviest." The students' answers to the Heavy Bear problem are given in Table 4.7.
The rationale behind this was to establish individual students' understanding of the task they had just completed. Many different aspects of the group task could be discussed based on the data collected. The students reused their cello tape numerous times and as a result it was not sticky enough towards the end of the assignment.
I expected that all learners in the group that finished first included this as their favorite part of the activity. Eight learners said that they did not enjoy the activity when members of the group fought with each other.
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
This was content specific to the Life and Life content area of the Natural Science syllabus (Department of Education, 2002, p. 62). This activity was found in the grade six textbook, Discovering science and technology by Harper (2002) as well as the class work, which indicated that the learners completed it as part of their class work. The content was specific to the Life and Life content area of the Natural Sciences syllabus (Department of Education, 2002, p. 62).
The content was specific to the Energy and Change content area of the Science curriculum (Department of Education, 2002, p. 66). It was specific because students needed to understand the context of the problem and make decisions about these moral issues.
LEARNERS SUCCESS WITH PROBLEM TASKS
Students were more successful on the Fun, Planet and Machine (inside) problem than on the Weight and Snow (outside) problem. The problems were then analyzed to find the most likely underlying factors. First Component - Simple Reasoning: These two problems were easier because they required the use of only one condition at a time to arrive at an answer.
In addition, both problems were internal type problems in that all the information needed to solve the problem was given, the information was presented in tabular form, and the problem had only one answer, viz. Furthermore, these problems were closed with one feasible answer, but there was more than one possible path to the solution.
LEARNERS VIEW OF SUCCESS
Although six students thought the heavy bear problem was easy, only one thought it was difficult. Although students had the most success with the Planet and Party problem, they focused on the Party and Heavy Bear problem as the easiest. Some of the students who scored poorly reported that they found the problems easy, while the students who scored well, on the other hand, considered the problems to be difficult.
The student who achieved the highest score (26 out of a possible 28) remarked: "All the problems were difficult". One student who scored 12 (out of a possible 28) found none of the tasks difficult and said "I knew all the answers".
GROUP TASKS
When asked to write down the problem tasks they completed in groups, there is evidence that they wanted to provide their own answers. The students were asked to complete the questionnaire for the Aquarium task individually and they were allowed to consult with each other to complete the questionnaire for the Construction Problem. However, the responses to the questionnaires for the aquarium and construction tasks indicate that the students did not work together to complete the questionnaires as there were inconsistent responses within the groups.
Unlike the findings of Kempe and Ayob's (1995) study, students did not seem to incorporate the views and knowledge they gained from other students in their groups into their written responses. Perhaps the nature of the task in this research differs from that in the study conducted by Kempa and Ayob.
COMPARISON WITH TIMSS AND OTHER STUDIES
Out of the five problems that appeared in the TIMSS survey, students had less success with four of them. The students were more successful with the weight problem in this study than in the TIMSS study. Although this result indicates that more students can use prior knowledge and reasoning than in the TIMSS study, unfortunately about 70 percent of students cannot solve the problem.
The factor of language has also been highlighted as a contributing factor in the TIMSS study (Reddy, 2006). This could be attributed to the context of the problem that students could relate to.
COMPARISON WITH THE NATURAL SCIENCE MARKS
There was a statistically significant medium positive correlation between the two variables (r = .472 n lt; .01) with higher scores on the science grades associated with higher scores on the problem solving tasks. Although correlated, the problem-solving grade is not a strong predictor of the science grade (or vice versa) given the number of variances and the medium strength of the relationship. But the most important one might be that the science assignment did not have tasks that could be considered as problem solving questions.
The only reference to problem solving was in the technology section of the article, where students were asked about the different steps involved in solving a technology problem. In contrast, the problem tasks were invisible and were chosen to test students' problem-solving skills.
COMPARING ALL THREE TYPES OF TASKS
On the other hand, the results for the problem tasks show a wide spread of grades, as was found for the whole grade. For this class, there was a much stronger correlation between the Science grade and the Problem Tasks grade than for the entire group. Student Eleven achieved the highest grade on the Science test, but did not do well on the problem tasks.
When a scatterplot is made of the group assignments and the problem assignments (Fig. 5.6) it is as expected. In addition, many students who did poorly on the problem tasks performed well on the group tasks.
GROUP DIFFERENCES WITHIN THE CASE
The difference in grades for Science is small, but greater for the Problem assignments. However, for the problem tasks, the difference in grades suggests that black students may have problems because of a language problem. There is no difference in the grades for boys and girls for the problem tasks, but there is a difference in their grades for science.
In general, students in the age group of 11 years were more successful in problem tasks. It seems that maturity and experience did not help them in solving problem tasks.
CONCLUSION
SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION
- SUMMARY OF STUDY FINDINGS
- LIMITATIONS
- IMPLICATIONS
- CONCLUSION
If students followed the curriculum as prescribed by the RNCS, they would have more success solving problems. The students' uneven success with the problem tasks could be due to their insufficient problem solving experience during the intermediate phase. Students need to learn problem-solving strategies that involve reflection so that they can be assured of success.
Group work seems to be a good way to introduce problem solving as learners come along. I am now in a better position to explicitly teach problem solving and help design problem tasks.
Reclaiming the meaning of problem solving: The need for a common understanding of the concepts of problem and problem solving. Lavoie (Ed.), Toward a cognitive-science perspective for scientific problem-solving: A monograph of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Number Six (pp. 1- 12). APPENDIX A PROBLEM SOLVING ASSIGNMENTS Problem Solving Assignments Problem Solving in Science Please complete the following details.
To choose your fish, you need to know about the size of the fish, their cost and their special needs. Some fish must live together in schools - a group of four or more of the same kind of fish - while others live in pairs or alone.
Construction Problem-solving Tasks Problem-solving in Natural Science
You are required to construct the highest free - standing structure from the newspaper provided and 50 cm of cello tape
You have one hour to complete the task
You can only use the newspaper and cello tape provided nothing else
- will walk around every 15 minutes to monitor your progress
You are going to work in-groups of six
At the end of the task, the group with the highest freestanding structure wins!
Please, answer these questions after the activity
