The present article examines the general debate on curriculum differentiation and individualisation. Based on a policy ethnographic case study of class 9a at Forest School, it critically analyses how curriculum differentiation and individualisation are enacted in and interfere with classroom practice. The results show how Forest School's…

This paper examines the process of high school students' planning investigations in the chemistry laboratory across two consecutive academic years in terms of their actions and their progress. The context is a set of five inquiry-based laboratory tasks in which participants (9th and 10th graders, 14-15 and 15-16 years of age) are required to plan…

In this paper, we report on the experiences of three 9th-grade South African students (13-14 years) in doing open science investigation projects for a science expo. A particular focus of this study was the manner in which these students merge the world of school science with their social world to create a hybrid space by appropriating knowledge…

This paper contributes to the literature by separately analysing the course enrolment and completion effects of vocational education and training (VET) as well as higher education. Moreover, we investigate the persistence of these wage effects over time while controlling for two potential selection biases. We take advantage of the Longitudinal…

This report describes how teachers support ninth-grade students who are doing scientific investigations in Natural Sciences in South African schools. This is of interest as allowing students to participate in inquiry-based investigations is a significant shift from traditional practices. It presents a new challenge to teachers as it signals an…

This study aimed to investigate ninth grade students' views about enzymes using fortune lines technique and to obtain the students' views about fortune lines technique. Participants were 38 ninth grade students in a Technique Vocational Girls High School in the city of Kocaeli, Turkey. After instruction of subject of enzymes, the participants were…

Bringing successful teaching approaches for stimulating conceptual change to normal classrooms has been a major challenge not only for teachers but also for researchers. In this study, we focused on the relationship between cognitive conflict and responses to anomalous data when students are confronted with a counterintuitive demonstration in the…

Emphasizing task importance, which is regarded as a way of motivating engaged behavior, may increase an individual's anxiety. The present research investigated whether academic self-efficacy could moderate the maladaptive relation between task importance and test anxiety. 1978 and 1670 Grade 9 Singaporean students participated in a survey related…

Despite curriculum imperatives, in South Africa and worldwide, for learners to have more autonomy in investigations, they remain largely teacher controlled with learners having only limited opportunities in planning. This design-based study explored how a cartoon can be employed in a Grade 9 Natural Sciences class in prompting learners to plan…

An analysis of the improvement in attainments of 109 students attending specialist-resourced provision for specific learning difficulties (SpLD) attached to mainstream secondary schools was conducted as they progressed through Key Stages 3 and 4. Steady progress was made in terms of reading accuracy, reading comprehension, spelling ability and…

I examine how teachers employ a questioning strategy in supporting Grade 9 learners doing science investigations in South African schools. A particular focus of this study was how teachers use questioning in contributing towards the autonomy of these learners. The research adopted a qualitative approach which involved the collection of data by…

This paper reports on the autonomy Grade 9 learners (13-14 years) are given when doing science investigations. The study adopted a mixed methodology research design which involved the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were collected by means of questionnaires which were administered to 55 teachers. Qualitative…

This is the first of two papers that draw on a study of the national BHP Billiton Science Awards, a peak competition funded by BHP Billiton and administered by CSIRO. BHP Billiton, CSIRO and ASTA together oversee the strategic direction of the Awards. This paper reports an analysis focussed on the outcomes for students of participation in open…

This paper presents the results of a study on students' appreciation of information and communication technology (ICT) applications in schools for general secondary education. We investigate to what extent students from different gender and ethnic backgrounds appreciate various characteristics of ICT tools. The research question is, "How are…

This study investigated why some adolescents who are victimized through peer bullying are more negatively impacted than others. Drawing from research on peer victimization and suicidology, two theoretically derived models were investigated, one examining social hopelessness as a risk factor, the other examining social support as a protective…