This paper reports on the relationship between the pre-service teachers' enacted Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (eTSPCK) observable in the classroom teaching of Organic Chemistry and learner achievement in the topic. The study employed a mixed-methods research design with a sample of 17 pre-service teachers (PSTs). The PSTs were…

Teachers' content knowledge impacts on what they teach, how they teach and what their students learn. In order to check whether the prospective teachers in a rural South African university know the mathematics content they are expected to teach in the schools, at least at the same depth as their future students expected to attain, the research on…

The Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande's, call on the 5th of April 2011 for South African universities to implement a policy which saw all university graduates exiting with a credit in an African language was the catalyst for the University of KwaZulu-Natal's decision to implement a compulsory isiZulu module for all non-mother tongue…

Vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in determining a person's language proficiency level. This study investigates the role vocabulary plays in determining students' performance within research modules at private higher education institutions (HEIs). The discipline-specific vocabulary in this study includes target words, sampled from an…

Objective: A critical evaluation of a salutogenic, wellness education programme was conducted with a group of first-year socioeconomically disadvantaged higher education students, in order to assess the value they placed on health information and wellness priorities. Methods: This study took a mixed-methods approach utilising a…

Objective: The aim of this study was to measure possible impacts of a salutogenic lifestyle education programme on wellness and academic outcomes in a group of socioeconomically disadvantaged students in the first year of higher education. Setting: University in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was…

This study investigates the development of Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK) of 14 novice uncertified graduate science teachers during a Professional Development Intervention (PDI) on teaching particulate nature of matter. TSPCK was defined in terms of five knowledge components: learner prior knowledge, curricular saliency,…

Two volunteer BEd student teachers in their fourth year of a BEd degree at a metropolitan university in the Western Cape of South Africa designed and taught lessons to two classes of the same age and ability in grade 7 (ages 12-13), using drama role-plays (intervention) and more conventional non-drama methods (control). Lessons were observed and…

Despite calls to address global challenges through community engagement, engineers are not formally prepared to engage with communities. Little research has been done on means to address this "engagement gap" in engineering education. We examine the efficacy of an intensive, two-day Community Engagement Workshop for engineers, designed…

The Occupational Therapy department at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa is responsible for ensuring students achieve psychomotor skill proficiency, as it is an essential component of health care practice. The aim of this study was to determine whether the introduction of opportunities to afford self-evaluation better prepared…

Probing university students' understanding of direct-current (DC) resistive circuits is still a field of active physics education research. We report here on a study we conducted of this understanding, where the cohort consisted of students in a large-enrollment first-year physics module. This is a non-calculus based physics module for students in…

Science teaching and learning require knowledge about how learning takes place (cognition) and how learners interact with their surroundings (affective and sociocultural factors). The study reported on focussed on learning for understanding of Newton's second law of motion from a cognitive perspective that takes social factors into account. A…

Study abroad is often regarded as an important curricular component for supporting intercultural development among college students. While creating rich cross-cultural experiences for students is of primary concern, it remains unclear exactly which programmatic features of study abroad influence intercultural growth in a positive way. Consensus…

In science education, learner-centred classroom practices are widely accepted as desirable and are associated with responsive and reformed kinds of teacher beliefs. They are further associated with high-quality Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK), a version of PCK defined at topic level, is…

This article reports on a design-based methodology of a thesis in which a fully face-to-face contact module was converted into a blended learning course. The purpose of the article is to report on how design-based phases, in the form of micro-, meso- and macro-cycles were applied to improve practice and to generate design principles. Design-based…