The present study explores the validity of inferences that may be drawn from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) learner achievement data by measuring the South African curriculum-TIMSS alignment for the Grade 8 science assessments from 2007 to 2019. The Singapore curriculum--TIMSS alignment indices are a fair…

Breadth and depth of curriculum are important for success in science teaching and learning. Curriculum theorists recommend less breadth and more depth than overloaded, superficial science curricula. This study investigates breadth and depth in the official biology syllabi in the seventh to eighth or ninth years in four diverse jurisdictions,…

Learners who pass the South African National Senior Certificate (NSC) physical sciences examination generally show a weak conceptual understanding of chemistry at university. This inconsistency was investigated by examining strategies used in the teaching of chemical equilibrium in schools. A combination of on-site observations, journaling and…

Inquiry-Based Teaching Practice (IBTP) is an essential component of science education, and promoting its implementation is at the heart of various reform efforts. Even though science teachers regard IBTP as an essential pedagogical method, they rarely use it for various reasons. This study utilizes Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework to examine…

Twenty-first century chemistry education researchers reported challenges in chemistry education pertaining to high school chemistry teaching-learning outcomes. Even though all studies intended to improve chemistry teaching-learning outcomes, unfortunately the impact of chemistry education research found not to be much encouraging. A few of these…

With the introduction of the Life Sciences (LS) Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in 2012 in South African schools, a practical examination has become compulsory in grades 10 and 11. The LS CAPS policy stipulates the types of practical work that needs to be conducted to develop specific process skills in learners. This interpretive…

This study investigated the effects of the "dance with fruits" analogy on student's alleviation of alternative conceptions among physical sciences high school students in one of the rural province in South Africa. The study used a sequential mixed method research design consisting of quasi-experimental control group pre-test, post-test…

The South African Department of Education has attributed the poor pass rates in Grade 12 Physical Sciences to the learners' lack of practical work and the inability of learners to solve problems by integrating their knowledge from different topics in Physical Sciences. A possible reason for this could be a disjointed alignment between the…

This study investigated the reading demands of restricted-use items administered to South African grade 9 learners as part of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015. The method proposed by Mullis, Martin and Foy (2013) was used to categorise items into low, medium and high readability groups. The 'knowing' domain…

Using IEA's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 data, this brief explores the relationship between students' gender, their confidence and achievement in mathematics and science, and their aspirations to pursue careers in these fields. We find that more boys than girls at grade 8 want to have a mathematics- or…

This study focuses on the relationship between students' early academic skills and academic achievement. In this context, it is aimed to examine the predictors of students' early literacy and numeracy skills on their later math and science achievements across countries. A quantitative research approach using a correlational survey design was…

Learners underperform in stoichiometry as they lack conceptual reasoning of the underlying concepts and the ability to solve stoichiometric problems. Therefore, it was necessary to determine if there is a statistical correlation between problem-solving skills and conceptual reasoning in stoichiometry and if so, whether one can significantly…

The low enrolment, lack of interest, exacerbated by the general poor performance in physical science in South Africa paints a gloomy picture about the status of physical science in the country. Despite the fact that there might be other factors at play, one factor which cannot be ignored is the discourse about the use of language in the science…

This study examined the existence of latent classes in TIMSS 2015 data from three countries, Singapure, Turkey and South Africa, were analyzed using Mixture Item Response Theory (MixIRT) models (Rasch, 1PL, 2PL and 3PL) on 18 multiple-choice items in the science subtest. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the data obtained from TIMSS…

We set out to address the question--what does it mean for educational knowledge to be 'powerful'? We compare the Anglo tradition of curriculum studies with the "Didaktik" tradition through the lens of an analysis of curriculum structure in postgraduate courses in South African universities rooted in either the Anglo or…